We all have memories we'd like to forget. Ex-girlfriends who breakup with you only because you refused to urinate on them during sex. That janitor in elementary school with the cache of candy in the school's basement. The Bush presidency. And like the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we might be able to tamper with our brains and get rid of those painful thoughts.According to this article from the BBC, Dutch researchers (why are they always Dutch?) believe that a certain heart medication with beta-blocking abilities may help relieve people suffering through trauma by limiting their recall of certain memories. A study showed that people given the drug were less startled when shown certain negative reinforcing images. (Like that time you gave your grandmother a sponge bath.) If this works, and like all cool things it probably won't, I'll be the first in line to erase every single memory I had during middle school.
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I saw something about this on TV. I'm not a Dr. but I'll play one on the internet here. I think the idea is that memories 'stick' harder when they are associated with some adrenal, hormonal, (or something) biochemical rush. So if you have been subject to something you don't want to remember you take a pill to inhibit that stuff and your memory will be relatively weak. The thinking is that this could help avoid post traumatic stress.