Memories That Make Your Heart Race Can Be Defanged

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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that people might be able to reduce the power of fearful memories that cause physical symptoms when they're triggered.

The research is preliminary, and study co-author Elizabeth Phelps cautioned that it doesn't provide an immediate cure for such conditions as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But it does offer some hope for new ways to treat them in the future, said Phelps, who directs a laboratory at New York University's psychology department.

The key, she said, is to interfere with a memory "at a particular time when we know it may be vulnerable or susceptible to being changed."

The memories in question link an emotional fear to a physical response, she said...

The researchers found that they could defang the memory a day later by convincing a person that the images were safe. They found they could do this by acting quickly after the images triggered the response, Phelps said.

Essentially, the brain appears to be able to overwrite the memory during a short time period, she said.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_92812.html