There's No Such Thing as an Eternal Sunshine Drug. What We Do Have Is Propranolol.

"There is no limit to the type of trauma or memories that we can treat. It works just the same," Brunet said. It stood to reason that the drug could speed along recovery from other painful experiences, too."

"The resulting study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in 2022, found that 85 percent of the 61 victims of "romantic betrayal" who underwent Brunet's propranolol treatment saw marked improvements in their symptoms of distress."

Inspired by the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, psychiatry professor Alain Brunet explored whether propranolol, a beta-blocker used to treat PTSD, could help people recover from heartbreak. Brunet had previously developed the Brunet Method, which uses propranolol to dull traumatic memories in patients with PTSD, including war veterans and abuse survivors. A decade ago, one of his McGill University students conducted a dissertation study testing this protocol on people experiencing romantic betrayal. The 2022 study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, examined 61 participants and found that 85 percent experienced marked improvements in their distress symptoms from heartbreak, suggesting the drug could accelerate emotional recovery from relationship pain.

Read at Slate Magazine