With the help of ketamine, researchers rewrite memories in a bid to curb harmful drinking

Our memories are immensely powerful. For a person with alcohol use disorder, a memory triggered by a simple cue — like walking by a favorite bar or spotting a beer billboard — can drive a desire for a drink.

But they’re also surprisingly pliable. And scientists are trying to curb harmful drinking by dredging up memories and rewriting them — with the help of a dose of ketamine, a longtime anesthetic which is also used recreationally and to treat certain mental health conditions.

The idea hinges on the rewriting of the memories associated with drinking. Those memories are often associated with environmental cues, like certain friends a person with alcohol use disorder always drank with. By manipulating those memories in a published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the approach was associated with less alcohol consumption and less of an urge to drink among people who drank heavily and often.