If you’re feeling depressed, you may go to a psychologist, psychiatrist, or your primary care physician (who prescribe 85% of psychiatric medications), who will ask you to describe your symptoms. In most cases, your doctor will listen, do a brief examination, then look for symptom clusters. Based on this, they’ll give you a diagnosis and treatment plan, usually involving one or more psychiatric medications.
For example, you may say, “I’m depressed.” Your doctor will then label you with a diagnosis that has the same name as your symptoms—depression, in this example—without taking any biological information into consideration. And you’re likely to walk out with a prescription for antidepressant medication.
Unfortunately, antidepressants are often ineffective. Approximately one-third of people with depression don’t respond fully to treatment with antidepressants, according to a 2015 study in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience.
What’s the problem?
Symptoms don’t reveal anything about the underlying biology of the problems people have. All other medical professionals look directly at the organs they treat, but psychiatrists are taught to assume what the underlying biological mechanisms are for illnesses, such as depression, without ever looking at the brain. Because of this, the root causes of depression are often missed.
Brain SPECT imaging studies show that depression isn’t a simple or single disorder. In fact, there are 7 types of depression and anxiety. Giving everyone the same treatment will never work. You need to know your depression type.
What you need to know: Getting a brain scan can help determine which type of depression you have so you can get the most effective treatment.
Mild traumatic brain injury is a major cause of psychiatric problems, but very few people know it. Head injuries, even minor ones, increase the risk of depression, according to research in Frontiers in Psychiatry. At Amen Clinics, 40% of patients had a significant brain injury prior to seeking help. Most of them didn’t connect the injury to their psychiatric issues, and many didn’t even remember hurting their head.
What you need to know: A brain scan can reveal damage from a past head injury that may be contributing to feelings of depression.
Just as inflammation can ravage your body, it can also damage your brain and mind. It has been associated with a wide range of neurological and psychiatric illnesses, including depression. If you’ve been treated for major depressive disorder without success, it may be time to look at inflammation as a possible root cause.
What you need to know: Have your doctor check your inflammation levels with tests for C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and the omega-3 index. Avoid eating pro-inflammatory foods (such as corn and soy). A 2015 study in Brain and Behavior has found that some anti-inflammatory medications (such as aspirin and ibuprofen) and nutraceuticals (such as omega-3 fatty acids and curcumin) have been found to decrease depression in people who have evidence of persistent inflammation.
Infectious illnesses including Lyme disease, streptococcus (strep throat), toxoplasmosis, syphilis, helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), HIV/AIDS, herpes, and others are a major cause of psychiatric problems like depression that few medical professionals recognize.
What you need to know: If you or a loved one’s depression is not getting better with standard treatment, consider testing for (and treating) infectious diseases that commonly affect the mind.
In particular, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, moodiness, and lack of motivation are common symptoms when neurohormones—such as thyroid, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone—levels are abnormal.
What you need to know: Have your doctor check your hormone levels and balance them if necessary.
Diabesity is having high blood sugar and/or being overweight or obese. Obesity is associated with a greater risk of depression. According to 2016 research in Current Diabetes Reviews, depression and anxiety are 2-3 times higher in patients with Type 2 diabetes than the general population.
What you need to know: Eat brain healthy foods to help balance blood sugar and to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
In general, a single night of staring at the ceiling can make you wake up feeling sad, irritable, or moody. Over time, sleep problems can lead to a higher risk of depression. Research in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience shows that about 75% of people with depression also have insomnia. In addition, having untreated sleep apnea nearly triples your risk of depression, according to a 2016 study in American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
What you need to know: Create a healthy sleep routine and if you snore, get checked for sleep apnea and treat it if necessary.
Your brain is the most metabolically active organ in your body. As such, it is vulnerable to damage from toxins, such as toxic mold, smoke, conventional cleaning products, carbon monoxide, pesticides, and more. Toxins are one of the major causes of psychiatric issues, such as depression, that traditional psychiatrists almost completely ignore.
What you need to know: Avoid exposure to environmental toxins and get tested for levels of mold toxins, especially if your home has ever been flooded or had water damage.
Depression—as well as anxiety, ADD/ADHD, and other mental health—issues 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.
Two months after beating COVID-19, a 60-year-old woman was experiencing extreme fatigue and depression so severe she was contemplating suicide. In an article for the BBC, the patient’s doctor said the woman experienced ongoing confusion among other bothersome symptoms. The woman told her doctor, “COVID has killed me.” It hadn’t physically taken her life, but it had stolen her mind and left her with no will to live.
While most people are worried about the threat of respiratory failure from the novel coronavirus, there is another invisible risk that could have more lasting consequences for survivors.
Some in the medical community are calling it “long-haul COVID,” but here at Amen Clinics, we call it COVID-Brain.
According to a 2020 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 36.4% of COVID-19 patients develop neurological symptoms. Another 2020 study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at 64 consecutive COVID-19 patients in France found that 84% of them exhibited neurological symptoms.
Amen Clinics defines COVID-Brain as the cognitive and psychiatric problems the virus causes that attack the brain and steal the mind.
Amen Clinics defines COVID-Brain as the cognitive and psychiatric problems the virus causes that attack the brain and steal the mind.Among the symptoms seen in patients with COVID-19 are confusion, headaches, loss of smell and taste, tingling sensations, strokes, aphasia, and seizures. But these acute symptoms aren’t the only ones associated with the illness.
A February 2021 editorial in The Lancet Psychiatry reported that “there is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is bad for mental health.”
In a November 2020 study in the same journal, researchers found that 1 in 5 COVID-19 patients with no previous history of psychiatric illness developed a mental illness within the first 90 days of their diagnosis. The most common psychiatric issues noted? Anxiety disorders, insomnia, and dementia.
For this large-scale study, researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 69 million people in the US, including 62,354 with a COVID-19 diagnosis. The COVID-mental health connection wasn’t a one-way street. People who had a psychiatric diagnosis in the previous year had a higher risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Other studies have pointed to additional negative outcomes from COVID-19. In the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, a 2020 study reveals that long-term consequences of COVID-19 may include:
Some research points to subsequent learning problems in both children and adults. The findings are so disturbing some experts are warning that a second pandemic of neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric problems is on the horizon.
In order to better understand the aftereffects of the illness, scientists are using brain imaging to look for abnormalities. Emerging research suggests COVID-19 can cross the blood-brain barrier, a lining that typically protects the brain from viruses and other foreign invaders. Once inside the brain, it can cause damage in a variety of ways.
For example, a 2020 paper in Acta Physiologica, has found that attention problems and memory deficits following infection with the virus are linked to damage in the hippocampus and cortical regions. The hippocampus is involved in mood, memory, and learning.
Brain imaging tests performed on 11 of the patients in the New England Journal of Medicine study mentioned above revealed low blood flow in the frontotemporal lobes in all of them. On brain SPECT imaging, hypoperfusion in the frontal lobes has been associated with inattention, distractibility, impulsivity, and forgetfulness.
Other scientific findings suggest the virus may disrupt the production of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. These neurochemicals play an important role in mood control, motivation, and attention span.
The Alzheimer’s Association is partnering with scientists worldwide on a study to better understand the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on the brain and cognitive function. It remains to be seen if COVID-19 may cause neurobiological changes typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
As devastating as the pandemic has been so far, it could leave a lasting legacy of brain dysfunction. With over 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and many more to come, this could mean millions of Americans will be left with brain issues that can impair every aspect of their lives. Considering the brain is the organ of thinking, feeling, and loving, it could impact the ability to learn in school, achieve success at work, and maintain healthy relationships.
How can you counteract this impending tsunami of brain-related problems?
The authors of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease study on the neurobiology of COVID-19 mentioned earlier suggest it would be helpful for survivors who are experiencing lingering cognitive issues, brain fog, or poor attention to undergo neurocognitive testing.
“Patients with low scores in certain cognitive domains can consider receiving brain rehabilitation in order to return to their baseline level of cognitive capacity. By doing so, they would reduce their risk for developing a worse case of age-related cognitive decline later in life,” they write.
Similarly, anyone who has had the illness should be aware of any new or worsened symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD, or PTSD and be screened by a mental health professional. Considering that COVID-19 attacks the brain, it is critical to look at the brain as part of the screening process. SPECT, a functional brain imaging technology that measures blood flow and activity in the brain, can detect abnormal brain patterns associated with psychiatric conditions and cognitive dysfunction. Getting evaluated by an integrative or functional medicine physician can also help. These medical professionals can perform labs to see if chronic infections or inflammation are contributing to issues.
When COVID-Brain strikes, getting a comprehensive evaluation and a personalized treatment plan and ongoing support from the world’s leader in brain health is the key to getting your life back and feeling like yourself again.
COVID-Brain is real, and the mental and cognitive health issues that linger following a COVID-19 diagnosis can’t wait. At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. Dr. Mark Filidei, the Director of Integrative/Functional Medicine at Amen Clinics, is treating patients with COVID-Brain and long-haul symptoms. In addition, 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 or visit our contact page here.
Here’s a common scenario: You’re having difficulty remembering conversations, forgetting where you put your reading glasses, or briefly getting lost driving in familiar areas. What do you do? If you’re like most people struggling with memory problems, you probably visit your primary care physician or a local neurologist.
It sounds like the logical thing to do, but here’s why it’s the wrong approach.
A traditional family doctor or neurologist will likely ask you a few questions, give you some short tests, orders an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and tells you, “Everyone has memory problems with age. You’re normal.” It’s also common for family members, friends and even medical professionals to downplay forgetfulness.
A week or so later, you meet again with your doctor, who says that the report on your MRI comes back as “mild, age-appropriate brain atrophy.” Your doctor tells you that you have “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI). You’re reassured that it’s common, and you’ll likely retain your personality and long-term memory until later in the illness. You’re encouraged to get your affairs in order, given a prescription for Aricept (donepezil, a common memory medication that research shows has short-term benefits, but loses its effects after 18 months), and told to make a follow-up appointment in 6 months.
Typically, there’s no discussion about common (and fixable) causes of forgetfulness, how to eliminate risk factors, or how to enhance memory through exercise, diet, supplementation, and memory training exercises.
That’s literally the extent of the work-up in 80-90% of the cases that eventually come to Amen Clinics from the traditional medical system. It’s completely ineffective, heartbreaking… and unconscionable given what we know now.
Until recently, healthcare professionals assessing the presence of memory problems in patients classified their cognitive functioning as: (1) normal with no symptoms; (2) mild impairment observed by patients or their families; or (3) Alzheimer’s disease, in which dementia was becoming significant and getting worse.
The National Institute on Aging announced a significant change in 2011. Based on new brain imaging data, they added a new “preclinical” level. As a result, the current staging guidelines are:
Can you see the problem here? A growing body of research, including a 2014 study in Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, shows that long before symptoms develop, your brain may already be starting to deteriorate, years or even decades before there are any signs of trouble!
A UCLA study found that 95% of people with Alzheimer’s are not diagnosed until they are in the moderate to severe stages of the disorder. Yet the brain of a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 59 likely started to show signs of deterioration by the time that person turned 30.
No matter your age, memory symptoms should be taken seriously. Developing brain fog or feeling as if your memory is slipping when you are in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s is common, but it’s not normal. It is a sign of impending doom. Ten years after you notice a problem (called subjective cognitive decline), there is an estimated 70-100% chance of your getting worse and slipping into dementia.
But while it is true that memory issues are common with age, they are not inevitable. In the “presymptomatic stage,” when memory problems are minor, help is likely to be most effective. If you’re struggling with your memory, even if it seems minor, now is the time to get serious about your brain’s health.
After over 30 years of experience looking at the brain with SPECT imaging at Amen Clinics, together with the latest scientific research, it is clear that the traditional approach to memory problems is misguided and leads to unnecessary disease and disability.
Just as many tributaries feed a river that is about to flood and destroy a community, the physicians at Amen Clinics have discovered that there are many different causes of memory loss. It is no longer accurate to talk about mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease as single entities, with single causes, just as Amen Clinics’ brain imaging work has shown it is no longer accurate to talk about a single type of depression, addiction, ADD/ADHD, or obesity.
The ability to identify and address each of the potential causes of memory problems allows for the development of a plan to prevent or even reverse these devastating issues.
At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We have developed a comprehensive Memory Rescue program that combines cutting-edge brain imaging and other diagnostic tools with complete wrap-around services to get to the root of your memory problems and to develop a targeted treatment plan and follow-up care. 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.
Bipolar disorder is in the spotlight these days thanks to several celebrities—including Kanye West, Demi Lovato, Bebe Rexha, and Halsey—who have gone public with their diagnoses. These high-profile individuals are among the 5.7 million Americans affected by bipolar disorder.
Considered a cyclic mood disorder, this condition shifts between manic episodes and depressive episodes that are characterized by severe changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. The discussions in the media and on social media have brought to light some of the common symptoms associated with the condition.
For example, manic episodes are characterized by:
On the other end of the spectrum, depressive episodes are associated with:
This is good information, but there’s one important aspect of bipolar disorder that nobody is talking about—the brain.
Brain SPECT imaging, which measures blood flow and activity in the brain, shows that people with bipolar disorder tend to have abnormal activity patterns in the brain. For the patients at Amen Clinics and their families, seeing their brain scans helps them understand that symptoms and behaviors associated with bipolar disorder are not “mental health” problems or character flaws, they’re “brain health” problems.
Unfortunately, millions of people in America who are suffering from bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions don’t get the help they need due to the stigma surrounding mental health. Reframing the discussion from mental health to brain health helps overcome that stigma because it shows that conditions aren’t moral, they’re medical.
For people with bipolar disorder, brain imaging can also reveal some surprising findings. For example, at Amen Clinics, SPECT brain scans show that many people who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder also have an underlying traumatic brain injury that has never been properly diagnosed or treated. Many of these people don’t even remember experiencing a head injury.
This hidden trauma can be the result of head injuries that happened months, years, or even decades earlier. Some of the most common causes include falls (falling off a bike or ladder, or falling down stairs), vehicle accidents, or sports-related concussions. Having a brain injury can exacerbate the ups and downs of bipolar disorder. The patient population at Amen Clinics shows that healing the underlying damage can be very helpful in reducing symptoms associated with bipolar disorder.
Brain imaging can also help detect other mental health conditions that commonly occur with bipolar. For example, research in Clinical Psychology shows that 62% of people with bipolar disorder also meet the clinical criteria for ADD/ADHD. Anxiety disorders and substance use disorders are also common in people with bipolar disorder.
Without the added help of brain imaging, bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed for other conditions, such as depression or schizophrenia. In fact, most people suffer from symptoms of the disorder for an entire decade before getting an accurate diagnosis. This can have devastating effects because following the wrong treatment plan can make symptoms worse.
When left untreated or mistreated, the condition is associated with a decrease of over 9 years in life expectancy. In addition, people with bipolar disorder are 15 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population, and 1 in 5 people with the condition eventually take their own life.
Bipolar disorder is treatable and is generally responsive to a treatment program that is personalized to enhance brain health and that may include nutritional supplements, healthy nutrition, exercise, lifestyle changes, helpful forms of therapy, and medication (when necessary).
Bipolar disorder, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, and other mental health issues 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.
Are you frustrated that your adult offspring doesn’t have a job, isn’t in college, and isn’t in a job training program? Resentful that they aren’t making an effort to get their life together? Fearful they will lose their friends and become a recluse? Tired of footing the bill? Desperate to help them gain their independence and move out? Join the club.
The “failure to launch” (FTL) syndrome is reaching epidemic proportions. Nearly 10 million U.S. Millennials ages 24-34 still live at home with mom, according to a 2016 analysis of American Community Data by Zillow. The rate of working-age young adults living with mom has been on the rise for over a decade, jumping from 13.1% in 2005 to 21.4% in 2014. Increasing housing costs and longer education times are only partially to blame for the trend.
Failure to launch has been described as “a dysfunctional adult offspring” who doesn’t take the necessary steps to achieve independence combined with at least one parent who feeds the problem by “providing age-inappropriate services.”
Young adults are stigmatized and viewed as lazy and overly pampered. The shame they feel when comparing themselves to their peers who are starting new jobs and moving into apartments can be so paralyzing it keeps them mired in their situation. On the flip side, parents face scrutiny from their own friends and family for pandering to their adult children.
It’s a difficult situation for both sides.
Recognizing the signs of this syndrome in an adult child is a critical step in overcoming the problem. Look for these signs:
Understand that FTL isn’t solely your child’s problem. It’s a two-way street. As a parent, it is especially important to acknowledge that you may be enabling the situation with your behavior. Ask yourself if any of these signs apply to you:
This codependent relationship can have lifelong consequences for everyone involved.
Focusing solely on fixing the symptoms associated with FTL is a mistake. You need to go deeper to find the root cause. What many people don’t realize is that hidden brain dysfunction and mental health issues among adult kids and/or the parents are often contributing to these symptoms. Issues that can keep young people from achieving their potential and make parents enablers include:
Tackling these root causes can help you and your adult offspring overcome FTL syndrome.
Many well-meaning parents try a variety of things—such as threats and lecturing—to prompt their adult children to move out, but in many cases, these efforts end up aggravating the problem. What can parents do?
In a 2016 study, Dr. Eli Lebowitz, who has been researching the phenomenon for years, suggested it would be better for parents to stop calling it a “failure to launch” and start thinking of it as an opportunity for growth, change, and development.
To spark that growth and break the cycle, follow this process.
Recognize that changing habits can be a difficult process and don’t expect major improvements immediately. Making small changes can lead to big results.
As a family, learn to kill the ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) that keep you and your adult child locked in this unhealthy pattern. Whenever you or your child feels mad, sad, or frustrated, write down your thought and ask yourself if it is true. Then talk back to the ANT to kill it.
Example:
ANT: My kid will never get a job.
Is this true? No, I can’t know that it will never happen.
Kill the ANT: My young adult child can learn the skills necessary to land a job and keep it.
When you adopt this kind of thinking, it helps you and your child feel empowered to do something about your situation rather than feeling stuck.
Don’t view this as your child’s fault. Admit if you are enabling the situation and look for ways to change your behavior. This helps you feel empowered to be part of the solution rather than a helpless victim.
Knowing their “why” can boost their motivation to set and achieve goals. One of the most effective ways to improve goal setting and motivation is an exercise called the One Page Miracle. On a sheet of paper have your young adult write down what they want out of life in terms of education, career, finances, social life, and family. Then before making any decisions, they should ask themselves, “Will this help me get what I want out of life?”
Write a contract that spells out what you will pay for, what services you will provide, and what is expected from your adult offspring, and have all parties sign it. Think of this as an agreement between adults, similar to a contract with a tenant. Making a signed commitment increases the chances of success.
In order to successfully follow through on these steps, everyone in the family needs to optimize their brain health. This includes treating any mental health issues or past head injuries and making simple lifestyle changes can also boost brain health, including eating a healthy diet, daily exercise to boost blood flow to the brain, practicing stress-management techniques, and taking nutraceuticals to support brain health.
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. By getting to the root cause of symptoms, we can create a more effective, personalized treatment plan.
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.
Are you addicted to sugar but don’t realize it? Millions of Americans who are trying to limit sugar intake are inadvertently consuming more of the sweet stuff than they realize. And it’s contributing to heightened anxiety, depression, and stress—none of which you need right now.
On a recent episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast with hosts Daniel G. Amen, MD, and Tana Amen, BSN/RN, the pair tackled sugar addiction among other topics with Dr. Uma Naidoo. A board-certified psychiatrist and professional chef, Dr. Naidoo is the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the author of This Is Your Brain on Food: An Indispensable Guide to the Surprising Foods, that we’re going to talk about, That Fight Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, and More.
In the episode, Dr. Naidoo shares the story of one of her patients who was a highly successful executive who developed severe anxiety and panic attacks about 18 months after starting a new high-level position. In trying to root out why this man had started developing these issues so late in life, she asked him about his diet.
It turned out that after starting his new job, he began eating a lot of processed food and a lot of fast foods. “People don’t know that fast foods—even French fries—have sugar in them,” Dr. Naidoo says. “A lot of research has gone into making them delectable and delicious and wanting you to eat more. So we are actually consuming sugar when we don’t even know it.”
Sugar acts like a drug in the brain. When you consume it, it boosts the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain and causes your blood sugar to spike, which makes you feel good…temporarily. But then your blood sugar levels crash, impacting your moods and sense of wellbeing. Over time, high-sugar diets increase inflammation, cause insomnia and fatigue, trigger cravings, lead to erratic brain cell firing that has been implicated in aggression, and alter memory and learning. Ouch!
The evils of sugar may come as no surprise to you. And you may be making a conscious effort to eat a brain healthy low-sugar diet. Unfortunately, many “healthy” foods are actually filled with hidden sugars that fuel your addiction and keep you feeling stressed, depressed, and anxious. Here are 10 common culprits to avoid.
Filled with protein and live culture probiotics, Greek yogurt sounds like a winner. But some flavored varieties also come with a heaping serving of sugar—12 grams for some flavors.
A protein smoothie can be a great way to start the day, unless you’re consuming some store-bought varieties. One brand touted that it had 120% the protein in other varieties, but it neglected to promote that it was also packed with 44 grams of sugar—32 grams of added sugars—in a single serving.
Almond butter, cashew butter, and other nut butter can be a good source of protein and fat. But be sure to read the nutrition labels. Some brands sneak sugar into their product to amp up the bliss point.
Packed with fiber and loaded with vitamins and minerals, slow-cooking oatmeal is associated with numerous health benefits. Instant oats, however, are highly processed and rank much higher on the glycemic index, indicating that they spike blood sugar. Popular instant oatmeal flavors like maple and brown sugar can have about 12 grams of added sugars.
Milk is converted to galactose and glucose, which raises blood sugar levels and can lead to inflammation, diabetes, and obesity. And a milk protein called casein is an excitotoxin that can lead to brain inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Going dairy-free can be beneficial for brain health and overall well-being, but some milk alternatives are flavored—think vanilla, chocolate, or pumpkin spice—and have about 13 grams of sugar per serving.
Water is essential for good brain health. Your brain is comprised of 80% water and being even mildly dehydrated can make you feel more anxious, tense, depressed, or angry and can also sap your energy levels and reduce concentration. One popular flavored water brand contains 27 grams of sugar in a single serving.
It’s a good idea to take nutritional supplements to make sure you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals your brain and body need. Be aware that when you gobble up gummy vitamins, you’re likely also getting a dose of sugar with those nutrients.
Green tea is loaded with antioxidants, as well as a compound called l-theanine, which has been found to inhibit excessive overfiring in the brain to produce a feeling of calmness. That’s great, just skip the brands that infuse good-for-you green tea with over 20 grams of sugar.
Eating more greens and veggies provides your brain with a variety of nutrients and antioxidants. Dousing salads with sugar-laden store-bought dressings, however, can turn your healthy meal into one that has more sugar than you realized.
You may think that making a protein smoothie at home is the best way to control what you put into it. Be sure to check the ingredients of your protein powder since many of them sneak sugar into the mix to enhance the flavor. Adding fruit—think blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries—should be all the natural sugar your smoothie requires.
Anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, and other mental health issues 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, and we offer nutritional psychiatry as part of our comprehensive evaluations and treatment plans. 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.
At Amen Clinics, a global leader in brain imaging related to psychiatry, we have helped tens of thousands of patients from over 120 countries enhance their brain health and get well. By the time our patients reach out to us for help, they’ve typically been suffering for quite a while. On average our patients have 4.2 diagnoses and have failed 3.3 providers and 5 medications before they come to us.
We routinely ask patients what drove them to seek our help, what was the last straw that made them pick up the phone. With the pandemic, it’s clear that people are experiencing a whole new array of issues that are driving them to ask for help.
Without the typical daily distractions, such as going to school or to the office, there is nothing to shield people from their struggles or the reality of their mental illness. It’s now front and center on a daily basis and demands attention.
People who had stabilized their mental health condition are now experiencing a return of symptoms they used to have under control. They need adjustments to treatment plans and additional strategies to help them through this challenging period.
Due to quarantine, couples are spending more time together at home with no respite from their relationship problems. This has led to more marital conflict, more frequent fights, and a more immediate need to address long-standing issues.
Now that kids are stuck at home, their ADD/ADHD symptoms are becoming glaringly apparent to their parents. And if parents are doing homeschooling during the lockdown, they are seeing first-hand that their child’s learning challenges may be far more significant than they realized.
For many young children, adolescents, and teens, it’s their friends, sports, and other extracurricular school activities that help keep them mentally stable. Without that support network and without the activities they love, their underlying mental health problems are becoming unbearable.
Due to the stress and anxiety of the pandemic, some people with addiction issues who had been sober are using again or thinking about using again and need help to combat those urges. In addition, some people who had previously been light or moderate drinkers are now developing a drinking problem and others are turning to drugs as a coping mechanism.
The stress from a lack of work or unexpected financial instability is pushing some people over the edge and creating mental health problems or making existing ones worse.
Feeling like everything is up in the air, that there is nothing you can count on, and that you can’t make any plans is extremely difficult to handle and is ramping up anxiety, depression, and other issues.
For some people, the events of 2020 have been so traumatic that they are beginning to have suicidal thoughts and need professional help.
Daily schedules have gone out of the window, leading to a variety of lifestyle changes, such as sleep problems that exacerbate anxiety, depression, stress, and other mental health issues.
Quarantine has triggered a host of changes in eating patterns—giving up on healthy eating habits, overeating, consuming more sugary baked goods—all of which make mental health issues worse.
Months of being told that we are “safer at home” has led to agoraphobia, which is a type of anxiety in which you have an irrational fear of specific places, situations, or spaces. In some people, this phobia stems from the fear of contacting COVID-19 or passing it to a loved one.
Some people say they have “tried everything” to control their mental health issues, but they are still struggling and are looking for alternative approaches to treatment.
A growing number of people are saying they’ve hit the wall with the pandemic, and they feel that they’ve reached the limit of their coping skills and need professional help.
Do you recognize yourself in these reasons? Have you reached the point where you could benefit from professional help? You’re not alone. No matter how impossible or unbearable your situation may seem, understand that there is hope. With the proper brain-centered treatment, you can overcome trauma, anxiety, depression, and loss and learn to thrive—even in the most awful situation.
Anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, and other mental health issues 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.
The pandemic has brought so many losses to so many people. For some, it’s the absence of sports that’s the hardest to cope with. And for student athletes who have seen their school sports axed, it’s taking a devastating toll on their mental well-being and cognitive function.
Over two-thirds of high school student athletes say they are experiencing feelings of depression and anxiety since sports were canceled due to the pandemic, according to a nationwide survey. The researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found that 68% of students surveyed reported mood and anxiety issues at levels typically indicating a need for medical intervention. That’s 37% higher than previous levels.
Athletes at the college level are feeling the pain too. A majority of student-athletes reported high rates of mental distress in the NCAA Student-Athlete COVID-19 Well-being Study, which surveyed over 37,000 participants. Over 25% of the athletes who responded reported feeling a sense of sadness and loss while 1 in 10 said their depression levels were so high it made it difficult to function “most every day” or “constantly.”
For student athletes with ADD/ADHD, the lack of school sports is leading to increased struggles with symptoms associated with the condition.
At Amen Clinics, a global leader in the use of brain imaging in psychiatry, the number of student athletes (and their parents) seeking help for depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, and other issues is on the rise.
Missing out on organized sports negatively impacts an athlete’s life in many ways.
Exercise increases the feel-good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine in the brain. Multiple studies show that physical exercise has strong antidepressant and antianxiety effects, with some reports showing it can be as effective as antidepressant medication. The UW study found that physical activity levels among high school student-athletes were 50% lower than pre-pandemic. Without that jolt of neurotransmitter production thanks to exercise, there’s an increased risk of feelings of anxiety and depression.
Exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, which can heighten focus and attention in people with ADD/ADHD. In the thousands of ADD/ADHD patients treated at Amen Clinics, there is a direct correlation between the level of exercise a person gets and the severity of their symptoms. When Amen Clinics patients who play sports, such as basketball which involves intense aerobic activity, they do better in their classwork at school. Decreasing activity or adopting a sedentary lifestyle makes people more prone to symptoms of ADD/ADHD, including trouble with focus, inattention, impulsivity, disorganization, difficulty with follow-through, and lack of motivation. That lack of motivation creates a downward spiral—less drive to exercise, fewer benefits from physical activity, even less motivation—that makes it even harder to get off the couch.
Missing out on the social aspects of team sports lowers moods and can cause depression to set in.
Everyone is dealing with a greater sense of uncertainty due to the pandemic. For students who play sports, that feeling may be more acute. Plans for the return of organized sports at the high school and college level are largely up in the air, meaning athletes are trying to prepare for seasons that may or may not take place. Uncertainty can trigger anxiety in anyone.
When you’ve worked toward a goal, such as earning the right to play a sport in college, and it suddenly gets taken away, you can’t help but feel cheated. You may feel a knee-jerk reaction to blame somebody, but that is the number one way to ruin your life. Blame is an ANT (automatic negative thoughts) that can make you feel like a helpless victim, which increases symptoms of depression.
What can student athletes do to boost their psychological and cognitive well-being? These strategies can help keep anxiety and depression at bay and can improve focus and attention.
Even if you can’t play your sport, maintain a training regimen that will keep you in shape and that will fuel your brain for better mental health and cognitive function.
You may not be able to huddle with teammates on the playing field, but you can connect on social media or via Zoom. Encourage team Zoom meetings or create a group page where you can connect, express challenges, and share strategies with each other. Social connection is critical for reducing depression.
Foods that increase dopamine and serotonin include proteins (such as turkey, salmon, and eggs), probiotic foods (such as sauerkraut, kimchee, and kefir), and nuts and seeds. Most people with ADD/ADHD (except people with Overfocused ADD/ADHD) do better with a diet that is higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates.
If your mind is filled with blaming ANTs, learn to talk back to them and start taking responsibility for your life. Stop dwelling on the things that are out of your control and focus on what you can do to make your life better.
If symptoms of depression, anxiety, or ADD/ADHD become overwhelming or get in the way of day-to-day life, it’s time to seek professional help. Understand that brain SPECT imaging studies at Amen Clinics show that each of these conditions has multiple types, so giving everyone the same treatment plan will never work. Each type requires a personalized treatment plan. Finding out which type you have is the key to getting the most effective treatment.
Anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, and other mental health issues 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.