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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.

5 Ways Addiction in Your Family Makes You More Susceptible to Trouble

Genetic predisposition.

You have a genetic vulnerability.

A household filled with stress.

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 effects of epigenetics.

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.

Modeling bad habits.

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.

Not knowing why you should care.

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.

Your Genes Are Not Your Destiny

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.

7 Lifestyle Strategies to Prevent or Overcome Addiction

Eat a brain healthy diet.

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.

Kill the addiction ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) that infest your brain.

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.

Manage your stress.

Practice stress-relief techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, and hypnosis.

Surround yourself with healthy people.

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.

Assess your brain health.

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.

Model healthy behavior for your kids.

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.

Remember that there is hope.

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.

“No one has ever grown up in the history of humanity like Justin Bieber. No one has ever been that famous worldwide in an era of social media where every year of your adolescence you were the most Googled person on the planet.” 

In Justin Bieber’s new docuseries, “Seasons,” that’s how his manager Scooter Braun describes what it was like for the superstar to grow up in the public eye. The “Baby,” “Sorry,” and “Love Yourself” artist was discovered at age 13 and shot to instant fame, becoming the world’s biggest YouTube sensation, a social media phenom, and an international chart-topper.

Despite his enormous talent and the adulation that came with fame, he faced some serious struggles like so many people do. “Being human is challenging for everybody,” he says in the docuseries. “We’re all struggling to some degree. We all have our individual pains, and fears and anxieties, worries.” Justin knows this only too well because while his career was soaring, his personal life was spinning out of control into anxiety, depression, and addiction. And his brain was under assault.

Drugs, Rock ’n’ Roll, and the Adolescent Brain

The adolescent brain is a remarkable work in progress, with billions of connections called synapses being created at lightning-fast speeds, and an important process called myelinization underway. With myelinization, brain cells are coated with a protective sheath that increases the brain’s processing speeds. The process begins at the back of the brain and works its way forward, with the prefrontal cortex (the area involved in impulse control, forethought, judgment, and empathy) the last area to gain the protective covering, usually around a person’s mid-20s.

Certain things like alcohol, drugs, and even fame can disrupt this important process. A brain imaging study appearing in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that heavy marijuana use among young adults and adolescents may affect normal brain development. The study found brain abnormalities in areas involved with decision-making, memory, and executive functions—the regions in the front of the brain that are the last to undergo myelinization.

Substance use and fame at a young age can also disrupt the reward system in the adolescent brain. In a healthy brain, whenever we do something enjoyable, it’s like pressing a button in the brain to release a little bit of the neurotransmitter dopamine to make us feel pleasure. Pushing these pleasure buttons too often or too strong reduces dopamine’s effectiveness. Eventually, it takes more and more excitement and stimulation to feel anything at all.

In the YouTube docuseries, Justin reveals he started smoking marijuana when he was just 13. Then he moved on to harder substances, including a mind-numbing cocktail of cough syrup (hydrocodone) mixed with alcohol and prescription medication. The concoction was so potent, his security team would creep into his room in the middle of the night to check his pulse and make sure he was still breathing. With the substance abuse and all those screaming fans, Justin’s reward system was getting worn out. He was addicted not only to the drugs but also to fame. And he was in a downward spiral.

It became so overwhelming for him that he canceled the final dates of his “Purpose” world tour in 2017, and the media announced that he was having issues and it seemed like he was “falling into another dark place.” They were right.

What Justin Bieber’s Brain Scan Showed

In Episode 5 of the docuseries (which is currently available on YouTube premium), Justin reveals that he has been coming to neuropsychiatrist and brain imaging expert Dr. Daniel Amen at Amen Clinics for 5 years for help with the issues he’s been struggling with.

Justin bravely opened up to Dr. Amen about the trauma and instability he experienced in his childhood, his addictions, and his anxiety and depression. To find the root causes of his issues, he underwent brain SPECT imaging. SPECT measures blood flow and activity in the brain and shows 3 things: areas with healthy activity, too much activity, or too little activity.

Before coming to Amen Clinics, Justin had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition that is often misdiagnosed. In fact, 57% of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder don’t actually have the condition, according to a 2008 study from researchers at Brown University. Justin’s brain scans showed something other than bipolar disorder, and it changed the course of his care. You can see more about what his brain scans revealed in the episode.

Justin’s Journey to Healing

Drawing on our brain imaging work and the latest neuroscience, Justin made the commitment to get on a path to better brain health. To help heal his brain, the young man started doing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a noninvasive treatment that involves breathing 100% pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. The increased oxygen is picked up via the bloodstream and transported to damaged tissues to facilitate the healing process.

HBOT has been used to improve many issues including, but not limited to:

Justin has told Dr. Amen that he loves HBOT therapy so much he got a hyperbaric chamber for his home, and he uses it on a daily basis.

When Dr. Amen informed Justin how important nutrition and supplementation is if you want to change your brain and heal your mind, the musical artist cleaned up his diet and also started doing IV nutrient therapy on a regular basis. IV therapy provides more potent doses of important nutrients than oral supplements, and because it bypasses the digestive system you get 100% absorption without any gastrointestinal issues.

HBOT and IV therapy are only part of the brain-based plan that has been helping him cope with the anxiety, depression, and other issues he faces.

The artist has subsequently received a diagnosis of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that can lead to a vast array of neuropsychological symptoms, including:

With a comprehensive treatment plan in place, the superstar feels like he’s on the right track to healing and getting back to the creative music-making process and performing that feeds his soul. He says it’s because he’s “in a good headspace… a better headspace.” We would say, it’s really all about being in a better “brainspace.”

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

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

Many addiction treatment centers offer solid programs for overcoming addictions that ruin your life. So why do an estimated 40%-60% of people relapse? What’s missing?

The answer lies in your brain.

The brain is the supercomputer that runs your life. It plays a central role in your vulnerability to addiction and your ability to recover and maintain sobriety. Brain dysfunction is the #1 reason why people fall victim to addiction, why they can’t break the chains of addiction, and why they relapse. Understanding the brain’s role in addiction and recovery is the key to breaking free from your addictions.

How the Brain Keeps You Chained to Addiction

Your susceptibility to addiction depends in large part on the biological makeup of your brain and your brain’s reward system. What is the brain’s reward system? It is an intricate network of brain systems and neurotransmitters that are critical to human survival. It drives us to seek out the things we need to stay alive and carry on the human race, such as sex and food.

Many things that are not necessarily crucial to our survival also activate the reward system in a healthy way, such as:

Then there are substances and behaviors that cause the reward system to become overactive in an unhealthy way, such as:

Let’s take a closer look at the neurotransmitters and brain systems involved in the reward system so you can see how it works and how it gets out of whack. First, let’s examine the role played by four neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters act as the brain’s messengers, relaying information within the brain. The strength or weakness of each of these neurotransmitters plays an important role in your ability to stop engaging in bad behaviors, such as compulsive gambling or shopping, or in driving you to addiction.

Brain Chemicals Involved with Cravings and Self-Control

Dopamine—motivation, saliency, drive, stimulant
Serotonin—happy, anti-worry, calming
GABA—inhibitory, calms, relaxes
Endorphins—pleasure and pain-killing properties

Dopamine is a feel-good chemical. Whenever we do something enjoyable, it’s like pressing a button in the brain to release a little bit of dopamine to make us feel pleasure. Cocaine, methamphetamines, alcohol, and nicotine all cause dopamine surges that make these substances highly desirable—sometimes even more desirable than the things we need to survive like food, water, and sex. The amount of dopamine released when drugs are taken can be 2-10 times more than what your brain produces for natural rewards. When dopamine is in low supply, it is linked to depression, ADD/ADHD, addiction, and other mental health issues.

Serotonin is thought of as the happy, anti-worry, flexibility chemical. Many of the current antidepressants work on this neurotransmitter. When serotonin levels are low, people tend to be worried, rigid, inflexible, oppositional and argumentative, and they are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, obsessive thinking, or compulsive behaviors.

GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that calms or helps to relax the brain. If you have suffered an emotional trauma or you are under a lot of stress, GABA may be depleted and your emotional or limbic brain may become excessively active, which is associated with depression and stress. This can lead you to use substances in an attempt to self-medicate and calm your limbic brain.

Endorphins are the brain’s own natural pleasure and pain-killing chemicals. They are the body’s own natural morphine or heroin-like compounds. Substances like opioids trigger the release of endorphins, which are heavily involved in addiction and the loss of control.

Why Can’t I Just Say No? The Brain’s Self-Control Circuit

The brain systems that drive you to seek out things that bring you pleasure and the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which puts on the brakes when you are about to engage in risky behavior, work in concert to create your self-control circuit.

In a healthy self-control circuit, an effective PFC provides impulse control and good judgment while the deep limbic system offers an adequate dose of motivation so you can plan and follow through on your goals. You can say no to alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription opioids, gambling, and many other bad behaviors.

In the addicted brain, the PFC is diminished and the drive circuits take control. When the PFC is underactive, it can create an imbalance in the reward system and cause you to lose control over your behavior. When this is the case you are more likely to fall victim to relapse despite your desire to stay in recovery. Having low activity often results in a tendency for impulse-control problems and poor internal supervision, and is associated with ADD/ADHD.

To overcome addiction, stick with a recovery program, and avoid relapse, it’s critical to address any underlying brain dysfunction as well as any co-occurring mental health conditions.

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.

The holidays are supposed to be the most joyous time of the year to spend with family. But not everybody has one of those perfect Hallmark families. For some people, the holidays are filled with drama, chaos, and arguments, and the mere idea of heading home triggers painful memories and emotional distress.

Jenna hated going home for Christmas, and she started stressing about it weeks before her annual trip. She was a successful attorney with a nice condo and lots of friends, and she thoroughly enjoyed her life. But it was never good enough for her parents. As soon as Jenna walked through the door of her childhood home, her mother would start up with the needling questions: Why aren’t you married yet? Am I ever going to have grandkids? Did you gain weight again?

Her dad was even worse. He always drank too much and then start yelling at everyone. For Jenna, this triggered traumatic memories of Dad punching his fist through a wall when she hadn’t graduated as class Valedictorian, of him shaking her mother violently when they had shouting matches, and of him throwing a plate of mashed potatoes at the wall one Christmas day when she was just a kid.

Back in this toxic family environment, Jenna’s self-confidence and joie de vivre would immediately start to plummet, and she would revert back to the anxious, depressed, scared child she used to be.

She isn’t alone.

The holidays can be less than merry for many people. For those who suffered trauma or abuse as a child, family festivities can cause old emotional wounds to surface. People who are struggling with alcohol abuse may have trouble staying sober when there is so much focus on holiday cocktails. Anyone with an eating disorder may feel the familiar urges to binge or purge when faced with holiday meals. And individuals who have anxiety or depression may find that their symptoms intensify when the holiday season approaches.

6 Reasons Why Holidays are So Triggering

Aside from family feuds and underlying mental health issues, there are many factors that contribute to seasonal struggles. With a little planning, however, you can overcome these holiday hazards for a more joyous season.

1. ’Tis the Season to be Stressed

Buying gifts, hosting lavish feasts, decorating—there’s a lot that goes into making the holiday season perfect. All of this added stress can take a toll on brain health and lead to increased vulnerability to mental health symptoms.

Holiday Helper: Stay grounded with a few minutes of daily meditation or prayer and don’t take on more projects than you can handle.

2. No Silent Nights

The excitement of the season and holiday parties often lead to less shut-eye and more disrupted sleep. When you aren’t getting your usual 7-8 hours a night, it impacts your moods and cognitive function. Just one night of bad sleep can leave you in a brain fog and make you more irritable, anxious, and depressed.

Holiday Helper: Stick to your sleep schedule as much as possible.

3. Hectic Travel

Sold-out flights, overcrowded airports, and jam-packed highways can mess with your mental well-being.

Holiday Helper: Leave early for your destination, bring some soothing music, and give yourself an attitude adjustment. Put yourself in a “We’ll get there when we get there” mindset.

4. Too Much Feasting

Starting in October, it’s like there’s a free-for-all in the food department. People toss out all their good eating habits and dive into unhealthy dishes that leave you feeling spacy, fatigued, and bloated. The food you eat has an almost immediate effect on your brain function and giving in to cravings around the holidays lowers your ability to handle stress and family drama.

Holiday Helper: If you know that your family is going to be feasting on unhealthy foods, bring some good-for-you snacks with you or offer to prepare a few brain healthy side dishes for the festivities. And if you are going to indulge in something decadent, follow the 3-bite rule.

5. Holiday Cheers

Alcohol lowers activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the area involved in judgment, forethought, and impulse control. Boozing it up at holiday parties or family gatherings sets the scene for drama and discord.

Holiday Helper: To avoid drinking altogether, volunteer to be the designated driver or ask the bartender or host for a non-alcoholic drink that looks festive. If you are going to drink, set a limit and be sure to eat something beforehand to minimize the effects of alcohol.

6. Couch Potato Syndrome

Sitting on the couch watching football with your extended family drains your energy and deprives you of the feel-good endorphins you get when you get your blood pumping with exercise.

Holiday Helper: Start your day with a morning walk or suggest playing a game of touch football (never tackle football!) during halftime.

If you dread the holidays and need help coping with the emotions that surface, Amen Clinics can help. If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their 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.

 

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most feared illnesses of our time. Losing the ability to recognize your spouse, forgetting the important moments of your life, getting lost on the way home—memory loss steals your life.

Experts expect the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease to triple in the next 30 years, and there is no cure on the horizon. More than 200 medication trials have failed to reverse Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. But new research offers hope.

A study presented at the 2019 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference reveals that you can lower your risk of developing the disease by a whopping 60% by adopting the 4 or 5 of the following everyday lifestyle habits.

Lifestyle Changes to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease

1. Eat right: Skip fried foods, red meat, sweets, and baked goods and focus on consuming a diet high in vegetables, seafood, poultry, berries, nuts, beans, whole grains, and olive oil.

2. Get moving: Aim for 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercises, such as walking, swimming, or bike riding (always wear a helmet to protect your brain!). Gardening and yard work count too!

3. Avoid excessive alcohol: Drink no more than 1 glass of wine, beer, or other alcoholic beverages per day.

4. Don’t smoke: Avoid smoking cigarettes.

5. Engage in cognitive stimulation: Play chess, solve crossword puzzles, read books, or do other brain-boosting activities.

The study showed that although adopting 4 or 5 of these habits provided the greatest protection, incorporating just one of them into your daily habits also reduced risk.

Take These 5 Brain Healthy Habits to the Next Level

The habits these researchers studied are a great start, but you can gain even more brain-boosting benefits by doing the following:

1. Try the Memory Rescue Diet

Learn the two basic principles of a brain-healthy diet that will help preserve, enhance, or rescue your memory.

Principle #1: Change the way you think about eating.

Principle #2: Change the way you eat (and drink).

2. Do brain-boosting physical activities

The following 4 types of exercise are great for your brain.

3. Limit Alcohol Intake

A study at Johns Hopkins found that people who drink every day have smaller brains, and when it comes to the brain, size matters! If you want a better brain, less is more. For people who want to drink, stick to no more than 2 to 4 normal-size drinks a week.

4. No Smoking (or Vaping) Anything!

Smoking increases the risk of dementia. Smoking is thought to cause dementia in the same way it contributes to vascular diseases: by bombarding the brain with hundreds of different toxins, increasing homocysteine (high levels trigger inflammation), accelerating blood vessel damage (which deprives your brain of oxygen and nutrients) and increasing inflammation and the particulate toxic load in your brain. Vaping is no safer, so ditch the e-cigarettes. And neither is smoking marijuana, which accelerates brain aging and decreases blood flow to the brain. Low blood flow is the #1 brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer’s disease, so avoid anything that reduces blood flow.

5. Focus on New Learning

The best mental exercises involve acquiring new knowledge and doing things you haven’t done before. However, understand that the parts of your brain that you use will grow, and the parts of your brain that you don’t use will atrophy, or shrink. Just doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku is not going to give you the full benefit you want. That’s like going to the gym, doing right bicep curls and then leaving. Here are some exercises to work out various brain regions:

Your Genes are Not Your Destiny

In another study presented at the conference and published in JAMA, researchers found that adopting healthy lifestyle habits can reduce risk even in people who have a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s. This report showed that people at elevated risk for the disease could lower their risk of dementia by 32% by following a “favorable” lifestyle compared with those who had “unfavorable” everyday habits.

This research adds further proof that your genes are not your destiny and shatters the false belief that there’s nothing you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s. You can change your brain and decrease your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Now is the Time to Rescue Your Memory

Based on the world’s largest brain imaging database—over 150,000 brain scans and growing—it is clear that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia begin in the brain decades before any symptoms appear. Given the complexity of the illness and how early it begins altering the brain, we are likely never going to have a medicine that cures it. That’s why it’s so important to get serious about your brain health and your memory now.

If you or a loved one is suffering from memory issues, understand that there are many things you can do to prevent or reverse memory loss. At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to help us develop a personalized treatment plan to prevent or reverse memory problems. Our Memory Rescue program has already helped many patients improve their memory.

Reach out today to speak with a specialist at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.

About 75% of the body’s neurotransmitters are produced in the gastrointestinal tract, and they are in direct communication with the brain. Because of this, the health of your gut—and the trillions of bacteria that live there—is tightly linked to your brain function and your mental health. New research suggests gut bacteria is so powerful it could be used to treat clinical depression.

Good Bugs vs. Bad Bugs

Some gut bacteria are beneficial to your health and well-being while others are harmful. And in a classic good guy vs. bad guy scenario, they are all trying to wrestle for control of your microbiome. When the ratio of good bugs to bad bugs is about 85 percent good guys to 15 percent troublemakers, it creates a healthy gut. When the ratio is tipped the other way, the bad bugs cause trouble and can lead to physical and mental problems.

If the good bugs are deficient, you are more likely to feel anxious, stressed, depressed, and tired. New research has also found a gut-brain link in autism.

In some people, imbalances in gut bacteria contribute to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract becoming porous. Known as leaky gut, this condition is associated with mood and anxiety disorders, ADD/ADHD,  Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease. Leaky gut is also linked to chronic inflammation, along with a host of other issues from autoimmune diseases (such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and multiple sclerosis) and digestive issues (gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea) to seasonal allergies and skin problems (acne, rosacea).

The Link Between Bacteria and Depression

Researchers at Northeastern University have long been investigating the link between gut bacteria and mental health, and in particular, to clinical depression. For a 2018 study, they teamed up with researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to take a deeper dive into the connection. They took brain scans as well as fecal samples from people who had been diagnosed with depression and discovered that people with brain patterns associated with depression had fewer bacteria of a particular genus called Bacteroides.

These bacteria produce the neurotransmitter GABA, which helps calm the brain and prevent it from over-firing. People with low levels of GABA are more likely to struggle with depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia.

Treating Depression with Bacteria

The researchers suggest this opens up the possibility of treating depression with the bacteria that produce GABA. The idea of manipulating gut health to promote better mental health is still in its infancy, however, this isn’t the first time that scientists have pointed to gut bacteria as a possible therapy for depression.

In a 2011 trial, when mice ingested specific bacteria, it increased GABA levels and decreased behaviors associated with depression and anxiety. And back in 2005, a study in Medical Hypotheses suggested that probiotics—live bacteria found ­in some foods, like yogurt, and in supplements—may be beneficial as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for major depressive disorder.

3 Ways to Boost Beneficial Gut Bacteria

Until bacteria therapies are developed, there are many things you can do to promote better gut health, including the following:

1. Limit alcohol consumption.

Alcohol is used to clean your skin of bacteria before you receive an injection and as a preservative for scientific specimens. It’s hard to imagine that it can be good for the 100 trillion bugs living in your gut that are essential to your life.

2. Skip sugar.

Consuming too much sugar promotes an overgrowth of yeast (bad bugs) in your gut.

3. Consume prebiotics.

Dietary fiber that promotes good bugs can be found in apples, beans, cabbage, psyllium, artichokes, onions, leeks, asparagus, and root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, yams, squash, jicama, beets, carrots, and turnips.

If you’re suffering from depression and aren’t responding to treatment, it may be time to think about your gut health. At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of patients overcome depressive symptoms with a personalized treatment plan that includes addressing gut health and nutrition.

Amen Clinics takes the guesswork out of psychiatry by performing comprehensive brain-body evaluations that include looking at a variety of biological issues that contribute to symptoms of depression. Schedule a visit online or call 888-288-9834 to speak to a specialist.

When you were a kid, did you ever wipe out on your bike? Fall off the roof? Or get in a car accident? Every kid takes a few tumbles in life—it’s part of growing up. But could an injury as a child or teen come back to haunt your mental health later in life? The answer is a resounding yes.

Take a look at Sadie, for example, who had been kicked in the head by a horse and lost consciousness when she was 10 years old. Fast forward to age 42, and Sadie often felt depressed, had memory issues, and had failed her sixth alcohol treatment program.  She desperately wanted to stop drinking but couldn’t follow through with any of the program recommendations because she was so impulsive and her memory was poor. Whenever alcohol was around, she just couldn’t say no, and she couldn’t remember the sobriety strategies she was taught. 

Neither she nor her family ever considered that her problems with substance abuse stemmed from that kick in the head from the horse. It never occurred to her that her brain might still carry the lingering effects from that accident. But a brain scan using a technology called SPECT showed severe damage to her prefrontal cortex (focus, forethought, judgment and impulse control) and temporal lobes (learning and memory) caused by that head injury she had long forgotten.  

Sadie’s Surface SPECT Scan

When Sadie saw her brain scan, it jarred her memory about the head injury and its aftermath.  She remembered that her grades at school started to slip and that she became more rebellious at home. People treated her as though she was just a bad person, which made her feel sad and hopeless. She now realized how it all contributed to her problems as an adult.

This is critical to know considering approximately 812,000 young people under the age of 18 sought help in the emergency room for concussions or traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in 2014, according to the CDC. Children up to age 4 and teens 15-19 years old—along with seniors who are 65 and over—are the most likely to experience a TBI. Understanding the potential consequences of a TBI can help children and teens prevent the devastating fallout.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE BRAIN IS INJURED?

Your brain is soft—about the consistency of soft butter, tofu, or custard—and housed in a very hard skull. With multiple sharp, bony ridges inside the brain can be easily damaged. Whiplash, blows to the head, blast injuries, and jarring motions (think shaken baby syndrome) can all cause the brain to slam into those sharp ridges. This can cause damage in a number of ways, including:

TBIs can also damage more than just the specific area of the brain where you smacked your head. In some cases, injuries can occur in both the front and back of the brain or on both sides. This is the result of a contrecoup injury, a common pattern in which the force of a blow causes the brain to move violently in the opposite direction, slamming into the opposite side of the skull and damaging that side of the brain as well.

In addition, because your pituitary gland (the body’s mast hormone regulator) lies in a vulnerable part of your skull, it is often damaged in head injuries. This can cause significant hormonal imbalances, which are linked to many symptoms of mental illness.

THE BRAIN INJURY-MENTAL ILLNESS CONNECTION

As Sadie’s story shows, TBIs can also lead to mental health problems. Few people know this, however, because most psychiatrists never look at the brain. TBI has been linked to:

Finding relief from your symptoms can be difficult due to several factors. Many people, for instance, have no recollection of experiencing a head injury as a child, whether it was falling out of a tree, slipping in the shower, going through the windshield of a car, or having concussions from playing sports. And they certainly don’t connect the dots to the symptoms of anxiety, depression, ADHD, or PTSD they may be experiencing as an adult.

In addition, the typical treatments for these conditions don’t heal the underlying brain damage. Because of this, therapies can be ineffective, causing you to go from one treatment to another or from doctor to doctor in search of a solution.

HOW BRAIN IMAGING REVEALS PAST TBIs

For Sadie, seeing her brain scan helped her realize that her substance abuse issues, memory problems, and depression weren’t her fault. They were related to the head injury she had suffered more than three decades earlier. It also helped her understand why all those alcohol treatment programs, which can be so helpful for some people, didn’t work for her. Once she rehabilitated her brain, she was better able to follow the treatment strategies that helped her stay sober, fight off depression, and rescue her memory.

At Amen Clinics about 40% of our patients have experienced head injuries, but many of them have no recollection of suffering a concussion until they see the damage in their brain scan. Seeing the underlying biology of the brain allows us to create a personalized treatment plan that helps heal the brain while addressing other symptoms.

If you think head trauma may be contributing to your symptoms or if traditional treatment isn’t working for you, don’t wait to seek professional help. Schedule a visit today or call 888-288-9834.

We’ve all heard the claims that alcohol is good for your health. The media is quick to cite studies saying that a glass of wine a day reduces the risk of heart attack and that drinking two glasses of wine or beer a day has been linked to a longer life. Sounds good, but what does alcohol do to the brain?

When it comes to that 3-pound supercomputer in your head, the news isn’t so rosy. Brain SPECT imaging studies at Amen Clinics, which has built the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to behavior, as well as other research show that alcohol can damage the brain in ways that might make you think twice the next time you’re ordering at the bar.

Brain SPECT imaging studies at Amen Clinics show that alcohol can damage the brain in ways that might make you think twice the next time you’re ordering at the bar.
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5 Scary Ways Alcohol Damages the Brain

1. Shrinks brain volume

People who drink just 1-7 drinks per week have smaller brains than nondrinkers, according to a 2008 study at Johns Hopkins that appeared in Archives of Neurology. This same research found that people who have 2 or more drinks per day have even more brain shrinkage. Changes in the brain can occur early. A 2020 study in Scientific Reports found that moderate drinking was associated with lower total brain volume in early middle age (ages 39-45) in both males and females. Research on adolescents and alcohol consumption in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience showed that those who became heavy drinkers between the ages of 12-17 compared to those who did not drink alcohol started out with less brain volume and lost even more brain volume over time. When it comes to the brain, size matters!

2. Lowers blood flow to the brain

The brain scans of heavy drinkers show reduced overall blood flow to the brain. The brain uses 20% of the blood flow in your body and it is critical for healthy brain function. When levels are low it can lead to a laundry list of problems—brain fog, poor decision-making, trouble concentrating, impulsivity, and more. It’s especially important to know that low blood flow on brain scans is the #1 predictor of future memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease.

SPECT Scan of heavy alcohol abuse.

3. Causes atrophy of the hippocampus

Drinking 1-2 glasses of wine a day, which is considered “moderate” drinking, leads to atrophy in the hippocampus, according to a 30-year study of 550 women and men that was published in 2017 in BMJ. The hippocampus is a critical brain region for learning and memory. In this study, people who had 4 or more drinks per day were 6 times more likely to have atrophy in this critically important region of the brain compared with nondrinkers, and moderate drinkers had 3 times the risk. The researchers noted that they found no protective effects from light drinking. And higher alcohol use was also linked to changes in the microstructure of the corpus callosum, a thick bundle of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain and that is involved in allowing both sides of the brain to communicate effectively.

4. Reduces the number of new brain cells

Excessive alcohol consumption lowers the generation of new brain cells, especially in the hippocampus, according to animal research presented at Neuroscience in 2009. In the study, monkeys that consumed alcohol experienced a 58% decline in the number of new brain cells formed and a 63% reduction in the survival rate of new brain cells.

5. Increases the risk of dementia

Compared with non-drinkers and light drinkers, moderate to heavy drinkers have a 57% higher risk of dementia, according to research in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A. Drinking can literally make you lose your mind.

ALCOHOL ABUSE AND THE BRAIN

In people who abuse alcohol, the impacts on the brain can be even greater. A wealth of evidence, including findings in a 2016 review in Frontiers in Psychiatry, suggests that certain brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex (involved in decision-making, impulse control, planning, and follow-through) and the hippocampus (involved in memory, mood, and learning), experience the most damage from long-term abuse of alcohol.

BRAIN REHAB PROGRAM

Although these findings paint a grim picture of alcohol’s impact on the brain, the effects don’t have to be permanent. You are not stuck with the brain you have. Brain imaging studies at Amen Clinics show that the brains of heavy drinkers and alcohol abusers have the potential for recovery. Before-and-after SPECT scans in patients who follow a brain rehab program show remarkable improvements in blood flow and activity in the brain. Additional scientific evidence has found that the cognitive deficits related to damage to the prefrontal cortex recover more rapidly than those associated with the hippocampus.

To rehab your brain, follow these tips:

Addiction, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues can’t wait. At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to help our patients see the effects alcohol has had on their brain. This is often a powerful first step to quitting alcohol or reducing consumption. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain that includes biological, psychological, social, and spiritual areas of your life.

To learn more, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or visit our contact page here.

When you are chained by an addiction, you know it affects every area of your life. It’s no secret that substance abuse ruins lives, devastates families, destroys relationships, and negatively impacts careers and schoolwork. It also leads to physical health problems and is commonly connected to mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

What you may not realize is that it ravages the brain. The brain scans of substance abusers show dramatic damage—even worse than the brain scans of severely depressed people, schizophrenics, or even serial killers.

Brain imaging technology called SPECT looks at blood flow and activity in the brain. In surface scans, SPECT shows areas of the brain with healthy activity and areas with too little activity. The underactive areas look like holes or dents. The scans of healthy brains show full, even, symmetrical activity. The brains of substance abusers look like Swiss cheese.

Arnie was 56 when he got a brain SPECT scan. Sure, he was having 3 or 4 drinks a day, but he didn’t consider himself an alcoholic because he didn’t feel drunk or out of control. His brain told another story. His daily drinking was harming his brain, reducing his mental sharpness, and impacting his work.

Arnie’s Surface SPECT Scans

The good news is that the brains of substance abusers have the potential for some of the greatest improvement. The before-and-after scans often reveal a stunning level of recovery.  No matter what you are addicted to—drugs or alcohol or both—your brain can recover too. You need to follow these 10 steps.

10 Steps to Breaking Free from Addictions

1. Know your motivation.

To drive your desire to change, you must know why you want to get clean and sober.

2. Get the right evaluation.

The road to recovery starts by assessing the 4 circles of your life—biological, psychological, social, and spiritual—and optimizing any areas that need improvement.

3. Know your brain type.

Not all addicts are the same. Brain imaging shows there are 6 different types of addicts:

Type 1: Compulsive addicts

Type 2: Impulsive addicts

Type 3: Impulsive-compulsive addicts

Type 4: Sad or Emotional addicts

Type 5: Anxious addicts

Type 6: Temporal lobe addicts

Knowing your type will help you find the most effective solutions for your situation.

4. Boost your brain to gain control.

Enhancing your overall brain health will make it so much easier for you to stick with a recovery program and avoid relapse. And treating any co-existing conditions, like depression or anxiety, will help you heal your brain.

5. Learn to control cravings.

Make simple changes to your daily habits to avoid triggers. If your team at work usually goes to happy hour after work, suggest doing a group hike or some other activity. Daily exercise is another way to reduce cravings.

6. Eat right to think right.

Consuming brain healthy foods can help you make better decisions. For example, keeping your blood sugar levels balanced—think eating small amounts of protein at every meal and avoiding refined carbohydrates and sugary sweets—can improve impulse control in the brain.

7. Kill the ANTs.

You don’t have to believe every stupid thought in your head. Learn to overcome the automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) that infest your brain and keep you locked in your unhealthy ways. Any time you have a bad, sad, or hopeless thought, ask yourself if it is true and then talk back to it.

8. Manage your stress.

Meditation, prayer, and deep breathing exercises can help you calm the stress that can trigger a relapse. Practicing gratitude on a daily basis can also help calm stress.

9. Practice the H-A-L-T PLUS strategy.

Never get too hungry, too angry, too lonely, or too tired. Plus, learn to deal with the people, companies, and advertisers who will try to push things on you that will sabotage your brain healthy habits and your recovery.

10. Look beyond yourself.

Stop focusing on yourself and start learning to give back to your family, friends, and community. Volunteering and serving others can give you a sense of purpose in life. It helps you feel like your life matters, which is one of the best ways to break free from the addictions that steal your life.

After Arnie saw his brain scan, he made a commitment to boost his brain health by following these steps to help him stop drinking. With regular exercise, mental exercise, a brain healthy diet, and nutritional supplements targeted to his brain type, his follow-up brain scans showed great improvement. He felt more energetic, smarter, and more articulate. And his business improved. He hadn’t realized that his drinking was holding him back at the office.

At Amen Clinics, brain SPECT imaging is performed as part of a brain-body evaluation for people dealing with addictions and other conditions. The Amen Clinics Method also assesses the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors of your life to identify areas that can be optimized.

If you (or a loved one) are struggling with addiction, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.

 

Suicide rates among teens and young adults have skyrocketed to their highest levels in two decades, according to a study released in JAMA on June 18, 2019.

Alarmingly, suicide rates among teens ages 15-19 have seen the greatest jump, increasing by 10% from 2014-2017. Although previous studies have pointed to a rise in suicide among female teens—the number of girls ages 15-19 dying by suicide increased 8% from 2016 to 2017—this latest research found a surge in teenage boys taking their own lives. Compared to 2016, there was a 21% rise in 2017 in boys in the same age group dying by suicide.

This sobering research comes on the heels of another study showing that “deaths of despair” from suicide, drugs, and alcohol have reached a historic high. This deeply distressing news comes from a 2019 study by the Commonwealth Fund, which analyzed state-by-state data from 2005 to 2017. Here’s a closer look at the rise in deaths:

The research stops short of explaining why these deaths of despair are skyrocketing. What’s wrong? Why are we headed in the wrong direction? Shouldn’t our mental health care system and the growing number of addiction treatment centers be helping reverse these trends?

What’s Wrong with Mental Health Care in America?

America has an outdated, stigmatizing mental health paradigm that taints people with disparaging labels, preventing them from getting the help they need. And when they do seek help, they are faced with a field that is still diagnosing patients the same way it did over 100 years ago.

Mental health as it is currently practiced in the United States—making diagnoses based on symptom clusters with no biological information, then prescribing multiple medications where the mechanism in individual patients is unknown—does not have a prayer of fixing the epidemic problems of depression, suicide, and addictions. 

The Problem with Addiction Treatment in the U.S.

Similarly, most of the nation’s addiction treatment programs are missing the essential organ of intervention—the brain. Brain dysfunction is the number-one reason why people fall victim to addiction, why they can’t break the chains of addiction, and why they relapse.

Brain imaging studies using a technology called SPECT show that opioids, Vicodin, methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol all seriously impair brain function. Unless we heal the brain, there’s little chance of breaking free from addiction.

We need to do better.

A New Brain-Centered Model for a Brighter Future

What if mental health was really brain health? And what if we replaced the outdated treatment model with a modern brain-based, whole-person program rooted in neuroscience and hope?

No one is shamed for cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, even though they have significant lifestyle contributions. Likewise, no one should be shamed for depression, suicidal thoughts, addictions, panic disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other brain health issues.

Brain imaging helps eliminate the stigma currently attached to mental illness and addiction because people see that their problems are medical in nature, not moral. They aren’t due to a personal weakness or character flaw.

It decreases shame and guilt and increases forgiveness and compassion from their families. Reframing the discussion to brain health is also more accurate and elevates hope, increases the desire to get help, and increases compliance to make the necessary lifestyle changes. Once people understand that the brain controls everything they do and everything they are, they want a better brain so they can have a better life.

Brain Imaging Reveals Hope for Healing

The good news is that brain imaging studies show that the brain can heal. People with depression and suicidal thoughts can change their brain and change their lives. And people suffering from addictions have the potential for some of the most dramatic improvement in terms of brain function. In fact, before-and-after scans often reveal a stunning level of recovery.

Now is the time to adopt this new paradigm of brain-centered healing, so we can put the brakes on these staggering statistics and start reversing these trends.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

At Amen Clinics, we have the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to behavior. We use brain SPECT imaging in addition to assessing the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that may be contributing to mental health/brain health disorders and addictions. With this comprehensive evaluation, we are better able to accurately diagnose and personalize treatment solutions for your needs.

If you are struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, or addiction, we’re here for you. We have helped thousands of people change their brain and get their life back. Find out more about our unique approach to mental health care by speaking to a specialist at 888-288-9834 or you can schedule a visit online.