创新背景

持续的痛苦、非自愿或“侵入性”记忆是创伤后应激障碍的核心特征。与其他心理障碍不同的是，由单一创伤引起的创伤后应激障碍的发作可以可靠地追溯到某个特定的、通常危及生命的事件的发生，该事件产生了持久的侵入性记忆。

创新过程

研究人员发现，一种用于治疗关节炎等疾病的消炎药——氢化可的松(hydrocortisone)，可以削弱痛苦记忆下的情绪，比如那些经历过创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)的人。

该团队在120名健康参与者身上测试了这种药物。60人服用氢化可的松，60人服用安慰剂。

他们发现，在观看了几段非常令人沮丧的视频后，几分钟内服用氢化可的松的那组人似乎比服用安慰剂的那组人更快地“忘记”了事件。

研究人员还发现，男性和女性对药物的反应不同，这取决于他们体内性激素的水平。例如，那些雌激素水平较高的男性在看完视频后的一周内，沮丧的记忆似乎最少。然而，女性表现出相反的效果，如果她们接受氢化可的松治疗，高水平的雌激素似乎使她们更容易产生不自觉的糟糕记忆。

这里报告的研究结果建立在之前针对非自愿记忆的情绪的研究基础上，目的是减少它们发生的频率和生动程度，同时保留自愿回忆记忆的能力。

研究人员希望他们的发现可以被临床研究人员用于设计更有针对性的治疗PTSD的男性和女性，通过使用基于个人激素配置和针对侵入性记忆的预防措施。

创新关键点

研究人员发现，一种用于治疗关节炎等疾病的消炎药——氢化可的松(hydrocortisone)，可以削弱痛苦记忆下的情绪，比如那些经历过创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)的人。

创新价值

目前，氢化可的松只被发现在创伤患者在创伤后的几个小时内或在睡眠前记忆巩固时有效。研究人员希望，在未来，类似的附加行为元素的治疗方法可以加快自然遗忘过程，在更长的时间内限制长期的心理困扰。

The innovative application of the anti-inflammatory drug hydrocortisone speeds up the process of forgetting invasive memories

Researchers have found that hydrocortisone, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat conditions such as arthritis, can weaken emotions associated with painful memories, such as those who have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.

The team tested the drug on 120 healthy participants. Sixty were given hydrocortisone and 60 were given a placebo.

They found that after watching several very upsetting videos, the group given hydrocortisone within minutes seemed to "forget" the event faster than the group given a placebo.

The researchers also found that men and women responded differently to the drugs, depending on the levels of sex hormones in their bodies. For example, those men with higher estrogen levels seemed to have the fewest depressed memories in the week after watching the video. However, women showed the opposite effect, and if they were treated with hydrocortisone, high levels of oestrogen seemed to make them more prone to involuntary bad memories.

The findings reported here build on previous research on emotions that are involuntarily remembered, with the aim of reducing their frequency and vividness while preserving the ability to voluntarily recall memories.

The researchers hope their findings can be used by clinical researchers to design more targeted treatments for men and women with PTSD, by using preventative measures based on individual hormone configurations and targeting invasive memories.