Spotless Mind Psychology

Would I erase a devastatingly traumatic memory in my life? Initially the answer for this question was obvious. Why not remove a memory that has plagued me? It seems so straight forward. When presented with this question early on in this class I quickly answered that I would erase the memory. In theory erasing a memory could help solve PTSD, as well as any mental illnesses stemming from memory based trauma. But, as I began watching the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind my opinion quickly changed. Erasing a traumatic memory in one’s life would be more destructive than beneficial. In the movie, Joel, the main character played by Jim Carrey and his love interest, Clementine, played by Kate Winslet, both go through a memory erasing treatment to forget the

With technology to erase memories, certain mental illnesses could be a thing of the past. PTSD could be thought of like a common cold, here one week and after some medication it’s gone. This could be used on a wide scope of mental illnesses, from depression to the repercussions of childhood trauma. The possibilities are endless. But, you can’t simply just erase a memory and send the patient back into the world without some kind of psychiatric help. In the case of Mary, played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie, this kind of theoretical treatment may only work so well. Throughout most of the movie Mary seemed to be perfectly fine and normal, but as the movie was coming to an end her emotions for Dr. Mierzwiak returned and it was discovered she had previously had an affair with him. This demonstrates how you can’t simply erase a memory without repercussions and if people in the real world wanted to erase memories there would need to be a large amount of psychological therapy that accompanied the procedure so the patient can reacclimatize to normal life. Without this therapy, there could be severe