Seems to me the big thing being missed here is the possibility of confronting the painful memory to the degree needed to make its contents non-aberrative. The only difference between a memory of--say--sharing a chocolate soda and one of being slapped hard ion the face is the degree to which the owner is willing to be there with the memory, understand its, time-tag it correctly and see it as it is. The problem with traumatic memories is the unwillingness to do this.

Kass' remarks are germane but you have to distinguish between the appropriate (meaning responsive to the reality) emotions of the incident when it is happening, and the real problem caused when the memory reappears uninvited, replete with overhwleming emotions, and is simultaneously generated and abhorred. That dual action of generating the memory blindly (because, usually, of some present-environment similarity to something in the picture) and fleeing from it, is what creates the aberrative power of painful memories. Dicking with the brain isn't the right answer. Bringing the individual to be able to confront the memory without flinching is the right answer, IMHO, because ity leaves a stronger individual, someone who has overwhelmed the memory rather than be overwhelmed by it, through his own ability. Doing it with chemical magic is a cheap and tawdry second.

A