You may think that seeking treatment for a learning issue or mental health issues, such as attention-deficit disorder (ADD) or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is the biggest expense associated with the condition. But the total cost is so much higher. New research from researchers in Denmark shows just how much of an impact ADD/ADHD can have on your wallet. And it isn’t just the individual with the condition who is affected. The money drain also hits their spouses and long-term partners.
The 2020 study in European Neuropsychopharmacology calculated the direct and indirect costs associated with people who have ADD/ADHD compared with people who don’t have the disorder. For the study, they looked at 83,613 individuals with ADD/ADHD and 334,446 people without it. They also compared the costs for 18,959 partners of people who have ADD/ADHD with 74,032 control partners.
The astonishing results show the real costs of having ADD/ADHD:
Add it all up and the additional direct and indirect costs amounted to 23,072 euros ($26,410) for those with ADD/ADHD and 7,997 euros ($9,154) for their partners.
Other studies have found that adults with ADD/ADHD earn $5,000-$10,000 less per year than their colleagues. That’s bad news for the 4.4% of U.S. adults diagnosed with the disorder and the millions more who have it but don’t know it, as ADD/ADHD remains vastly underdiagnosed, especially in adults.
ADD/ADHD impacts all aspects of life, including your career. It can be both positive and negative in the workplace. On the positive side, people with ADD/ADHD often are high in energy, enthusiastic, full of ideas, creative and they often have bursts of energy. If they surround themselves with people who organize them and manage the details, they can be very successful. Unfortunately, many people with this disorder are not that lucky and they often have serious problems at work.
Here are some of the difficulties that people with ADD/ADHD are likely to have at work that can ultimately affect your bottom line:
Brain imaging studies at Amen Clinics, which has the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to behavior, show that the more these people try to concentrate the worse it gets for them. Their brain actually turns off, rather than turning on. When a supervisor or manager puts more pressure on them to perform, they often fall off in their work. The boss then interprets this decreased performance as willful misconduct and serious problems arise. In supervising someone with ADD/ADHD, it is much more effective to use praise and encouragement, rather than pressure.
Distractibility is often evident in meetings. People with attention problems tend to look around the room, drift off, appear bored, forget where the conversation is going, and interrupt with extraneous information. The distractibility and short attention span is commonly seen in ADD/ADHD may also cause them to take much longer to complete their work than their co-workers. They are often very frustrating to managers and co-workers.
Forgetfulness is common in ADD/ADHD and a serious handicap on the job. Missed deadlines, forgotten reports, and steps have gone undone on a job are just a few examples.
Often, a lack of impulse control, which is common in this condition, gets the ADD/ADHD person fired. They may say inappropriate things to supervisors, other employees, or customers. Poorly thought out decisions also relate to impulsivity. Rather than thinking a problem through, these people want an immediate solution to the problem and act without the necessary forethought. In a similar vein, the impulsivity causes these people to have trouble going through the established channels at work. They often go right to the top to solve problems, rather than working through the system. This may cause resentment from co-workers and immediate supervisors. Impulsivity also may lead to such problem behaviors as lying and stealing.
Many people with ADD/ADHD are in constant turmoil with one or more people at work. They seem to “unconsciously” single out people who are vulnerable and begin to pick verbal battles with them. They also have a tendency to embarrass others, which does not endear them to anyone. Shades of the grown-up version of the class clown are also evident at work, such as cracking inappropriate jokes in meetings. Conflict may follow the ADD/ADHD person from job to job.
Disorganization is a hallmark of ADD/ADHD. Often when you look at the person’s work area, it is a wonder they can work in it at all. They tend to have many piles of stuff; paperwork is often hard for them to keep straight; they seem to have a filing system that only they can figure out (and only on good days).
Many people with ADD/ADHD are chronically late to work because they have significant problems waking up in the morning. They also tend to lose track of time, which contributes to their lateness.
The energy and enthusiasm of people with ADD often push them to start many projects. Unfortunately, their distractibility and short attention span impair their ability to complete them.
People with ADD/ADHD have a tendency toward addictions, such as food, alcohol, drugs, and even work. Drug or alcohol addictions cause obvious work problems. Food addictions cause health and self-image problems that can impact work. Addiction to work is also a serious problem because it causes burnout and family problems that eventually show up as problems at work.
When ADD/ADHD is left untreated, it also costs employers millions of dollars every year in decreased productivity, absenteeism, and employee conflicts.
ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, 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.
Residential care for addiction treatment can be a lifesaver for some people. Going from utter chaos to a stable, controlled environment with a laser focus on therapeutic healing can kickstart sobriety. Completing a residential care program can provide an exhilarating sense of accomplishment and hope for the beginning of a new life.
But as many people with addictions have discovered, residential treatment represents a “bubble world” where they are safely isolated from their real-life challenges, stresses, family dysfunction, friends who use, and other triggers. And re-entering the real world with all its messy problems and temptations can be extremely challenging.
You need a post-residential care plan.
When you graduate from a residential treatment program, you should feel very proud of yourself. It’s a major accomplishment and a testament to a tremendous effort on your part. To keep the momentum going, it’s important to have a plan in place to help you through the next phase of your sobriety.
First, you need to understand all of the areas of your life that may have contributed to your substance abuse problems then create a post-treatment plan to turn those negatives into positives. A good way to approach this is to think of your life in 4 Circles:
Investigate if there any physical issues in your brain or body that may have led you to self-medicate. For example, do you have hormonal imbalances, chronic infections like Lyme disease, or a past head injury that may be causing bothersome symptoms? Or do you have low blood flow in certain areas of your brain that are linked to impulsivity and poor decision-making, or to depression or anxiety? A failure to address these problems can lead you back to the substance abuse you’ve worked so hard to overcome.
Post-Treatment Plan: Schedule lab tests to check your overall health and consider brain SPECT imaging to identify any underlying brain issues that might make it harder for you to follow through on your recovery plan. Correcting any physical issues or ailments is a critical step in the process. Optimizing your brain can be the most important thing to help you stick with your recovery efforts.
Examine your thinking patterns to see if they are keeping you stuck in your unhealthy behaviors. Is your head filled with ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) that are making it more difficult for you to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle?
Post-Treatment Plan: Remember that you don’t need to believe every stupid thought in your head and learn to kill the ANTs by challenging negative thoughts. Any time you are feeling sad, mad, or angry, ask yourself if your thoughts are true, and if not, talk back to them. If you have trouble changing your thinking, consider helpful forms of psychotherapy for ongoing help.
Take an inventory of your friends and accomplices. Friends are people who will support you in your recovery. Accomplices are those who want to lure you back into your old habits.
Post-Treatment Plan: Write down the names of 5 friends who can help you stick with your new healthy lifestyle and 5 accomplices who will tempt you to revert to your old ways. Spend as much time as possible with your friends and limit your exposure to accomplices.
Look deep inside yourself to see if you can identify what’s motivating you to stay healthy.
Post-Treatment Plan: Know your “why” by creating a One Page Miracle. On a sheet of paper fill out what you want from life in these key areas: family, career, finances, spirituality, and others. Put this paper somewhere you can see it every day as a reminder to help you stay focused on what you want. And before you make any decisions, ask yourself, “Is this helping me get what I want out of life or hurting me?”
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 that may be contributing to addictions. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing all 4 Circles of your life to improve your ability to maintain sobriety.
If you want to join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their addictions 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.
You may pride yourself on having really high standards, but if you’re one of those people who are so focused on getting every little detail just right, it could backfire. In fact, perfectionists face a troubling paradox—feeling superior for having such lofty goals but feeling inferior because you can never attain them.
Experts generally define 3 types of perfectionism:
All types can be damaging, but most experts agree that socially prescribed perfectionism can be the most harmful and even lethal, in some cases.
If you struggle with perfectionism, you aren’t alone. A 2019 study that evaluated more than 40,000 college students found a 33% rise in perfectionism from 1989 to 2016.
Perfectionists tend to set sky-high goals that aren’t attainable, which sets you up for failure. Either you fail to reach your goal, or you give up due to fear of failure. Either way, you feel like a loser.
People who are perfectionists are usually filled with lots of automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), especially All-or-Nothing ANTs (thinking that things are either all good or all bad) and Just the Bad ANTs (seeing only the bad in a situation). For example, if you have to create a multimedia presentation at work, you think that if it isn’t the best one ever created, it’s an abysmal failure. Those are the All-or-Nothing ANTs inside your head.
Here’s an example of how the Just the Bad ANTs can ruin your life. Let’s say you’re getting ready to go out on a first date with that really awesome person you’ve had your eye on for a while. You’re excited and you feel the need to be flawless, but as you’re getting ready, you notice that a pimple has popped up. So, the whole time you’re out to dinner, you’re so filled with obsessive thoughts about whether your date is staring at your pimple that you can’t relax and be yourself. Result? No second date.
Perfectionism often leads to paralyzing procrastination. On that report you need to write, you feel like you can’t start writing until you’ve looked up more sources, interviewed more people, and come up with the greatest introduction of all time. Before you know it, it’s the night before the deadline, and you have to bang out something to avoid being late. Now you’re berating yourself for letting it slide for so long. Once again, you feel like a failure.
Decades of research have found that perfectionism fuels mental health problems, such as anxiety, and depression. Even more disturbing is the link between perfectionism and suicide. A 2014 study in Review of General Psychology suggests that perfectionism is a bigger risk factor for suicide than previously thought. Research has found that among young people who die by suicide, nearly 70% placed high demands on themselves and had high expectations. Another study from 2007 in which researchers interviewed loved ones of people who died by suicide, over 56% of those who had taken their own lives were described as “perfectionists.”
A number of studies, including a 2002 paper in Cognitive Therapy and Research, have found ties between self-oriented perfectionism and eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight and control their intake by attempting to create a perfect diet.
Even if you have spent a lifetime chasing perfection, you can learn to let go of your unhealthy tendencies.
If you’re struggling with mental health issues related to perfectionism and 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.
As the pandemic and safer-at-home orders drag on, people are searching for ways to cope with the heightened stress, anxiety, and depression. In a recent webinar, three board-certified psychiatrists from Amen Clinics— Dr. Melissa Quinn, Dr. Michelle Flowers, and Dr. Jennifer Love—shared some of their own personal survival secrets.
Dr. Quinn—a psychiatrist who is also board-certified in holistic/integrative medicine and trained in transcranial magnetic stimulation and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy—is an advocate of a technique known as square breathing. “We call it square breathing because we do it in counts of four and it forms a square.” The technique is simple: inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, then hold your breath again for another count of four.
“I like to incorporate my mantra—live, love, connect, serve,” says Dr. Quinn. “So as I do the diaphragmatic breathing, I say ‘Live two, three, four. Love two, three, four. Connect two, three, four. Serve two, three, four.’” Dr. Quinn says that of all the things she does in her own practice, “this is the one that grounds me the fastest.” If you want to try square breathing with a mantra, you can choose any four words that have special meaning to you.
Letting go of some things has helped Dr. Flowers, a general psychiatrist and a child and adolescent psychiatrist who is also the mother of four, get through these trying times. “I had just finished a fitness challenge when this thing hit. I was in my best shape in years, but it was high-intensity exercise,” she says. “And because of all the stress of the pandemic, I decided to take it back a notch. I have continued to walk, but the high-intensity exercise has been out for me because there’s plenty of stress in the environment right now.”
High-intensity physical activity can ratchet up stress levels even higher, and according to the American College of Sports Medicine, it may suppress the immune system in some people who aren’t used to vigorous exercise. Give yourself permission to adjust or let go of some goals or habits that don’t serve you now.
Like so many others, Dr. Love— who practices adult psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and addiction medicine—has experienced fluctuating energy levels. And she admits that some days, even with all the coping tools she has in her psychiatrist’s toolbox, it isn’t enough. “A few weeks ago, I just crashed and felt exhausted,” she says. “It’s like we work all day, we’re living in a pandemic, and it takes three hours to go to the grocery store. On top of that, I had someone steal my identity, file my taxes, and steal my tax return.” In times like these, Dr. Love—who is also the author of the upcoming book, When Crisis Strikes: Five Steps to Heal Your Brain, Body, and Life From Chronic Stress—says her coping strategy is basically acknowledging it’s a lull and riding out that wave. Expecting that you’ll experience ups and downs can help you accept the downs rather than feeling overwhelmed or defeated by them.
As a psychiatrist who provides therapy, Dr. Flowers says she’s typically very comfortable helping others. But a story she heard author David Kessler share on Brené Brown’s podcast really stuck with her and reminded her of the importance of allowing others to help her. It’s called the allegory of the long spoons. “Basically, there’s a woman who wants to see what heaven and hell are like,” she says. The woman is taken into a dining room where this amazing aroma hits and her mouth starts watering. “But then the next thing that hits her is this sound of wailing and people who are groaning. And she looks around the room, and they’re all starving,” she says. “There’s food available, but the spoon is so long that people can’t get the spoon to their mouth.” In essence, this is what hell is—when what you need is available to you, but you can’t get it to yourself.
Then the woman in the story asks to see heaven. To her surprise, she ends up in the same room, and again, the same aroma hits, and her mouth starts watering. But the sound is different in this room because people are laughing and conversing. “What’s different is that instead of trying to feed themselves with the long spoon, they’re feeding each other,” says Dr. Flowers. “Over the last several weeks, I’ve had to remind people, myself included, that we need to allow ourselves to be fed.” If you’re a natural caregiver, it’s important to remind yourself to accept the kindness of others.
For Dr. Quinn, reminding herself that she’s doing her best is a powerful feel better fast strategy. “When I’m washing dishes for a half an hour and my little guy is screaming and running around in his undies, I tell myself, ‘I’m doing my best,’” she says. Consider making this a daily mantra that you recite to yourself in challenging times—doing my best, doing my best, doing my best.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A new study shows 4 in 10 Americans are lonelier than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic and shelter-at-home orders. Being separated from family, friends, and everyday friendly acquaintances is taking a toll on our well-being. It’s no wonder why—humans are social animals. Social connectivity is hard-wired into our brains, and when we feel lonely, it can have negative consequences for us emotionally, cognitively, and physically.
In 2017, the journal Public Health published a review of 40 studies that found consistent evidence showing that social isolation and loneliness worsen mental health. In fact, loneliness has been associated with depression, social anxiety, addictions, and hoarding.
Feeling lonely can have devastating effects on cognitive health. Research presented at the 2015 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference shows that the loneliest among us experience cognitive decline 20% faster than people who are connected to others. And a study in JAMA Psychiatry found that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease was more than twice as high in people who are lonely.
In terms of physical health, being lonely is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And the same Public Health review mentioned above also found that social isolation and loneliness are associated with worse cardiovascular outcomes.
This is tough news considering much of the nation will continue to be on lockdown for the foreseeable future.
What can you do about it?
Call the people you care about or schedule video conferences or FaceTime chats to be able to see each other as you speak. If it helps you, make a schedule for regular calls. This way, when you’re feeling like you’re all alone, you can remember that you’ll be talking to someone you care about soon.
Feeling connected to your faith can be very important in helping you avoid loneliness. Many churches are conducting services online and hosting small group discussions using video conferencing. Be sure to tune in.
Take advantage of Facebook, Instagram, and other social media apps to share posts and quarantine photos with your friends. You may also want to join a Facebook group where you can connect with people who have similar interests or hobbies—whether it’s your favorite dog breed, knitting, tennis, or guitar players. On your Facebook feed, simply go to Groups, click on Discover, and start exploring.
If you enjoy playing games, sign up to play Words With Friends and invite your relatives to play or play against others at your skill level. Sports lovers who are missing the action right now might want to check out virtual sports games where you can connect with fellow fans. There’s also an app called Houseparty that lets you play games online with friends in real-time.
Taking a digital course where you learn from an online instructor can be a good way to feel connected and do something beneficial for your cognitive function. Try the Change Your Brain Master’s Course taught by Daniel Amen, M.D. to learn how to boost your brain health and mental well-being.
Feeling like you are supporting others in some way can be very helpful in alleviating loneliness. Some ways to do it while still practicing safe physical distancing include checking in on any elderly or vulnerable neighbors with a call or text or donating blood to the American Red Cross, which is still encouraging donations during the pandemic.
Just taking a walk in your neighborhood can give you the opportunity to see and say hello to neighbors from a safe physical distance. Or take a cue from people around the world and start singing from your balcony (like Spanish singer Beatriz “Betta” Berodia) or clap and make noise from your windows (like they’ve been doing in New York City and San Diego, CA). You may start a trend, and it can help you feel connected.
Pets can provide comfort, companionship, and love. If you’re stuck at home and have more time on your hands than usual, think about fostering a furry four-legged friend. Petting a dog has been shown to trigger the release of the feel-good neurotransmitters oxytocin and dopamine, and studies show that having a pet can be beneficial for moods, anxiety, and stress.
It may seem like the worst time to try to meet someone new when you can’t go on a real date but think of this as an opportunity to get to know someone better before meeting in person. A video chat, while you’re both in your quarantine sweats at home, might actually be a less stressful way to connect with a special someone.
If your feelings of loneliness are overwhelming and you need support, seek treatment through mental telehealth opportunities. You don’t need to suffer or wait until the pandemic is over to get the help you need.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or other mental health issues, you aren’t alone—45% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic has impacted their mental health. Just because you’re sheltering at home doesn’t mean you have to wait for the pandemic to be over before seeking help. In fact, during these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment 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.
Marie Kondo, the bestselling author, and star of the Netflix hit show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo has inspired millions of Americans to declutter their homes with her revolutionary KonMari Method. Basically, you hold each item and see if it “sparks joy.” If it does you keep it, if it doesn’t you toss it. Although the tidying craze has taken the country by storm, it strikes fear and panic in some people. You may be one of them. Answer the following questions to find out:
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have a problem with hoarding.
A 2018 study shows that hoarding affects approximately 1.5% of Americans or about 4.5 to 5 million people. People with hoarding disorder have trouble getting rid of things due to a perceived need to keep them. The thought of discarding items causes distress, which leads to unwieldy quantities of “important” things piling up. People with hoarding disorder may engage in compulsive shopping; buy things they don’t need or really want simply because they are a great bargain; and stockpile freebies and giveaways, such as pamphlets, pens, and tchotchkes. The hoarding process is similar to an addiction.
Some of the most commonly hoarded items include:
Many hoarders think these items may be useful in the future— “I might need this box to mail something,” “I might have to reference that article,” or “I might get invited to an event where I could wear those shoes.” Some hoarders cling to items because they were such a good bargain— “I know these shoes are a size too small, but they were 80% off!” Others can’t part with photos or other mementos that have sentimental value—” I can’t get rid of that beer can. It’s from the game when we hit a grand slam in the 9th inning to win.” Sometimes people can’t decide what to do with an item or where to put it, so they just leave it wherever it is and then it gets covered by a pile of other things—“I can’t decide if I should put that on the bookshelf or the mantle, so I’ll just leave it here on the dining room table for now.”
People who are collectors—whether they collect wine, comic books, or coins—typically organize their collections meticulously, display them proudly for others to see, and are very aware of their dollar value. Hoarders, on the other hand, generally amass large quantities of items that have no real value, store them in haphazard disarray, and are often embarrassed to let anyone else see their living space. Some hoarders, however, are ultra-fastidious about their belongings, stacking a year’s worth of newspapers in a perfectly neat row, arranging stacks of books alphabetically on each stair of a staircase, or organizing magazines by date in precise piles on a desk.
When hoarding behavior goes unchecked, it can negatively impact nearly every aspect of your life.
Relationships and families suffer: When one person is a hoarder, it can be extremely stressful for the entire family. Research shows that hoarders are more likely to get divorced, and family members may feel resentment, frustration, and anger toward the hoarder. For example, one elderly hoarder named Bob had kept every single bill he ever paid—starting in the 1950s—in a methodical system of filing cabinets that eventually took over the bedroom he shared with his wife, then the dining room, and then the garage. This caused conflict with his wife, who resented the loss of space in her bedroom, and it created a situation of social isolation for his children who were so embarrassed by all the filing cabinets in their home that they never wanted to invite their friends over.
Financial trouble: Some hoarders get into financial trouble, either because they compulsively make purchases or because they shell out cash for storage units to keep their growing amounts of stuff.
Legal issues: Legal troubles are also common among hoarders. They may face eviction or lose custody of children, and in cases of animal hoarding, people may be arrested and do jail time.
Unsafe living conditions: When clutter blocks access to certain areas of the home, it can lead to malfunctioning appliances, plumbing problems, and heating and air conditioning issues. This can leave people without access to hot water, without heat in cold winter months, and limits their ability to cook. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies, poor hygiene, and increased risk of illnesses. Hoarding can also present a fire hazard and is responsible for 24% of fire deaths, according to one study.
People with hoarding disorder tend to have issues with indecisiveness, obsessive thoughts, compulsions, perfectionism, avoidance, procrastination, disorganization, and difficulty concentrating. Although hoarding disorder is considered a unique diagnosis, these are symptoms are also associated with other mental health conditions, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression, or ADD/ADHD. Research also shows that hoarding is seen in people with dementia.
Brain imaging studies, including one in the Archives of General Psychiatry, have shown that people with hoarding disorder have abnormal activity in areas of the brain involved in decision-making, impulse control, emotional regulation, attachment, and reward processing.
There is hope for people with hoarding disorder. A comprehensive treatment plan designed to normalize and optimize brain activity, coupled with specific types of psychotherapy, and medication (as needed), can help people find their way out of the clutter so they can once again find some joy from their possessions.
At Amen Clinics, we perform comprehensive evaluations that include brain SPECT imaging to make an accurate diagnosis so you can get the right treatment plan for your needs. We believe in using the least toxic, most effective solutions, including helpful forms of therapy, nutritional supplements, and lifestyle changes, as well as medications when necessary.
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.
Nearly everywhere you go (schools, work, shopping malls, movie theaters, airports, ballparks, and so on) someone is trying to sell you low-quality, tasty food that will hurt your brain health/mental health and kill you early. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is filled with pro-inflammatory, allergenic foods laced with artificial chemicals that research shows will damage and prematurely age your brain and increase your risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer as well as depression, ADHD, anxiety disorders, and dementia.
The real weapons of mass destruction are foods that have these 9 characteristics:
These low-quality “foods” are destroying the brain health/mental health of America, especially when you consider that corporations pay big money to professional athletes and coaches to visibly drink Coke, Pepsi, or Gatorade (all filled with sugar, artificial colors, and preservatives) on the sidelines of games, effectively marketing these products to children and teens.
They also get children hooked on so-called “happy meals” with fun toys that create diabesity (a combination of diabetes and obesity) and inflammation—definitely not a prescription for happiness. Many schools serve Pizza Hut or McDonald’s for lunch—foods that can give you brain fog and make it harder to concentrate on learning. Not so smart! Without thinking, we are destroying the mental and physical health of our children.
Many corporations brag about the addictive nature of their foods, “Bet you can’t eat just one.” They hire food scientists to combine fat, sugar, and salt with the perfect “texture,” “crunchiness,” “meltiness,” and “aroma” to overwhelm the brain with flavor to trigger the “bliss point” in your brain, which is akin to taking a hit of cocaine, making you literally fall in love with low-quality foods.
This is one of the reasons why people say they “love” candy, doughnuts, pastries, French fries, and bread, and can’t even conceive of giving them up. They are not eating to live; they are eating for momentary pleasure and to feed addictions that were artificially created for a corporate profit motive. Some people are so addicted they say they would rather get Alzheimer’s disease than give up sugar.
We must do better because our children will never be able to afford the tsunami of illness headed their way. Shocking statistics show that 75% of the healthcare dollars in the U.S. are spent on chronic preventable illnesses, most of which are driven by poor nutrition.
In a fascinating study about diet and depression in Nutritional Neuroscience, researchers went to two remote islands in Australia—one with plentiful fast food and lower fish consumption, the other without fast food and higher fish consumption. On the island with fast food, 16% of the people had moderate-to-severe depression, compared to only 3% on the island without fast food. That is a 500% increased risk of depression, based on diet!
Being in love with something that hurts you is an abusive relationship that needs serious intervention. No food of any kind belongs in the same emotional place in your brain as the love you have for your spouse, children, or grandchildren.
The most important rule to remember is to only love foods that love you back. If you can follow this one rule, it will go a long way to ending mental illness in you or your loved ones.
At Amen Clinics, we take a whole-body approach to helping people overcome debilitating symptoms and achieve peak performance. We perform comprehensive evaluations that include brain SPECT imaging, as well as looking at the many lifestyle factors, such as diet, that can contribute to mental health symptoms or hold you back from reaching your potential. Our wrap-around services focus on the least toxic, most effective solutions, including brain health nutrition coaching.
If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and optimized their performance 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.
Recognizing that you or a loved one has a problem isn’t easy. For many people, substance use disorders and behavioral addictions creep up gradually and the changes are hard to notice. Usually, by the time you realize that you, your significant other, your child, or your parent is in the grips of addiction, the brain has already been rewired to fuel the addiction, and it is harder to stop.
To find out if you might have a problem, take the following quiz. This questionnaire is called the CAGE Assessment and it has been used for decades in the addiction field to help identify problem drinking. These same questions can help you pinpoint problems with other substances—such as opioids, cocaine, or heroin—as well as with behaviors like gambling, compulsive shopping, or even overeating. In the quiz below, simply substitute the word “drinking” with “prescription drug use,” “cocaine,” “meth,” “gambling,” “compulsive shopping,” “internet porn,” “overeating,” or whatever your bad habit may be.
1. Have you ever felt you should Cut down on your drinking…or other behavior?
2. Have people Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking…or other behavior?
3. Have you ever felt Guilty about your drinking…or other behavior?
4. Have you ever had a drink…or engaged in other behavior…first thing in the morning (as an “Eye opener”) to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
If you answered “yes” to 2 or more of these questions, then you may have a problem.
There is one more critical question to ask. It is not part of the CAGE Assessment, but it is often the most telling.
5. Do you drink…or engage in other behavior…despite the negative consequences of the behavior in your health, relationships, your money, or with the law?
If you answered “yes” to this question, then it is time to take a hard look at your behavior. Continuing to drink or engage in other harmful behavior despite negative consequences is one of the clearest signs that you have an addiction.
If you suspect a loved one may have a problem, you may think you know what to look for in terms of the signs and symptoms of addiction. Most people immediately think about finding drug paraphernalia, empty bottles of alcohol, receipts from casinos, or other physical evidence. But often the signs are far more subtle and can be mistaken for other issues or may co-exist with conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or ADD/ADHD.
Here are 11 common signs:
Noticing any of these signs should be a cause for concern. Addressing problem behaviors early is important because left untreated, addiction ruins lives, devastates families, destroys relationships, negatively impacts careers, decreases the ability to perform well in school, and causes health problems. People with addictions are more likely to get divorced, less likely to graduate from high school or college, less likely to get promoted at work, and more likely to develop diseases related to their addiction. And addiction affects our society as a whole and burdens us all.
Seeking treatment for yourself or a loved one is the first step to healing. Functional brain imaging with SPECT can be a very powerful tool in the recovery process because it helps:
In addition, when people with addictions see before-and-after brain scans of people with addictions, it shows that healing is possible and elevates hope that they can break the chains of addiction.
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 addiction. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain and treating any co-occurring mental health problems.
If you want to join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their addictions 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.
Think of all the things you may have inherited from your parents, such as your height, hair color, and risk for heart disease. But what about your vulnerability to addiction? Research on families shows a strong connection between your genetic makeup and your risk of developing an addiction. Most experts agree that as much as 50% of your risk for substance abuse disorders or behavioral addictions, such as gambling, depends on your DNA.
A 2012 review of the existing research on twin studies found that heritability for substance use disorders can be even higher—ranging from 40% (for hallucinogens) to 70% (for cocaine). Other studies have found that children of alcoholics and drug abusers are 8 times more likely to develop an addiction compared with kids whose parents didn’t have a substance use disorder.
Genetics aren’t the only way your relatives influence your risk for addiction.
You have a genetic vulnerability.
You are more likely to have experienced lasting stress, because of the challenges in your family. For example, children who grow up with stress or abuse from a parent or relative who has addiction problems are significantly more likely to experience anxiety and depression. And people with anxiety and/or depression are twice as likely to abuse drugs and alcohol compared with the general population, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The stress of the addictions in prior generations changed your genes to become more vulnerable to trouble. Stress, poor diets, environmental toxins, and prenatal nutrition in earlier generations changed their genes (known as epigenetics) to be more likely to express trouble.
If your family members self-medicate with bad habits, you are likely to pick up those same behaviors, which increases your risk of substance use disorders. Plus, when a parent has a substance abuse problem, they are less likely to provide children with healthy meals on a consistent basis. A junk-food diet is linked to fatigue, fuzzy thinking, moodiness, and increased cravings. In addition, if your mother was one of the nearly 5% of women who abuse one or more substances while pregnant, this decreased your brain reserve. That’s the extra cushion of brain function you have to help you deal with whatever stresses come your way. The more brain reserve you have, the more resilient you are. The less reserve you have, the more vulnerable you are to stress and addictions.
If your family doesn’t care enough about their own health or about your wellbeing to change their behavior, it can be harder for you to learn to love yourself enough to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Although it’s becoming clearer that genetics plays a role in addiction, it’s important to understand that your genes are not your destiny. Knowing that a parent, grandparent, or close relative has a problem with substance abuse, or a behavioral addiction is not a death sentence; rather, it should be a wake-up call. It means you need to know your vulnerabilities and get serious about taking care of your brain.
Genes load the gun, but it’s your behavior and environment that pull the trigger. A growing body of evidence shows that our diets and lifestyle habits have the ability to either turn on or turn off the genes that predispose us to problems like addiction.
Food has an immediate effect on the moment-by-moment functioning of your brain. Ditching a junk-food diet in favor of foods that enhance brain health will boost your willpower, focus, craving control, and judgment.
Addiction isn’t just a brain disorder; it’s also a thinking disorder. Many of the negative things we tell ourselves—like “I have no control”—are lies that keep us locked in our unhealthy habits. Adopt healthy thinking patterns and learn how to eliminate ANTs.
Practice stress-relief techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, and hypnosis.
If your family engages in bad habits that promote addiction, find ways to spend time with others who are committed to leading a healthy life. Studies have shown that those who surround themselves with a support group are far more likely to have success in implementing major changes.
Functional brain imaging with SPECT shows how the brain works. It can reveal areas with too much activity or not enough activity, so you’ll have a better understanding of what you can do to balance brain activity. Brain scans also show if there is evidence of toxicity from substances, such as alcohol or drugs, and this can be a powerful step in overcoming addiction.
If you have addiction in your family history, it’s even more important for you to be a good role model for your children. Teach your children from a young age how to eat right, kill the ANTs, and manage stress. In doing so, you will increase their brain reserve and decrease their risk of addiction.
Based on the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to behavior, people with addictions tend to have the worst-looking brains. But when these people follow a brain healthy program, they show some of the most dramatic improvements. Even if you have been bad to your brain, you can make it better.
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 addiction. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain and treating co-occurring mental health problems.
If you want to join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their addictions 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.