Ph.D. Merel Kindt and her team from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) found a drug which can possibly erase scary memories. According to her study with 60 people, propanolol can interrupt memory reconsolidation.
This opens new steps in curing anxiety disorders. After conditioning fear with spider pictures, 20 persons were given a placebo, 20 took propanolol - a beta adrenergic receptor antagonist - and 20 subjects took propanolol without memory reactivation.
For the results of the tests, Kindt sums up as follows: "Oral administration of the beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol before reactivation of a fear memory resulted in a substantial weakening of the fear response."
