Researchers in The Netherlands are experimenting with using electroconvulsive therapy (aka "shock" treatment) to erase memories from the brain.
If you could, would you want to erase your memories of childhood trauma? (Thanks to Louise Goldbold for sending the link and posing the question.)
Daniel Siegel talks about 'coherent narratives'. Didn't matter what kind of insecure attachment people had with their parents (ambivalent, avoidant, disorganized), those who developed a coherent narrative about their childhoods were able to parent their children well and create secure attachments. If you zap away those memories, then how can you achieve a coherent narrative? Maybe a blank slate is good, but I would imagine turning over those memories until they become a smooth stone and not a shard of glass would make you a richer, wiser person.
Maybe this therapy is better for war veterans, for example. Hard for me to judge since I've never had recurring nightmares and intrusive thoughts as a result of that kind of trauma. However, seeing the effects of EMDR, that might still be a better way to go than 'zapping'.
