Homecoming: Psychological Thriller About Emotions And Memory

Recently released on Amazon Prime, Homecoming  is a series starring and produced by actress Julia Roberts. We are talking about a psychological thriller that is becoming popular among the public. The series focuses on the ever-controversial question of scientific breakthroughs in the service of the Army.

The topic covered in Homecoming  appears to be based on a study published in 2017 in the journal Current Biology . A survey conducted by a team from Columbia University and McGill University in the United States.

The study showed that it is possible to selectively erase memories stored in the same neuron.

Homecoming and synopsis

The series, released in its original language in Italy in November, will be broadcast in Italian starting from 2019. In total, it consists of 10 episodes of 30 minutes each.

It tells the story of a private rehabilitation center that deals with the reintegration into civil society of soldiers who have returned from the front  on behalf of the United States Army.

Patients are informed that they will be required to reside in the center in order to undergo therapy that will help them resume their civilian lives.

An inexperienced psychologist (Julia Roberts) is in charge of the treatment. The woman is also the director of the center, but in reality she receives instructions “from above”.

The project actually aims to test a new drug that promises to completely eliminate the effects of the post-traumatic stress disorder that plagues many war veterans.

At least that’s what Heidi, the psychologist, knows. But there is much more behind it. And here we do not want to anticipate too much so as not to deprive those who decide to start the series of the surprise.

The actual research

The argument developed in the series seems to have drawn inspiration from the incredible discoveries made in the field of emotions and memory. The Columbia University study reports the work of scientists who have found a way to selectively erase memories in the same neuron.

The research was conducted on Aplysia snails which possess neuron chemistry identical to that of humans. This discovery has opened a line of research that investigates the possibilities of alleviating the psychological effects caused by traumatic events.

At the chemical level there is a difference between associative and non-associative memory. Much of the information we hold is emotionally neutral. While the others are connected to emotions and together constitute the memory or recollection of an event.

Research shows that each memory uses a different variant of protein kinase M, a neurotransmitter used by neurons to record memories. It emerges, therefore, that associative memories use the PKM Apl III variant and non-associative memories use a different variant, APL PKM I.

The result of the study

The conclusions of this research seem to confirm that it is possible to  erase the painful part of a memory without erasing the memory itself. This is achieved by using inhibitors of the appropriate kinase variant. This discovery gives hope for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Current psychology has the tools necessary to manage PTSD, but it has never been possible to eradicate it with therapy alone. What the research now intends to develop is a pharmacological approach in order to maintain the memory without the distress it produces in the patient.

The relationship with the Homecoming series

The Homecoming series presents a scenario in which this research appears to be already in the human experimentation phase. In this case, with military personnel subject to PTSD: ex-combatants. The results obtained from this study are very fascinating.

But the series also shows the dark side of developing such techniques and their less human side as well.

In Homecoming , the human experimentation provides the expected results for the secret agency carrying out the research, but with some unforeseen events. Contingencies appear to be relatively easy to resolve in the later stage of drug development, but not so easy for the people undergoing the experiment.

People who, among other things, are totally unaware of the true purpose of “rehabilitation therapy”.

It would be very interesting to know if there is any research in this sense, which is based on therapeutic techniques of the so-called third generation. There seems to be enough evidence to suggest that some of these techniques can affect the chemical balance of the brain. That is, perform the same function as an external drug.

A line of research that seems interesting to many of us and that perhaps will find its development in the near future.