A latest research published in Science advances has confirmed that Anesthesia plays a major role in helping trauma patients forget disturbing memories. Many studies have been conducted by researchers worldwide to prove the same. This latest study further investigates the effects of anesthesia and how it can be useful in developing a technique which would help people forgetting harmful memories arisen due to past trauma, anxiety or drug addictions.

Here’s how the research was conducted. A Sample of 50 participants was taken and they all were showed 2 unpleasant and disturbing images through presentations. One was about the kidnapping of kids while the other one was a horrific car accident. After a week, the memories from one of these incidents were re-activated by the researchers, and the participants were asked basic questions about what they remember.

After the reactivation of the memory, all the participants were injected with propofol which is an anesthetic, followed by a few minutes of endoscopies. The group was chosen from a hospital where people were already scheduled for endoscopies.

After this, final testing took place. The scientists tested all the test subjects and asked them how well they remembered the incidents. The people who were asked immediately after could remember both the incidents. But the people, who were asked questions after a time-gap of 24 hours had no idea that their memory was reactivated. Also, they had no idea which memory was re-activated and which wasn’t. This led to a conclusion that there is a clear link between anesthesia, reactivation and the timing helps in taking the disturbing memories away.

Our correspondents asked few questions to the team of fasttracking.com.au which is an anaesthetic billing company and actively monitors research around anesthesia around the world. They helped us prepare this news report. How this information is used in further studies and what conclusive result do we get from there is yet to be seen.