12/13/07
I appeared on CNN tonight at 8:40PMEST to discuss the judgment of teens and young women who post “drunken girls gone wild” photos on internet sites such as Facebook or My Space.
As if the hangover wasn’t bad enough, thousands of young women have the added humiliation of millions of people seeing their stupidity on the internet. It is no longer just for Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.
Being a child and adolescent psychiatrist, plus having three young adult children, including a 20 year old daughter, the images are concerning and disturbing. Many of the images are women who are passed out drunk or in compromising positions (either sexually or sitting over the toilet with their faces in a trash can).
Alcohol lowers the function of the prefrontal cortex, and causes problems with judgment and impulse control. There is little forethought with these postings. Today, employers are searching the behavior of potential employees on the web. Try to find a job years later and your employer may find one of the images posted in a lapse of good sense, which makes him or her nervous about hiring you.
At the Amen Clinics we treat many people who have substance abuse problems or problems with ADHD or brain injuries, all of whom exhibit issues with judgment and impulse control. Balancing the brain helps balance their thoughtfulness and forethought.
Brain imaging can tell how your brain functions, and when people see their brains, they develop brain envy and want a better brain, so they stop doing stupid things to it.
On a similar note, according to a report in USA Today, US Army suicides are up this year to 109. The highest previous year since 1990 was 102 in 1991. Suicides in the Army are 60% higher than the civilian population: 18/100,000 vs 11/100,000.
Suicide is associated with loss and hopelessness. Suicide is more common in young males, especially before age 25, as the prefrontal cortex is not yet finished developing, so forethought is a problem for them.
Suicide is also more common in brain injuries. Brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war, with more than 20,000 going unreported, in one estimate in another report in USA Today.
Suicide often results from very low activity in an area of the frontal lobes called area 25. When that area is hyperactive people with depression get well from treatments such as Prozac. When this area is low, people tend to have no response or negative responses to traditional antidepressants.
The Army spends 100 million dollars a year on prevention programs, but rarely ever look at soldiers brains who suffer from depression. It is easy to assume someone is weak willed and pass these people off as personality disordered, but I how do you know unless you look. Brain imaging can provide valuable clues to treatment.
Until next time, please know that success starts with a healthy brain. Failure is often the result of a brain gone wrong. The good news is that no matter how bad you have been to your brain it is never too late to change your brain and change your life. To your brain health,
Daniel Amen, MD
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Dr. Amen, I am a fan of your book “Making a Good Brain Great,” and have perused your website. I got your newsletter today saying you’d be on CNN so I tuned in. I’m glad to see that the media value the opinion of such a valuable resource! I wish you would have gotten to say more!
I have read your books and followed your work with excitement. I majored in psych back in the 70s, before the advent of brain imaging. Query: Have studies been done of brains relative to gender identification (female vis a vis male, homo- vis a vis hetero)? Would like to see/hear more along that vein…
You mention above that for those with low activity in area 25 will have no response or poor response to SSRIs.
Have you found anything that does effectively treat this?
As it is mentioned in the context of soldiers, is this a trauma related finding and would EMDR be an effective treatment?
Dear Danny Amen. I am so glad you have etablished a successful pratice. I am glad to have been a positive element in your life. Time goes on and we grow stronger each day I am glad you are work with Tom Muzzio. He is also a dear friend. I am a write now (funny a writer when people don’t read. Ha). Just google my name Chris Malkemes. My stuff is generic and on the web. Would like to see you sometime. Write me and let me know how your doing. Bob will retire Dec 08 and we will move to a lovely little cottage in Florida…..