Yes, Scientists Are Working to Replace Disturbing Memories with Happy Ones

It might seem like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Yet rest-assured, scientists are busy working on how to replace feelings of sadness, grief and pain with more pleasant or neutralized emotions.

Findings from the journal Nature along with work from a separate study in the journal PLOS ONE show that with the help of the anesthetic gas, xenon, traumatic memories could become a thing of the past.

"The psychiatrist will talk with a patient suffering depression and try to make them recall positive memories they have had in the past," Tonegawa said, via Health Day. "Apparently, this will reduce the effect of the bad memories they have had or the very strong stress they have had. But unless you look into the inside of the brain, you can't tell what's going on underneath the behavior."

Researchers believe that these findings could be particularly promising for those suffering from different types of depression.

The researchers set out to determine if they could change memory response in mice with fiber-optic brain implants. The mice were conditioned to have either fearful memories through small electric shocks or rewarding ones through interaction with a female mouse; this was associated with neurons located in the dentate gyrus, according to TIME.

Two days later, the researchers placed the mice in a larger arena and began stimulating the dentate gyrus cells with light. Those conditioned to have fearful memories received memory stimulation while those with happy memories received stimulation when they wandered into areas they preferred less and ended up feeling better about the location and spent more time there.

After this, researchers worked to reverse the conditioning in both groups. This reversal worked when researchers gave the mice who had received fearful memories light-stimulation. For those who had received reward condition, they received electric shock, pushing both groups to opposite sides of the arena.

However, researchers found that manipulation of the amygdala, a center of the brain that is commonly related to human emotions, could not alter the memories.

Further time and testing will reveal how memory and emotion contribute to different types of depression and how certain evolving treatments could help ease the symptoms of these potentially debilitating mental health issues.