A powerful documentary featuring Daniel G. Amen, MD, is set to be released November 10, 2020, on Amazon (DVD and SVOD). Based on Adam and Andrew Marr’s bestselling
Tales from the Blast Factory, EMMY Award-winning director Jerri Sher’s latest documentary
Quiet Explosions: Healing the Brain tells the compelling story of veterans and others whose lives were shattered after suffering a
traumatic brain injury (TBI), but who eventually made miraculous recoveries.
THE TBI/PTSD EPIDEMIC
Did you know
16.8 U.S. military veterans commit suicide every day? Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are underlying factors in many of those deaths. Every year, over 2 million Americans—military and others—sustain a TBI. Even when it doesn’t lead to suicide, TBI and PTSD can ruin a person’s life.
Head trauma is a major cause of psychiatric illness, but very few people know it because most mental health professionals never look at the brains of their patients. Research shows that TBIs increase the risk of:
At Amen Clinics,
brain SPECT imaging shows that 40% of patients have experienced some form of head trauma. Many patients don’t remember experiencing a head injury, or they never connected the incident to their emotional, behavioral, or cognitive symptoms.
Following a head injury or traumatic event, some people develop PTSD, which affects an estimated 3.5% of U.S. adults. With the pandemic, however,
research is showing that rates of PTSD are likely to rise. Some of the symptoms associated with PTSD include distressing memories, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, feeling emotionally numb, guilt, shame, problems sleeping, anger, and irritability. All of these can keep you from living the life you want.
AMEN CLINICS PATIENTS FEATURED IN QUIET EXPLOSIONS
Among the people featured in the documentary,
Quiet Explosions are Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien, famed “Notre Dame Killer” running back from USC
Anthony Davis, and big-wave surfer
Shawn Dollar—all of whom received treatment at Amen Clinics.
Each of these world-class athletes had brain SPECT imaging scans performed at Amen Clinics. SPECT is a nuclear medicine tool that measures blood flow and activity in the brain. It shows three things—areas with healthy activity, areas with too much activity, and areas with too little activity. Each of their scans showed signs of brain trauma. Dollar says his brain scans showed he’s suffered “hundreds, if not thousands, of concussions.”
DISTINGUISHING TBI FROM PTSD
Many of the symptoms seen in PTSD are also seen in people with TBI. Unfortunately, most healthcare professionals never look at the brain with functional brain scans, so they can’t detect the brain patterns associated with TBI and PTSD. This results in too many people being misdiagnosed and given the wrong kind of treatment. Getting the wrong treatment can make your symptoms worse, which leads to more unnecessary suffering.
Functional brain imaging with SPECT can help. The research team at Amen Clinics, in collaboration with other scientists, has published two groundbreaking studies showing that brain SPECT imaging can distinguish TBI from PTSD with 94% accuracy. This research was named in
Discover Magazine’s Top 100 science discoveries of 2015.
This is important because MRI or CT scans, which show the brain’s structure, often find that people with mild TBI or PTSD have “normal” results. This leaves people who are suffering feeling like they’re imagining their symptoms and that there is no hope for recovery.
This is wrong. TBI and PTSD can be treated effectively.
TREATING TBI AND PTSD
Each of the three TBI survivors who visited Amen Clinics got their lives back with treatment protocols that are ignored by most traditional healthcare providers. At Amen Clinics, concussion rescue treatments may include:
These are in addition to a comprehensive
concussion rescue brain-body approach that also includes brain healthy nutrition, lifestyle changes, targeted nutraceuticals, and more. For PTSD, treatment may also include
EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), a powerful, non-invasive therapy for overcoming emotional trauma.
The documentary
Quiet Explosions explores the treatments that helped Rypien, Davis, Dollar, and several other remarkable people get their lives back. It may give you or a loved one hope for healing.
TBIs, PTSD, and other mental health conditions can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever and waiting until life gets back to “normal” is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.
At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
