Researchers Use Electroconvulsive Therapy To Disrupt Recall of Nasty Events

ananyo writes "In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, unhappy lovers undergo an experimental brain treatment to erase all memories of each other from their minds. No such fix exists for real-life couples, but researchers report in Nature Neuroscience that a targeted medical intervention helps to reduce specific negative memories in patients who are depressed. The technique, called electroconvulsive (ECT) or electroshock therapy, induces seizures by passing current into the brain through electrode pads placed on the scalp. Despite its sometimes negative reputation, ECT is an effective last-resort treatment for severe depression, and is used today in combination with anaesthesia and muscle relaxants. Marijn Kroes, a neuroscientist at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and his colleagues found that by strategically timing ECT bursts, they could target and disrupt patients' memory of a disturbing episode."

Comments

Erase all button

[flyingfsck]

The problem is that this therapy tends to erase all memories. It is a very blunt instrument, just slightly better than a lobotomy.

Re:Death for 1 in 25,000 treatments?

[hey!]

Death rate from tonsillectomy: 1/15,000
Death rate from colonoscopy: 1/17,000
Deaths from general anesthesia: estimate vary, but roughly 1/100,000