Can we erase memories for therapeutic benefits?

If we could functionally erase a memory to make someone’s life better would that be acceptable? What if the memory was of a trauma that has incapacitated someone for decades? Why do we need memories if they keep us down?

In a very playful manner, Dr. Karim Nader addresses some of the science that is at the heart of memory research today. The science suggests that memories can be functionally erased, a concept which was taken and expanded to the point of fiction in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.