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In late May 2020, Dr. Daniel Amen was featured on retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North’s Real American Heroes series. A political commentator, television host, author, and military historian, Col. North is perhaps best known as a National Security Staff member during the Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980s. In this fascinating interview, North revealed that he is a patient of Dr. Amen’s and has been getting treatment for a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The pair discussed what Dr. Amen calls a “global amygdala hijacking” that has been caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

WHAT IS THE AMYGDALA?

The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure within the temporal lobes, is the part of the brain that senses fear. Due to the pandemic, we’ve all been scared beyond belief. How you respond to that fear depends on the activity level in your amygdala. People who have a sleepy amygdala, meaning there is low activity in this brain region, tend to have less fear. They’re the ones who are crowding the beaches without masks or physical distancing. On the flip side, people who have an overactive amygdala are likely to feel high anxiety. These individuals are more likely to be holed up at home, too afraid to venture out to the grocery store. Due to the pandemic, millions of us have had our amygdala hijacked, cranking up its activity levels and making us feel more frightened.

WHAT’S THE CURE FOR THE GLOBAL AMYGDALA HIJACKING?

On the Real American Heroes series, North and Dr. Amen examine what you can do to liberate your amygdala from being hijacked. Here are 5 things that can help balance activity in this brain region.

In the interview, North and Dr. Amen also discuss:

You can listen to the full interview at Oliver North’s Real American Heroes.

If you feel like your amygdala has been hijacked, it’s okay to ask for help. Anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning and functional medicine evaluations to help our patients. 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.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, affecting over 1.5 million Americans, killing over 90,000 (so far), and causing unemployment rates to rise near Great Depression levels, all of us are being traumatized in some way. The human brain is wired to remember traumatic experiences, and in some people, this biological reality may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 In fact, mental health experts anticipate that PTSD, which currently affects over 8 million American adults, could explode into the next healthcare crisis.

Who’s at Risk for PTSD

Some people are at greater risk of developing PTSD due to the pandemic, including:

COVID-19 Survivors

Imagine being so ill you think you’re going to die. That’s highly traumatic, and a 2018 study shows that being critically ill can lead to symptoms of PTSD in as many as 27% of patients surviving a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). For people with COVID-19 who survive an ICU stay, it’s even worse. A 2020 study of more than 700 COVID-19 patients in China found that an astonishing 96% had symptoms of PTSD during quarantine. Because COVID-19 is so contagious, people in ICUs couldn’t see family or friends, leaving them completely alone during this frightening time. On top of that, hospital staff were likely wearing protective gear resembling hazmat suits, making it seem like an eerie scene from a Hollywood disaster movie. It’s a terrifying image that survivors are likely to replay over and over in their minds.

People Who Have Lost a Loved One

Suffering the death of someone you care about can trigger devastating long-term psychological consequences. Research in The American Journal of Psychiatry found that the unexpected loss of a loved one increases the chances of the onset of PTSD, as well as other mental health issues, such as depression and panic disorders.

Healthcare Workers

Doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other frontline responders are the heroes in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. These selfless individuals who put themselves in harm’s way by caring for those who are sick and dying from the highly contagious COVID-19 illness are also battling another risk—PTSD. A 2020 report in Psychological Medicine called PTSD the “second tsunami” of the COVID-19 pandemic and noted that healthcare workers are in occupations that are already at risk for the condition. Research in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry on the SARS outbreak in 2003 showed that 10% of healthcare workers experienced high levels of PTSD following that pandemic.

People With a History of Trauma or Other Mental Health Issues

If you’ve previously experienced trauma in your childhood or as an adult, the psychological distress of the pandemic may compound the effects and lead to PTSD. Similarly, people who are already struggling with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental health conditions may be more vulnerable to developing PTSD.

Anyone Who Practiced Self-Isolation

A 2013 study in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness investigated the psychosocial responses of children and their parents to quarantine and isolation measures in a pandemic. The researchers found that 30% of children in quarantine met the criteria for PTSD as did 25% of their parents. Considering that most of the nation was encouraged to self-isolate during the pandemic, this could translate into millions of people experiencing PTSD in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Know the Symptoms of PTSD

How can you tell if you have PTSD? There are many signs and symptoms associated with this condition. Common symptoms include anxiety, distressing memories and flashbacks, nightmares, trouble sleeping, hypervigilance, being easily startled, and difficulties concentrating. Avoiding people, places, or things that are reminders of the trauma is also common among those with PTSD. Sadly, suffering from PTSD also makes people more likely to have suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

It’s not unusual for people to experience some of these symptoms following a trauma. In most cases, they overcome these feelings after a few days or weeks and get on with their lives. In people with PTSD, however, these issues have a significant impact on daily life, and these symptoms don’t let up over time.

Some symptoms of PTSD overlap with those of other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). This is one of the reasons why people with PTSD are often misdiagnosed.

What Does PTSD Look Like in the Brain?

Brain SPECT imaging studies show that people with PTSD tend to have too much activity in the brain. On SPECT scans, overactivity is seen in the limbic system (emotional center), basal ganglia (anxiety center), and anterior cingulate gyrus (the brain’s gear shifter) in what looks like a diamond pattern. Too much activity in these areas is associated with charged emotions, high anxiety, and difficulty moving on from distressing thoughts.

Unfortunately, most psychiatrists never look at the brain, so they can’t detect the brain patterns identified with PTSD. Instead they only assess symptoms, which is why some people are misdiagnosed and given the wrong kind of treatment, which can make symptoms worse.

Brain scans can be very helpful in getting an accurate diagnosis of PTSD. Two studies published by the research team at Amen Clinics showed that brain SPECT imaging is able to differentiate PTSD from TBI with a 94% accuracy rate. By comparison, MRI and CT scans often show “normal” results in people with PTSD, which makes them think they are imagining their symptoms.

Hope for PTSD

Fortunately, there is help and hope for people with PTSD. Enhancing overall brain health can make a big improvement, as can some forms of psychotherapy, as well as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, and other strategies. Recognizing that you have a problem and getting an accurate diagnosis are the first steps to overcoming PTSD.

At Amen Clinics, we take a unique brain-body approach to diagnosis and treatment that includes brain SPECT imaging, as well as laboratory testing to check physical health, and other important factors that could be contributing to symptoms of PTSD. By getting to the root cause of your symptoms, we can create a more effective, personalized treatment plan for you.

If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and improved their quality of life at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

 

Functional medicine specialists Dr. Kabran Chapek, Dr. Eboni Cornish, and Dr. Mark Filidei from Amen Clinics recently hosted a webinar to answer questions about this unique field of medicine and how it relates to mental health. Here are some of the questions they answered during this popular online event.

https://youtu.be/cCPBtT4Ys0c

“What is functional medicine and how can it benefit a mental health workup?”

Dr. Chapek: Functional medicine, also known as integrative medicine, involves looking at treating the root cause of psychiatric symptoms and looking at the whole person. For instance, inflammation can cause depression. In addition, brain injuries, specifically mild traumatic brain injuries, are a major cause of mental illness, but no one’s talking about it because you can’t see the injury.

For example, I had a patient who was a pastor. He was in a car accident and at the ER, he was told he was fine. But two weeks later, he couldn’t write a sermon because he was having difficulties with memory problems and couldn’t focus. That’s a classic example of how physical injury causes a mental health issue and a brain issue.

“How does functional medicine tie in with brain imaging in regard to mental health?”

Dr. Filidei: Brain SPECT scans are really helpful for us to determine if there is an underlying brain problem. If you come in for a mental health condition and your brain doesn’t look healthy, it means you have a brain problem that could be causing all of your psychological issues, or making your symptoms worse. Then as functional doctors, we try to figure out what’s causing your brain to look abnormal. There can be a lot of reasons.

For example, a 24-year-old patient who saw one of our New York psychiatrists was referred to me because their brain scan didn’t look good. It turned out the young man was a normal kid until he came home from college, then all of a sudden, he was having brain fog and anxiety. People thought it was simply because he was out of college and couldn’t find a job. In fact, he had jobs lined up, but he couldn’t do them. One of the questions I always ask patients is, “Have you ever been exposed to mold?” It turned out he was living in his family’s basement where they created a room, and guess what? That basement flooded every year, and there was mold they hadn’t seen. This was 100% mold-caused “mental illness.”

“What do chronic infections have to do with mental health?”

Dr. Cornish: I specialize in the treatment of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic tick-borne diseases (such as Lyme disease), and other underlying infections, including pediatric autoimmune infections. Several years ago, a colleague’s daughter had severe neuropsychiatric symptoms but none of the psychiatrists she saw could figure out what was wrong. They gave her medications, but they didn’t help. Eventually, she was tested and screened, and it turned out she had a tick-borne illness. When the underlying infection was treated, her neuropsychiatric symptoms got remarkably better. At Amen Clinics, we’ve diagnosed hundreds of cases where infections were causing mental health symptoms.

“How can hormones affect mental well-being?”

Dr. Filidei: I keep telling a lot of my psychiatrist colleagues, “If you do one thing, try to optimize hormones because you could probably toss out half the medications your patients ‘need’ if their hormones are optimized.” You might go into your mental health practitioner saying, “I just have no energy. I have no motivation,” and they give you Prozac. In reality, you need your hormones optimized. So, that’s why we look at all those things and try not to miss it because the tragedy is misdiagnosing a hormone imbalance—or Lyme Disease or any of these things that we look for—and then getting drugged for it and labeled for it.

“How can low cortisol affect someone’s anxiety and depression?”

Dr. Chapek: Certainly, if cortisol— a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands—is too low, it can indicate adrenal hypofunction from chronic stress. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause high cortisol putting you in a fight-or-flight state for months and years, but then eventually, the adrenals stop producing as much cortisol and become depleted. And this can certainly cause depression.

Dr. Filidei: As Dr. Chapek said, high or low cortisol is not good. Too much cortisol over too long a period is very damaging to your entire body. You’ll age faster. You’ll get sick more often. You’ll have direct atrophy of tissues and damage to your brain. After a while, you end up with low cortisol, which can worsen depression, worsen fatigue, and worsen energy.

“How do head injuries impact hormone function and mental health?”

Dr. Chapek: I recently wrote a book called Concussion Rescue, which is a handbook of the method we use at Amen Clinics to help patients heal from head injuries. In it, I reveal that 25% to 50% of people with brain injuries have damage to the pituitary gland, which is your master hormone gland in the brain. This can cause low thyroid, low adrenal, and low testosterone, among other hormonal issues. And these can lead to a wide range of psychiatric symptoms. In fact, many of the football players we have treated at Amen Clinics and many other people with a history of brain injury have low testosterone or low growth hormone. It’s staggering.

“Can environmental toxins impact your immune system and psychological health?”

Dr. Cornish: Our environment is so toxic—from our foods to our air, to our water, to chemicals and mold. You name it. We’re all toxic. How does someone look with toxins in the brain? It’s across the board. They can look normal, or they can have invisible symptoms, or they can look like they have dementia. It’s all different extremes. In children, it can appear as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome, diseases, and associative disorders, which are known as PANS or PANDAS.

“When bloodwork is recommended, what do you test for?”

Dr. Chapek: We perform a functional medicine panel, which looks for inflammatory markers, deficiencies, and metabolic measurements. That covers a lot, but we can also do additional labs, such as hormone testing, toxicity testing looking for mold, and testing looking for Lyme and other infections. This information, in combination with brain imaging and a complete personal history, can be so helpful in finding the root causes of symptoms so we can find the best solutions.

Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. 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.

 

With the expanding legalization of cannabis in the U.S., you may think it isn’t such a big deal if your tween or teen is smoking pot. Think again! A wealth of research shows that cannabis harms the teenage brain, but one of the more surprising—and alarming—findings is that regular use of marijuana is associated with a higher risk of psychosis. And the risk is even greater in people who start smoking at a young age.

Parents need to pay close attention considering that cannabis use is widespread among adolescents and teens. Approximately 1.8 million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were cannabis users in 2015. And an estimated 23% of 12th graders, 14% of 10th graders, and 5% of 8th graders use the drug at least once a month, according to the latest statistics.

The Marijuana-Psychosis Connection

A 2017 report on the health effects of cannabis cautions that pot use can have serious psychiatric consequences. Commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the report points to research showing that using marijuana at an early age, as well as heavy and prolonged usage may increase the risk of triggering the first episode of psychosis.

Psychosis is characterized by losing touch with reality and may include symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. Each year, an estimated 100,000 adolescents and young adults experience their first psychotic episode, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And research shows that cannabis is involved in close to 50% of all cases of psychosis and some types of schizophrenia. and When psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, are already present in adolescents and young adults, marijuana use can worsen symptoms.

What’s making the connection even more distressing is that the cannabis being sold today isn’t the same as the weed from the peace and love era of the 1960s. Levels of THC (spell out) have been on the rise for decades, making the new cannabis products—from joints to edibles, tabs, and vaping systems—far more potent.

A 2019 study in The Lancet Psychiatry shows why this is so concerning. This research confirms previous evidence showing that daily cannabis use and exposure at an early age increase the risk of experiencing a psychotic episode. Compared with people who had never tried cannabis, daily pot users were 3 times more likely to experience a psychotic episode. And the risk was higher in adolescents who started using the substance at age 15 or earlier.

What makes this study different from previous findings is that it looked at how using high-potency cannabis affects the risk of developing psychosis. The disturbing results showed that when compared to people who have never used marijuana, using the kind with high levels of THC nearly doubles the chances of experiencing a psychotic episode. Even worse, using high-potency pot on a daily basis increased the odds of a psychotic disorder by nearly 5 times. The researchers suggest that if high-potency cannabis were not available, as many as half of all first-episode psychosis cases could be prevented. 

Healthy SPECT Surface Scan (Top Down)
Marijuana SPECT Surface Scan (Top Down)

How to Talk to Your Teen About Marijuana

Talking to your teen about drug use can be difficult. You don’t want to come off sounding like you’re preaching, and young people don’t respond well to scare tactics or threats. One of the best ways you can start a conversation and help your teen understand how damaging marijuana can be is to do it with pictures. Show them brain scans of a healthy brain versus the brain of someone who is a regular cannabis user. Seeing is believing.

By sharing the images in this blog (you can find more brain scans of people with drug addiction here), you may be able to help them break their belief that pot is harmless. When teens see what substances can do to their brain function, it helps them develop brain envy. When young people realize that with a better brain comes a better life, they are more likely to want to take care of their brain with healthy habits.

Don’t wait to start this important conversation with your teen. Their brain depends on it.

At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to help our patients see and understand any underlying brain dysfunction. This is often a powerful first step to breaking the chains of substance use and addiction. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain and treating any co-occurring mental health problems.

If you want to help your teen join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their substance use and psychiatric symptoms at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

Did you know that consuming a Standard American Diet (SAD) for just one week deteriorates brain function and increases your desire to munch on junk food? That’s what researchers discovered in a 2020 study published in Royal Society Open Science. For this trial, volunteers spent one week splurging on high-fat foods and sweet treats with high amounts of added sugar. The SAD diet led to worse performance on memory tests and an increased desire to overeat junk food after they had finished consuming a meal.

The researchers suggest that the typical western diet—think high-glycemic foods like waffles and high-fat fare like milkshakes—rapidly impairs function in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. One of the brain’s major memory centers, the hippocampus is also involved in appetite regulation. Dysfunction in this area is associated with memory issues and troubles with appetite control.

For this study, the scientists enlisted 110 healthy, lean young adults ages 20-23 and divided them into 2 groups. One group indulged in a high-calorie western-style breakfast while a control group ate a healthy breakfast. At the beginning and end of the trial, both groups also performed tests that assessed word learning, visual memory, and episodic memory. They also rated their cravings and enjoyment of high-sugar fare, such as Fruit Loops and Coco Pops. The people who found the junk food the tastiest performed the worst on the memory tests.

This study is just one of many that are pointing to the strong relationship between what you put in your mouth and the moment-by-moment functioning of your brain. It all leads to a vicious cycle—eat junk food, impair hippocampus function and appetite control, crave more junk food, further impair brain function, and so on. It helps explain why the SAD diet is contributing to the overweight and obesity epidemic in America where approximately 70% of the population is overweight and 40% fall into the obese category.

Fat on the Brain

Excess fat on the body further impairs brain function. An analysis of brain SPECT scans of 20,000 psychiatric patients at Amen Clinics found that as their weight went up, the physical functioning of their brain went down. Research shows that obesity is also associated with a greater risk of depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia (fear of going out), and addictions. These issues typically increase the likelihood of poor eating habits, which creates a downward spiral.

High blood sugar levels, associated with diabetes and pre-diabetes which affect over 100 million Americans, are often a result of eating a western diet over time and are associated with a smaller hippocampus and memory problems. Scientists have identified evidence linking abnormal insulin levels, a hallmark of diabetes, to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline. The correlation is so strong that some researchers have labeled Alzheimer’s “type 3 diabetes.”

Enhancing the Food-Brain Connection

Even if you’ve been eating a western diet your whole life, there is hope. Although the vast majority of the research on food and the brain centers on how eating junk food leads to a junk food brain, other evidence shows that it’s never too late to start fueling your brain with healthy foods that boost brain function.

An Amen Clinics brain imaging study on 30 retired NFL football players found that after 6 weeks of following an overall brain health program that included eating a healthy diet, 80% of the players’ brain scans showed improvement in blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, as well as significant improvements in overall cognitive functioning, processing speed, attention, reasoning, and memory.

One of the easiest things you can do to enhance brain function is to identify 25 brain healthy foods you love that love you back and make them the mainstay of your meals.

At Amen Clinics, we take a unique brain-body approach to diagnosis and treatment that includes brain SPECT imaging, as well as laboratory testing to check physical health, weight and diet assessments, and other important factors that could be contributing to symptoms. By getting to the root cause of your symptoms, we can create a more effective, personalized treatment plan for you.

If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and improved their quality of life at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

 

When 3 psychiatrists from Amen Clinics hosted a webinar to answer people’s questions about the coronavirus pandemic, they received such a flood of queries they couldn’t get to them all during the allotted time.
Dr. Robert Johnson, Dr. Jennifer Love, and Dr. Jay Faber graciously agreed to respond to some of the most common additional questions they received. Here’s what they had to say.

“Would a couple of hyperbaric treatments a week be preventative for COVID 19?” 

Dr. Johnson: There was a study out of Wuhan, China, involving the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases. It involved 5 COVID-19 patients, 2 of whom were critically ill and 3 of whom were suffering from “severe” illness. They were treated with HBOT at the Department of Hyperbaric Oxygen in Wuhan Yangtze River Shipping General Hospital.

In that report, hyperbaric oxygen was added to the current comprehensive treatments being performed at the hospital for COVID-19 affected patients, with a dose of 90-120 minutes at treatment pressures of 1.4 to 1.6 ATA. The results were very encouraging; 5 patients received significant therapeutic benefits, including rapid relief of symptoms after the first session. The rationale for the improvement was the ability of hyperbaric therapy to quickly reverse progressive hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels).

However, there is no data regarding HBOT’s ability to prevent COVID-19 infection.

“How do we shift focus to our values and stop obsessing with goals? Especially when our goals seem further away due to the economic and social shifts we are seeing?” 

Dr. Johnson: A good model for this comes from the domain of sports. As an athlete, all you can control is your process. In fact, most athletic breakthroughs occur when you relinquish concern about the result and focus on your preparation and execution. The same principle holds as it relates to our obsession with goals in everyday life; we as individuals don’t have control over the macroeconomic effects of the coronavirus, but we can focus on clarifying the following:

  1. “What have I learned is most important to me going forward in this next chapter of my life (relationally, physically, spiritually, vocationally)?”
  2. “What are the changes I need to make in order to live those values?” 

So, it starts with clarifying your core values at this point in time, then developing, implementing, and sustaining the habits, practices, and mindset that will serve those core values/priorities. The key is to slow down and find joy in each step of the process—really enjoying your body’s ability to move when exercising, being present to your breath during mindfulness meditations, mining a feeling of gratitude for each small pleasure in your life, and enjoying the fruit that grows from being as authentic and vulnerable as possible in your relationships.

“How can we help our friends and family not falling to depression at this time when some are isolated alone?”

Dr. Love: FaceTime, send flowers or small tokens—books, a candle, a hand-written letter. Even a picture drawn by a 50-year-old of something ridiculous like a dinosaur walking through a garden with a robot would make anyone laugh (maybe at you, but whatever).  Write a series of encouraging notes, drawings, articles of interest, crosswords from the newspaper; put them into separate envelopes with dates to open, and send them together in a large envelope.  Find out whether there is a certain time of day when they feel the most lonely, sad, or anxious, and contact them half an hour before. Send them a TikTok. Video record the family singing a favorite song or a silly song. Send things randomly, frequently, and follow up with regular FaceTime calls or phone calls.

“I have an adolescent who is experiencing some paranoia. We are mainly staying home during the pandemic and not allowing him to visit his friends during this time. What are some recommendations for him?”

Dr. Faber: Loneliness and not seeing friends has been a big issue during the pandemic. Here are my suggestions. I would highly encourage using social media like FaceTime, Skype, or Zoom to spend time with friends. With that recommendation, your adolescent may be spending more time on social media than recommended before the COVID-19 restrictions. If social time is being used constructively, parents might think of giving their children more time to be on social media to talk with friends.

“My 26-year-old daughter is out there working with kids with autism. how can I help her cope with the added stress of being exposed to Covid-19?”

Dr. Faber: This is a great question. In order to cope with the stress, I would work closely with your doctor to make sure you’re doing everything possible to promote healthy immune functioning. Talk to your doctor about the proper use of multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc, as well as other agents. To decrease stress, simple relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can help keep our body in a protective state to stay calm and promote healthy immune functioning.

If you missed the webinar, click here for the video and the first round of questions answered.

Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. 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.

 

One of the most powerful “feel better fast” techniques Dr. Daniel Amen—a neuropsychiatrist, brain imaging expert, and founder of Amen Clinics—uses is called “Breaking the Bonds of the Past.” It stems from the belief that negative feelings and behaviors—such as anxiety and panic attacks, addictions, and angry outbursts—are often based on past memories that are either toxic or misinterpreted.

This technique requires only 5 simple steps, but it can have a powerful and lasting effect. Here’s what you do. Whenever you have a painful or disruptive memory or feeling, write out the answers to the following questions:

  1. When was the last time you struggled, had the painful or disruptive memory or feeling, or felt suffering? Write down the details.
  2. What were you feeling at the time? Describe the predominant feeling.
  3. When was the first time you had that feeling? In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to the time when you first had the feeling. Write down the incident or incidents in detail.
  4. Can you go back even further to a time when you had that original feeling? Write down the details of the original incident.
  5. If you have a clear idea of the origins of the feelings, can you disconnect them by reprocessing them through an adult or parent mindset, or reframe them in light of new information? Consciously disconnect the emotional bridge to the past with the idea that what happened in the past belongs in the past, and what happens now is what matters. 

Here’s an example of how Dr. Amen worked through these questions during a psychotherapy session with a young patient.

How Nate Broke the Bonds of the Past to Overcome Panic Attacks

Nate, 15, desperately wanted help for panic attacks but didn’t want to take anti-anxiety medication. He had several episodes a day when he felt like he was choking or drowning. His breathing became shallow, fast, and labored. His heart raced, he broke out in a sweat, and he felt as though he was dying. Nate hated these episodes. The fear of having them was so overwhelming that he stopped going to school. On Nate’s second visit, Dr. Amen went through the Breaking the Bonds of the Past steps with him.

Tell me about the last time you had a panic attack?

Nate said it was the day before. He was eating dinner when all of a sudden, he felt like he was starting to choke. He couldn’t get air, his heart started to race, he was sweating, and felt as though he was going to die.   

Tell me what you were feeling at the time. Describe the predominant feeling.

Nate said he felt as though he was going to die. 

In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to a time when you first had that feeling, the feeling that you were going to die.

Nate sat there for a minute and then started to choke. I thought he was having a panic attack in front of me. I asked him to breathe slowly and tell me what was going on. He slowed his breathing, wiped his brow, and told me about a time when he was 6 years old. He was sitting at a lunch table at school and accidentally swallowed a plastic wrapper from a candy bar. He started to choke on the wrapper. Initially, no one saw him. He said he started to turn blue. He couldn’t breathe, and no one noticed. He thought he was going to die. After what seemed an eternity a teacher saw him and did the Heimlich maneuver on him, dislodging the wrapper. Nate said he had forgotten about the event until now.

After Nate had settled down and composed himself, I asked him to go back even further in his mind to see if there was an earlier time when he had the feeling he was going to die.

He closed his eyes and said he remembered a time when he was very young. He was coming out of a very dark place into a place filled with bright lights, lights that felt hot. People were moving around. He felt fear. He couldn’t breathe, and something awful covered his face. He felt as though he was going to die.

To my amazement, Nate had just described a birth experience. When he opened his eyes, I asked him if he knew anything about his birth. He said no, no one had ever talked to him about it. I asked his mother to come into the room. I asked her about his birth experience. She told me that he was a meconium baby, where the infant’s feces get into the amniotic fluid which is very dangerous for the newborn. He was born blue and had to be resuscitated by the doctor. His mother said she had never talked about it with Nate. She didn’t want to worry him.

Break the bonds of the past through an adult or parent mindset or reframe them in light of new information.

With Nate’s mother in the room, I took him back to both of those times. First, with the birth experience, I had the grown teenage Nate go back and explain to the baby what had happened. The baby was in trouble for a short time, but the doctors helped clean him up so he could breathe normally. I then took him through the candy wrapper incident and had the teenage Nate tell 6-year-old Nate that he is grateful to the teacher who helped him and that he is alive, well, and healthy (and he needed to stop eating candy wrappers). 

After that session, Nate’s panic attacks disappeared. Dr. Amen saw Nate a few more times, but essentially disconnecting his present symptoms from the past sensitizing event resolved them.

At Amen Clinics, we take a unique brain-body approach to diagnosis and treatment that includes brain SPECT imaging, as well as laboratory testing to check physical health, and other important factors that could be contributing to symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. By getting to the root cause of your symptoms, we can create a more effective, personalized treatment plan for you.

If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and improved their quality of life at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

 

By Eboni Cornish, MD

Unfortunately, we do not have a cure or vaccination for COVID-19 at this time. It is continuing to spread, with over 1 million active cases of coronavirus in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Although much of the media attention has focused on the elderly and those with underlying health conditions as the most at risk, we are still learning about its effects on children.

How COVID-19 is Affecting Kids 

The evidence of pediatric complications of COVID-19 is newly emerging, and there are increased reports of children with Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystemic Syndrome (PIMS). As of May 7, 2020, at least 85 children have developed PIMS. This COVID-19 linked illness is associated with a high level of severe inflammation and can mirror symptoms of other inflammatory illnesses such as toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease.  Symptoms include high fevers, rash, red eyes, severe diarrhea, and possible complications with the cardiovascular system.

As states start to re-open, it is imperative that we have an enhanced focus on the immune system of our children. Our society is going to be exposed to a new normal, unlike anything we have ever experienced. 

11 Ways to Protect Your Children

Here are some things you can do:

1. Stay aware and get involved.

As schools open up, we have to remind ourselves to remain cautious. Form a positive relationship with the staff at your children’s school and stay informed. 

2. Steer clear of sick children.

Avoid close contact with any students that have cold or flu-like symptoms.  

3. Encourage your children to have good hygiene.

Teach them to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing their nose, coughing, or sneezing; after going to the bathroom; and before eating. They can time this by singing the song “Happy Birthday” twice while washing in the sink. Also, teach your children the proper way to sneeze by covering their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow.

4. Keep a watchful eye.

Monitor your children for any signs of excess fatigue, diarrhea, fever, or any other complaints. Have a very low threshold when it comes to calling your pediatrician regarding adverse symptoms in your children. 

5. Clean high-touch areas.

Be sure to wipe down surfaces, such as tables, countertops, and doorknobs.

6. Keep a change of clothes on hand.

Consider having your child change clothes and shower after visiting any locations where more than 10 people are gathered.

7. Fuel up with healthy foods.

Children should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Try to introduce a vegetable with each meal. And consider introducing morning fruit smoothies in your child’s daily routine. If you have a picky eater, try to find healthier alternatives that are similar to their favorite food.

8. Wear masks.

COVID-19 is highly contagious and children should take the same precautions as adults. The CDC recommends that children 2 years and older should wear a cloth face covering over their nose and mouth when in public settings where it’s difficult to practice physical distancing. This is an additional public health measure people should take to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in addition to (not instead of) the other everyday preventive actions listed above. Do not place cloth face covering on children younger than 2 because of the danger of suffocation.

9. Continue physical distancing.

Try to avoid unnecessary play dates.

10. Wipe down infant toys frequently.

Babies are prone to put their hands and mouths on anything in their grasp. It is important that we minimize their exposure to contaminated items. 

11. Wash using hot water.

Launder items using the warmest appropriate setting for the item and dry items immediately.

In summary, we now have evidence that COVID-19 can cause serious complications in our children. Let us not ignore the research. This is a new virus and we are still learning about it. We must remember that children are vulnerable to this disease.

Let’s focus on keeping our children safe.

About the Author: Eboni Cornish, MD, Amen Clinics Washington D.C.

Dr. Eboni Cornish is an integrative/functional medicine physician with a special interest in infectious diseases at Amen Clinics. She is a board member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Educational Foundation which is responsible for training numerous physicians on the treatment of Lyme Disease and other tick-borne infections. Dr. Cornish’s approach to the treatment of chronic disease is to find the root cause of a person’s health problems by performing a comprehensive evaluation of the body’s various biological systems and taking an approach based on integrative strategies of healing.

Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. 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.

 

The threat of illness, job losses, social isolation—it’s a recipe for heightened stress, irritability, and anger. But it’s even worse for people who are trapped at home with a domestic abuser.

Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic has created a sort of perfect storm for domestic violence. Reports of increases in partner abuse, child abuse, and pet abuse are emerging across the nation and around the world. According to a study in Forensic Science International: Reports, incidences of domestic violence have risen 40-50% in Brazil and are up 30% in France. In the U.K., the BBC reported that calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline saw a 25% increase since the lockdown began. And in the U.S., hotlines are reporting a spike in calls.

Abusers often use tactics, such as isolation from friends and family, as a way to control their victims. Constant scrutiny, restrictions on behavior, and limiting access to necessities (like food and using the bathroom) are other common strategies. With the world on lockdown, this has given perpetrators a stronger weapon in their arsenal.

For victims, it’s made it more challenging to be able to reach out to friends or a support network for help without their abuser’s knowledge. And it’s preventing them from escaping the situation by leaving home when things turn violent. Going to a shelter may not be an option now for fear of infection from COVID-19.

This sad situation makes you wonder what makes some people violent? The answer lies in the brain.

Violence and the Brain

The added stressors of the coronavirus pandemic can be contributing to serious anger and violence issues. In some people, violent outbursts may be a sign of a mental health condition called intermittent explosive disorder (IED).

This condition is more commonly seen in people who grew up in an abusive home or in those who have suffered multiple emotional traumas. The likelihood of problems with anger or violent behavior is increased in people with other mental health problems, such as ADD/ADHD or personality disorders. In addition, conditions like anxiety, depression, or substance abuse are seen in over 80% of people who suffer from IED.

In a brain SPECT imaging study performed at Amen Clinics on people who had assaulted another person or damaged property, more than 70% had abnormalities in the left temporal lobe region of the brain. Brain imaging scans indicate that damage to the left temporal lobe or dysfunction in this area of the brain makes people more likely to struggle with irritability, anger, and violent thoughts and behavior.

The temporal lobes, situated on either side of the brain behind the eyes and underneath the temples, are involved with emotional stability, understanding and processing memories, and more. When there is abnormal activity in the temporal lobes, it can be associated with aggression (internally or externally directed), dark or violent thoughts, emotional instability, and other problems.

Temporal lobe problems can come from many sources, the most common being genetics, head injuries, and toxic or infectious exposure. Since the temporal lobes sit in a cavity surrounded by bone on 5 sides (front, back, right side, left side, and underside) they can be damaged by a blow to the head from almost any angle. In fact, the temporal lobes, along with the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus, are the parts of the brain most vulnerable to damage by virtue of their placement within the skull.

Childhood Trauma and the Brain

For children, being abused or witnessing intimate partner violence can have devastating, long-term effects on the brain and mental health.

In a typical year, an estimated 4.5 to 15 million children experience exposure to physical violence at home. It’s likely that there will be an uptick in these numbers as a result of families being cooped up at home due to the pandemic. This doesn’t bode well for the future generation.

Research in a 2018 issue of JAMA Network Open found that for children, witnessing domestic abuse can cause the same damaging effects as if they had endured the abuse themselves. In addition, brain imaging studies show that childhood trauma—including physical, verbal, and sexual abuse—causes structural changes in the brain that have been linked to a greater risk of mental illness and addictions. For example, a 2016 review of neuroimaging studies in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines found that youngsters exposed to abuse experience physical changes in the following areas of the brain:

These brain changes can lead to trouble in many areas of a person’s life, including at school, at work, and in relationships.

Damaged Brains Can Heal

Domestic violence can seem like a hopeless situation with no way out. But decades of brain imaging work and clinical practice at Amen Clinics have shown that there is hope for people in abusive relationships and for children who have suffered emotional trauma. Addressing underlying brain dysfunction is critical to treating IED, as well as for overcoming the lasting consequences of experiencing or witnessing abuse.

Note: If you or a loved one is in an unsafe domestic situation, also consider these resources:

If you’re struggling with issues that stem from growing up in an abusive family or you’re experiencing domestic violence, Amen Clinics can help. At Amen Clinics, we can help you—and everyone in the family unit—achieve better brain health and a stronger, more fulfilling relationship. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. 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.

 

When it comes to helping people adopt brain healthy eating habits, Zoe Davis is an expert. As the Amen Clinics resident nutrition counselor, she has a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis in Health Psychology. And she’s completed post-graduate training in nutrition, disordered eating behaviors, and holistic obesity care. Through her brain health nutrition coaching at Amen Clinics, she’s already helped thousands of people ditch the lifelong harmful eating patterns that contribute to anxiety, depression, and brain fog and adopt habits that promote better moods, less stress and anxiety, and greater mental clarity.

Here, she offers some of the simplest strategies she shares with the people she helps.

Trick #1. Rearrange your refrigerator.

This is such an easy trick, and it’s one that leaves most people saying, “Why didn’t I ever think of that?” Stop letting the refrigerator manufacturer tell you how to organize your groceries. Instead of storing veggies and fruit in that mysterious drawer at the bottom, where they’ll be forgotten because they are out of sight, out of mind, put them in glass containers at eye level. That way, every time you open the door, you’ll see the nutrient-dense brain healthy foods first.

Trick #2. Kick boring to the curb.

A common suggestion among nutritionists is to bake a sheet of chicken or fish for the week so you’ll have it ready to go for dinners. But most people get bored eating the same thing night after night. This trick solves that problem. When you bake that sheet of chicken or fish, season each one differently, so that when you use them throughout the week, it’s not going to taste the same every day. You can have one seasoned with curry, one with garlic, one with ginger, and so on.

Trick #3. Sneak more veggies into your meals.

One of the most common problems Zoe sees in the people she coaches is that they aren’t getting the recommended daily servings of vegetables in their meals. In fact, research shows that 90% of Americans don’t get enough vegetables and fruits. How can you up your intake of veggies? One of the simplest ways is to add veggies to eggs for breakfast. Just toss a few handfuls of spinach, kale, or mushrooms in the eggs for a major nutrient boost.

Trick #4. Get out of your rut.

So many of the people Zoe helps are stuck in a rut—eating the same things day in and day out. This can mean missing out on some important nutrients. The next time you go to the Farmers’ Market or to the grocery store, force yourself to try something new. For example, if you love almonds—Zoe’s personal favorite—branch out. Each nut and each seed offer slightly different minerals and vitamins. By mixing different nuts and seeds together, every time you grab a handful, you’ll be getting a greater variety of nutrients. Go for variety with seasonal vegetables and fruits too as a way to mix things up.

Trick #5. Use Zoe’s 15-minute rule.

When you come home from the store with all your beautiful veggies, take 15 minutes to cut up a bunch of them. Have them prepped and ready to go, so you can quickly add them quickly to eggs, salads, and other meals. This cuts down on prep time for all your meals during the week and makes it more likely that you’ll actually eat those veggies you bought.

Trick #6. Before you take a bite, take a breath.

If you eat when you’re stressed or worried, it can impair the digestive process and interfere with the absorption of the nutrients in the foods you’re eating. A quick trick that can aid your digestive system to work more effectively is to take a few deep breaths before eating. This easy strategy engages the parasympathetic nervous system to create a state of relaxation, prepare your body to release the enzymes needed to break down the foods you’re about to eat, and support the absorption of nutrients. Just place your hands in your lap and take 4-5 deep breaths before you start your meal.

You can find many more brain healthy eating tricks and tips in Zoe’s free webinar “Healing the Brain with Nutrition.”

At Amen Clinics, we take a unique brain-body approach to health and healing, which includes brain SPECT imaging, as well as laboratory testing to check physical health, an assessment of nutritional deficiencies, nutritional coaching, and other important factors.

If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and improved their quality of life at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.