20 Feb, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - A widely available blood pressure pill could one day help people erase bad memories, perhaps treating some anxiety disorders and phobias, according to a Dutch study published on Sunday.

The generic beta-blocker propranolol significantly weakened people's fearful memories of spiders among a group of healthy volunteers who took it, said Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study.

"We could show that the fear response went away, which suggests the memory was weakened," Kindt said in a telephone interview.

The findings published in the journal Nature Neuroscience are important because the drug may offer another way to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems related to bad memories.

Traditionally, therapists seek to teach people with such disorders strategies to build new associations and block bad memories. The problem, Kindt said, is the memories remain and people often relapse.

Full story can be found at www.reuters.com.
Photo courtesy of www.images.google.com.

Can we really forget?

Study takes step toward erasing bad memories

Hebrews 8:12 (English Standard Version)

12For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more."

What does today's God's Story Scripture teach us about trying to forget bad memories?

Regardless of how long our story has been intersecting with God's story, there are memories that we wish and pray would go away. Be thankful today that you have learned from those mistakes and moved on in your relationship with Jesus.

How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?

  • Thank God for delivering you from the sinful nature in which you once lived.
  • Thank God for not remembering and holding that sin against you.
  • Ask God to help you replace those bad memories with thoughts of Him and his mercy and grace.

How can we connect today's story, God's Story scripture and our story to others?

  • Find someone who is trying to forget something in the past and pray with them today.
  • Remind someone of God's promise from Hebrews 8:12.
  • Share with someone who is not yet following Jesus that their life can be made new by connecting to God's Story.
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