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Published online 13 February 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.102
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Drug banishes bad memories
Take pill, remember fear, remove fear.
In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a couple have their memories of each other wiped when their relationship ends badly. But now in a real-life twist to that tale, Dutch scientists show that, in humans, a fearful memory can be erased by a drug that is usually used to control blood pressure.
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Propranolol is used to block beta adrenergic receptors in hypertensive patients as well as to treat cardiac symptoms in hyperthyroid patients. I am wondering how these propranolol users would be affected. Would they be free of fearful memories of experiences they have been through?