Common heart medication may help erase bad memories

Dutch scientists think that a commonly used heart medication, the beta-blocker, may help people to forget traumatic and emotional experiences. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, looked at how the drug altered memories in 60 people.

Researchers artificially created frightening memories, by associating pictures of spiders with a mild electric shock. A day later, participants were split into two groups. One group was given a beta-blocker and the other a placebo.

Both groups were shown the picture again - without the accompanying electric shock. Participants who received the beta-blocker did not exhibit the 'startle response' when researchers played loud and sudden noises at the same time that the pictures were shown.

Volunteers were tested again a day later, by which time the drug was no longer in their systems. However, again, those who had taken the beta-blocker did not show the startle response, unlike those in the placebo group.

Experiments on animals have suggested that beta-blockers can interfere with how the brain interprets frightening events.