• What do you think are some reasons why it would be undesirable to eliminate a traumatic memory altogether? What can you do when you’re haunted by a traumatic memory? Say, for example, that you were chased down and bitten by a neighbor’s dog as a child and the experience was so terrifying that you still have an extreme fear of dogs. What could be done to reduce the lingering effects of that experience?

In the world of science fi ction, you could undergo a procedure that erases the traumatic memory, thereby solving the problem. Even if that were possible, however, erasing individual memories might result in odd gaps in your memory, with disjointed time lines that could prove, at best, disconcerting and, at worst, totally confusing.

But what if there were a way to keep the memory but remove the negative emotions associated with it? This is the reality of a new, emerging therapeutic technique that has potential to offer relief to the many people suffering from anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (Wang, 2010).