The researchers wrote that they "provide evidence that old fear memories can be updated with nonfearful information provided during the reconsolidation window. As a consequence, fear responses are no longer expressed, an effect that lasted at least a year and was selective only to reactivated memories without affecting others."
Although targeting the traumatic memory is an important part of PTSD therapy, it is not the only part, noted several experts. "We might have to go beyond simply looking at the traumatic memory piece of things," said Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., director of the traumatic stress studies division at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and director of mental health at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, both in New York. "There are other components to PTSD – there’s loss, there’s grief, there’s sadness, there’s inability to experience pleasure, there’s anger and rage, there’s feelings of shame. Those are things that also have to be addressed," she said in an interview.
"This is important work – I am excited about it – but cognitive work also has to happen," added Dr. Thomas C. Neylan, professor of psychiatry (in residence) at the University of California, San Francisco, and director of the postttraumatic stress disorder program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. "People who have been traumatized often have a whole new set of assumptions about their world and their place in the world that are sometimes erroneous – that the world is overly dangerous, or you can’t trust anybody," he said in an interview. "That’s cognitive work that has to be done, separate from reconsolidation or extinction work."
Dr. Menzies reported receiving honoraria and other fees from Wyeth. Dr. Brunet, Dr. Neylan, Dr. Pitman, Dr. Quirk, and Dr. Yehuda reported having no relevant financial disclosures. Disclosure information was not available for Dr. Marmar.