Easing the Emotional Strain of Crippling Memories

While memories can be sweet, they can also be savage. Survivors of violence, rape or abuse can suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which forces them to relive their ordeal over and over. These flashbacks can be so debilitating that many PTSD sufferers find it hard to maintain relationships, hold jobs and—in extreme cases—simply leave the house. Now, however, the pioneering work of Karim Nader promises relief from trauma.

His experiments suggest damaging memories can be stripped of their potency by administering a common blood pressure drug, propranolol, as a traumatic event is being recollected. Nader’s findings, which were published in Nature, have caught the attention of the BBC and 60 Minutes.

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