Erasing memories

Shock Therapy Can 'Erase' Bad Memories, Brain Researchers Show
I seen this article this morning and it got me thinking about what if we could erase all of our painful memories from the past- wouldn't it be great? But sometimes people and places have good and painful memories so if we removed the bad ones and kept only the good wouldn't we be left with confusion about how they got there or who this person is?
I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and that did not go down too well.
Would it be worth the risks to you?
While I wish I had no memories of my ex partner and anything associated with her name sends me into a frenzy, I am glad I had a chance to love and be loved for a few years and if my memories were erased I think it would hurt more because now that she is gone I want to cherish the good memories forever.

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I've always wished that I could erase the horrible memories from my mind.

But than how could we emphasis with others.
To be human is to know suffering.

If I could erase the horrible suffering from my mother's past, I would 100% for sure. Because that's where a lot of the pain came from for me. I guess erasing my memory of her pain and the resulting pain that passed down due to her behavior would have the same result because I wouldn't remember. But then she would continue to tell me in the present about all of the abuse and how no one loves her so....

Honestly, I would just rather none of it ever happened to her. And I had a functional mother.

l think my memories help keep me safe, so although they are painful and l wish l had never had those experiences, l am not sure gething rid of them would be in my interests. It is the impact of the memories on me that l need to learn to deal with differently.

I completely understand why someone would want to erase certain memories, and depending on the particular memory, maybe it would be beneficial for some situations. But I do think there is a value to working through life's tragedies. Through the worst parts of life, I have found that there is great opportunity for growth and love for ourselves and for others. I am concerned this technology takes "ignorance is bliss" a little too close to heart. I just know that I wouldn't be as strong as I am now if I couldn't remember the awful things that have happened to me. They have shaped who I have become. Yes, in bad ways... but also in good ways.

This would be amazing, like starting with a clean slate.

I hat too many ECT's (shock treatments), it didn't erase much of the bad memories, but too many of the good memories. Pdocs proclaimed that ECT's don't erase memory, hmmm...sorry docs, but they do.

I don´t know much about ECT but I know what not remembering things in your life does to a person. I myself - as many on PC, i´m sure - have suffered a trauma in my childhood.

When I was 6 years old, I was severy bullied at school by the teachers. Everything I know about the year that i was six has been told by others. I literally remember walking into the classroom once and the teacher´s gaze on me. Nothing else from the whole year. Nothing from the lessons. Nothing of my friends or family.

There were these reports, says my mother, every week the teachers had a meeting with Mom, showing her reports about how i had called the teacher names and hurt other kids and that i was unteachable. According to my mother i went home every day hungry because i hadn´t been allowed to eat any lunch. The teachers told my mother that it was a punishment. My mother told them it was neglect of a child. My mother eventually took me to some behavioral test, similar to what the school psychologist had done before and diagnosed me mentally retarded. The second test in a different environment reported that i was a very normail 6-year-old girl.

It bothers me often, the fact that i don´t remember. The school wrote no official reports about my behavior or the situation even though my mother asked them to repeatetly. If i was actually hurt by the teachers somehow remembering might be painful, but not knowing what story is the real one makes me crazy. Was i a mentally unbalanced child, crazy and trying to attack and abuse the teachers, or was the school staff incompetent? Sometimes i feel that i could endure every pain in the world if i just remembered. Then i wouldn´t have to hate myself what what i may have done to innocent people, who were only trying to their job.

I would not willingly let any one else mess with my brain.

I hear that! Im like, it may not be much, but its all i got!!

My brain is all I got too, it is the only part of me that works perfectly.
I would erase all the shame from school too. I was always brought up in front of the class every Monday morning and my hands were hit because I was the only one that didn't go to mass on Sunday.
Damn catholic Ireland! Now I can see why I always feel so different from everyone but I would erase the feelings around it but not the memories, I think this would be easier

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Iwojlsd not erase anything. IT is mine.

I'm trying desperately to remember the bad memories...or any for that point...

While I certainly understand wanting to erase the pain or the memories I wouldn't want to because we learn & grow from pain. If I didn't remember those lessons I'd just keep repeating the same mistakes and experience more pain. I think pain does have an important purpose. It tells us something is wrong and manytimes we need to do something differently. As CS Lewis says "pain is a megaphone" trying to get my attention. I think we know this easily with physical pain and get to the doctor but as westerners we are not as clued in to things like emotional pain and aren't as skilled at handling it (as adults that is-children frequently don't have options to change things.)