Anxiety is a major health problem that is reaching epidemic levels. According to the National Institute of Health, it affects 38 million Americans each year. Additionally, twice that number (75 million) will suffer from an anxious or depressive illness during some point in their lives. The loss to our society from these illnesses is staggering in terms of individual pain, family strife, school and relationship failure, lost work productivity, and death.
A new study revealed that a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) leads to an increased risk for cancer mortality in men, but not in women. The study, which is the largest to date to examine the link between anxiety and cancer mortality, found that a diagnosis of GAD more than doubled the risk for cancer mortality in men. The study took into account and adjusted for factors know to be associated with cancer mortality risk, such as smoking, alcohol, physical activity level, and chronic physical conditions.
Are There Early Warning Signs?Although the findings do not explain why GAD may increase mortality risk, Olivia Remes, a PhD student in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, said the following about some potential explanations for the association:
“Some studies have shown that men tend to wait a while to go to the doctor when they have a health problem, and they go when the disease tends to be in later, more advanced stages compared to women. So if they have anxiety, which we think could be an early warning signal for poor health, then they might not think that it’s a big deal, not anything that needs to be seen by a doctor. But if it is this underlying signal for poor health, then it could be triggering negative health consequences, like cancer development, and therefore men might be more likely to die earlier from cancer.”
Remes also mentioned that anxiety has been shown to trigger inflammation as well as immunosuppression and over activation of the stress systems, “and this could trigger diseases like cancer down the road”
Lifestyle Factors at Play?
In the past year, 2.4% of women and 1.8% of men were diagnosed with GAD. The women who were diagnosed were more likely to be younger than 65 years, to have a high disability level, and to be current smokers than those without GAD, and were very likely to have been diagnosed with major depression in the past year. Like their female counterparts, men diagnosed with GAD during the past year were more likely to be younger than 65 years than those without GAD. They were also more likely to be single, to have a high level of disability, a higher body mass index and were also more likely to be current smokers and physically inactive.
Twice the Risk
After adjusting for age, marital status, educational level, social class, major depressive disorder, chronic physical conditions, disability, smoking, alcohol intake, and physical activity level, the research team found that in men, GAD was associated with a significant increase in cancer mortality. There was no significant association between GAD and cancer mortality in women.
Untreated anxiety robs people of their quality of life. If you would like to know more about how Amen Clinics can help you with the anxiety in your life, it is important that you call us today at 888-288-9834 or visit us online. You CAN change your brain and change you life!
So often we worry about things in life and situations that are out of our control.
When you are stuck on a negative story about yourself, someone, or something, ask yourself:
• Whose business are you in?
• In your story, your internal drama, whose affairs are you concerned with? Yours? Someone else? The Universe’s?
What Can We Control?
We can really only change ourselves, and even that is difficult. We’ll never know what is best for others. Can you really know that someone should go to college, even your children? Some people do not attend college and have wonderful and successful lives, sometimes contributing much to society. If your child isn’t inclined to try college right then, so be it. It’s the child’s decision, and it should a decision they make after you helped them think it through.
In the case of the college decision, it’s not your business after you helped the child think it through, it’s the child’s business. But what about God’s or the universe’s business? Well, that has to do with situations like whether you have a stroke, or whether a meteor falls on your house. You owe it to yourself and your family to try to remain as healthy as you can and take care of yourself, but that might not be enough—you still could have a stroke.
Many factors of life are beyond our realm of control and worry. Natural disasters, accidents, life decisions, raising children, growing old, etc. are matters in life where we may only play a small role, if at all. The world will continue to turn with us, and us with it.
Here are some additional tips to stay focused on the things you can control:
1. Learn to postpone worrying by creating a ‘worry’ journal
2. Ask yourself if the problem is solvable
3. Distinguish between solvable and unsolvable feelings
4. Accept uncertainty
5. Challenge anxious thoughts, kill the ANTs!
Focusing on whose business we are in helps us focus on what we can control, usually only ourselves, and helps us move away from being stuck on the things we can’t control. Contact us today at 888-288-9834, or visit us online.
No matter your age, moderate exercise will ward off Alzheimer’s and memory problems, decrease anxiety and depression, boost your ability to focus and enhance your brain’s ability to repair itself.
What Research Says
Research is showing an important link between regular exercise and Alzheimer’s prevention. A study involving 120 people between the ages of 55 and 80 showed that brisk walking for 30-40 minutes, three times per week is helpful for boosting and protecting the parts of the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
What Scans Tell Us
Brain scans taken before and after this year-long study showed that the prefrontal cortex (PFC)—responsible for focus, forethought, judgment, follow through and impulse control—and the hippocampus—responsible for memory and spatial navigation—grew in volume by 2% among the brisk walking group, while these same brain areas continued to shrink in the group that participated in stretching exercises only.
When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampus is one of the first regions to become impaired, resulting in the hallmark symptoms of Alzheimer’s: memory loss and disorientation. Don’t sit and wait for a train to hit you—get out of the way. Exercise is a great way to boost your brain and protect it from Alzheimer’s disease.
Better Than Happy Pills
If you’re prone to anxiety and depression, exercise is one of the best natural treatments that exists—and it’s free! Exercise activates the same pathways in the brain as morphine and increases the release of endorphins, your natural feel-good neurotransmitters!
A depression study compared the benefits of exercise to those of the prescription drug, Zoloft. After 12 weeks, exercise proved equally effective as Zoloft in curbing depression. And after 10 months, exercise surpassed the effects of the drug… with ZERO negative side effects!
Exercise is not only a fountain of youth, but also the closest thing to a happiness pill that you will ever find!
We Can Help
Don’t know where to start? Did you know that despite the natural aging process, you actually have a choice in how fast your brain ages? Your behavior and habits can speed up or slow down the rate at which your brain declines with age. Being mentally and physically active, eating nutritious foods and avoiding unhealthy habits can help you maintain optimal brain health and ward off dementia.
The best way to sharpen recall, reduce brain atrophy, and eliminate all the risk factors that steal the mind is with our BRIGHT MINDS approach, which addresses memory problems, aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
To learn more about Amen Clinics Memory Program based on Dr. Amen’s BRIGHT MINDS approach, check it out HERE, or call 888-288-9834. Back in the day, pregnant women were treated like they had some sort of illness and were advised not to exercise. Today, this type of advice just sounds absurd.
Moderate exercise is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your baby during pregnancy. It will help your body cope with all the changes it’s going through, will help prevent gestational diabetes, will build your strength and stamina in preparation for labor and delivery (which also reduces the likelihood of cesarean section), and is the absolute best way to reduce rising levels of stress and anxiety, which is critical.
Can Stress Harm You While Pregnant?
The answer is YES.
An abundance of stress and anxiety can harm both you and your baby. Stress has been linked to premature birth, neurodevelopmental disorders, anger, and even allergies. Furthermore, untreated stress and/or anxiety will dramatically increase your chances of developing depression after the baby is born, so it’s best to manage your stress levels throughout pregnancy with calming, brain-healthy exercises.
Is Yoga a Good Type of Exercise for Pregnant Women?
Yoga is a perfect choice for expectant mothers because it doesn’t elevate the heart rate above 140 beats per minute and won’t leave you breathless, which could compromise oxygen supply going to your baby. Plus, it’s fantastic for both strength and serenity, and this study has confirmed it.
What Research Confirms
Published in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety, the study monitored 59 first-time pregnant women over a span of 8 weeks. The women were randomized into two groups: a weekly yoga class group and a treatment-as-usual group. Researchers asked both groups to self-report their stress and anxiety levels, while also recording cortisol (stress hormone) levels at both the first and last session of the 8-week course.
The Results
The outcome was impressive!
• The pregnant women who attended yoga class every week for 8 weeks experienced less anxiety, compared to those who didn’t do yoga.
• A single session of yoga was found to reduce self-reported anxiety among the women by one-third, and reduce cortisol levels by an average of 14%.
If you often experience elevated stress levels or are anxious about giving birth, we strongly suggest that you try yoga. If there isn’t a studio where you live (or you are nervous about taking your first class in a room full of strangers) there are some great online classes to try.
Feel Better Fast
At Amen Clinics, we have spent decades helping people just like you improve their overall health and thus their brain health. We offer a full breadth of treatment options and services, including an integrative medicine program. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit. Suicide rates among United States soldiers surpassed the civilian rate for the first time ever in 2008. In response, a group of academic, government and military researchers began the largest study ever conducted on suicide in the military, scanning records from nearly a million soldiers, surveying thousands of active soldiers, and investigating hundreds of suicides.
What Research Says
The ongoing study, Army STARRS, was designed to identify risk and protective factors involved in suicide, adverse mental health outcomes from deployment, and related functional impairment by investigating a wide range of influencers, from large administrative data sets to behavioral, neurobiological, and genetic markers.
The first three research papers from the study were published in JAMA Psychiatry, providing an initial overview of the increased vulnerability to suicidal tendencies among military personnel.
Key Findings
• Around one quarter of the soldiers surveyed qualified for at least one current psychiatric disorder, such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse – a rate roughly twice that found among civilians, yet only half of those disorders surfaced after enlistment.
• One in 10 soldiers surveyed qualified for a diagnosis of “intermittent explosive disorder,” a condition characterized by extreme anger, often to the point of uncontrollable rage. The rate was more than 11% among soldiers and less than 2% among civilians, yet three-quarters of the time, anger issues were present before enlistment.
Dr. Matthew Nock, a lead author on one of the papers told the NY Times, “The people at highest risk of making an attempt struggled with depression and anxiety, or post-traumatic stress, in combination with impulsiveness and aggression. The former gets people thinking about suicide, and the latter gets them to act on those thoughts.”
We Can Help
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
At Amen Clinics, we want to help you learn more about your brain and how to feel better. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or tell us more to schedule an appointment.
Affecting more than 18 million Americans each year, depression is now the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and according to government statistics, more than half of people with depression are also plagued by insomnia.
A report from a series of sleep and depression studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health showed that addressing and curing insomnia may double one’s ability to fully recover from depression.
Relieve Insomnia, Cure Depression
The report originated from a team at Ryerson University in Toronto, where 66 patients were studied over a treatment period of 8 weeks, using talk therapy to resolve insomnia, rather than sleep medication.
The results were outstanding and further confirmed the findings of a similar pilot study:
• 87% of those who relieved insomnia through biweekly talk therapy sessions also resolved their depression, supported by either an antidepressant drug or placebo.
• Participants who were unable to relieve their insomnia were half as likely to resolve their depression.
How Did the Participants Relieve Insomnia?
Along with talk therapy, researchers taught participants a technique called cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), and according to the study’s author, Dr. Colleen Carney, the objective is to, “Curb this idea that sleeping requires effort, that it’s something you have to fix. People get in trouble when they begin to think they have to do something to get sleep.”
CBT-I teaches patients to:
• Establish a regular wake-up time and stick to it.
• Get out of bed during waking periods.
• Avoid eating, reading, watching TV or similar activities in bed.
• Avoid daytime napping.
Treating Underlying Issues
Similar studies and our own experience treating patients has shown us that rumination, or replaying the same thoughts over and over in your head, plays an important role in both depression and insomnia. Rumination, insomnia, and depression are totally interconnected.
We have seen that this type of rumination is extremely common in those with untreated and undertreated overfocused ADD, anxiety, and depression along with having a brain type that leans toward compulsive, or repetitive behaviors and beliefs, often times negative. Having enough repetitive negative thoughts will successfully sow the seeds of depression over the long-term.
We Can Help
The Amen Clinics Method takes the time to address depression, insomnia, and sleep disorders with the right kinds of treatment – instead of masking the symptoms with a medication alone – producing far better recovery rates. Call us today at 888-288-9834, or tell us more about your situation to learn if treatment at Amen Clinics may be right for you.
After working with tens of thousands of patients and their brain SPECT scans, we know that ADD is not a “one-size-fits-all” issue.
At Amen Clinics, we have identified many unique types of ADD within the brain; all of which respond to the same treatments in very different ways.
ADD + Anxiety
We’ve seen the combination of anxiety and ADD symptoms occurring together more frequently — and when they do, the symptoms of ADD become magnified. The frequency of this pattern led us to discover a 7th ADD brain type, appropriately named Anxious ADD.
People with Anxious ADD have most of the hallmark ADD symptoms, plus:
• Anxiety
• Nervousness
• Tension
• Predicting the worst
• Fear of being judged
• Freezing during anxiety-provoking situations, such as test taking
• Suffering the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as headaches or stomach aches
What is Anxious ADD?
Anxious ADD is very different from the other types, such as Classic ADD, where people tend to be excitement or conflict seeking. Although both experience the same underlying ADD symptoms, Classic ADD types tend to have lower levels of anxiety that make them more “fearless” and get them in hot water, where the Anxious types avoid conflict like the plague.
Without looking at the brain, traditional diagnostic methods may focus on the anxiety symptoms exclusively, missing the underlying ADD all together. When left improperly diagnosed and ineffectively treated, ADD will continue to cause problems in a person’s life, making the anxiety issues that much worse.
Instead of simply prescribing medication in response to a cluster of symptoms, The Amen Clinics Method includes a custom-tailored combination of treatments, all geared toward optimizing the specific ADD brain type and reprogramming the person’s life.
At Amen Clinics, we can help you or your family overcome the challenges of living with ADD, while providing treatment options that address more than just symptoms. Our experienced clinical staff will assess all areas of your biological, psychological, social, and spiritual needs with our 4 Circles Approach before beginning treatment with brain SPECT imaging or any other interventions. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or tell us more to schedule an appointment.
Addiction is vicious. Not only does substance abuse rewire our brains for the worse, it is also a relationship killer.
Instead of handing down the classic car or the childhood home, some parents are bequeathing their children a future of internal torment. Is the cause physiological or psychological? The answer is unclear. What is clear is that when it comes to addiction, we need to be thinking about our children’s future as much as our own.
In brain SPECT scans of patients struggling with addiction we often see global damage to the brain, including the frontal lobes (which control executive functioning skills like planning, attention span, and impulse control) and in the temporal lobes (which are involved in memory, mood, and understanding speech). Depression is a brain illness, and SPECT scans of patients suffering from anxiety and depression demonstrate several different patterns of brain activity.
Time and again we have seen the generational toll of addiction. We have compassion for all who are involved. The question is, how can you intervene and break the cycle of not only addiction, but also depression, which so often leads to addiction?
Our Recommendations
We have three immediate recommendations to any parent and their adult children who are ready to break the cycle of addiction and depression and start reversing damage that has been done.
Get an Assessment of Your Brain
At Amen Clinics, our full evaluation includes a detailed history, cognitive testing and two brain SPECT studies (at rest and during a concentration task). SPECT (single-photon emission computerized tomography) is a special kind of image of the brain that gives doctors crucial information. How can you change your brain if you do not know anything about it?
Get The Support You Need
You don’t have to be an addict or a manic to have a hard time making change. Major life changes are very difficult for many people. Studies have shown that those who surround themselves with a support group are far more likely to have success implementing major changes.
Accept Hope
In our thirty years, we have collectively performed over 150,000 scans on patients from 120 countries, we have seen many cases of addiction, depression, brain trauma, and illness. But you must know that we have seen an equal or greater amount of recovery, repair and re-engagement with life in patients who had almost given up on the possibility of getting better. The brain is complicated and delicate, but it is also resilient beyond explanation.
We Can Help
We urge you to accept that there is hope. When you do that, taking action to break the cycle is the natural next step. The Amen Clinics biomedical evaluation is part of The Amen Clinics Method approach to mental and physical health. We treat each patient as an individual, and take a full personal history before beginning SPECT imaging or recommending any treatment program. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or schedule an appointment online.
Do you often feel stirred up, worried, or nervous? Do you feel uncomfortable in your own skin?
Have you ever experienced a feeling like you could “climb the walls” or that you are “crawling out of your skin”? Are you plagued by feelings of panic, fear, and self-doubt?
Do you ever experience any of the following physical symptoms that can be consistently disruptive or come in unexpected waves?
• Muscle tension
• Muscle soreness
• Nail biting
• Headaches
• Abdominal pain
• Shortness of breath
• Heart palpitations
If you answered yes to any combination of these, you might be suffering from a psychiatric disorder that affects over 38 million Americans every year.
The Anxiety Epidemic
Anxiety is a major public health problem that is reaching epidemic levels in the United States. The loss to our society from these illnesses is staggering in terms of individual pain, family strife, school and relationship failure, lost work productivity, and death.
Anxiety is a Brain Illness
Our work and the research of many others has demonstrated that anxiety is a brain illness, not the result of a weak will or character problem. In addition to the common symptoms listed in the questions above, anxiety can cause irrational fears or phobias that become a burden. People with “pure anxiety” tend to avoid anything that makes them anxious or uncomfortable, such as places or people that might trigger panic attacks or interpersonal conflict. People with this type tend to predict the worst and look to the future with fear. They may be excessively shy or startle easily, or they may freeze in emotionally charged situations.
Having “untreated” anxiety affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life and has been associated with school underachievement, family conflict, drug abuse, legal difficulties, and poor work performance.
Treatment for Anxiety
The standard treatment for anxiety is anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax. This medication may be helpful for many people, but it can also make many others much worse. Sometimes negative reactions to these types of medications can be extreme, such as hallucinations, violent outbursts, volatile temperaments, psychosis, and suicidal behavior.
Anxiety & SPECT
Shortly after Dr. Daniel Amen began brain SPECT imaging work in 1991, he realized that anxiety is not just a single or simple disorder. Just as there are many different causes of chest pain, there were different brain SPECT patterns in his anxious patients. Dr. Amen has identified seven different types of anxiety and knowing your type is essential to getting the right help.
How We Can Help
Amen Clinics has pioneered the use of brain SPECT imaging in clinical practice and research shows its use significantly impacts the accuracy of diagnosis and the ability to target effective treatments. SPECT imaging helps personalize treatments specific to what your brain needs, and, when used in combination with our full evaluation and clinical assessment, has demonstrated very high success rates.
At Amen Clinics, we are dedicated to improving the lives of every patient and family we serve through education, the latest advances in neuroimaging, laboratory testing, and individualized treatment plans. We use the least toxic, most effective treatments for our patients, and use a wide variety of interventions from natural supplements, medications, dietary interventions and targeted forms of psychotherapy.
Our Full Evaluation of your biological/psychological/social/spiritual history, coupled with two brain SPECT imaging scans (at rest and at concentration), cognitive testing, and clinical assessment is designed to address your unique needs and offer targeted treatment options. We invite you to call today, 888-288-9834 or visit us online.
The link between alcoholism and anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been well established by doctors for some time. Heavy alcohol use increases the risk for traumatic events like car accidents and domestic violence, but that only partially explains the connection.
A study conducted by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and UNC’s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies suggests that heavy alcohol use rewires brain circuitry, making it harder for alcoholics to recover psychologically following a traumatic experience.
What Research Says
Chronic exposure to alcohol can cause a deficit about how our cognitive brain centers control our emotional brain centers. “A history of heavy alcohol abuse could impair a critical mechanism for recovering from a trauma, and in doing so put people at greater risk for PTSD,” said NIAAA scientist Andrew Holmes, PhD, the study’s senior author. “The next step will be to test whether our preclinical findings translate to patients currently suffering from comorbid PTSD and alcohol abuse. If it does, then this could lead to new thinking about how we can better treat these serious medical conditions.”
Over the course of a month, the researchers gave one group of mice doses of alcohol equivalent to double the legal driving limit in humans. A second group of mice was given no alcohol. The team then used mild electric shocks to train all the mice to fear the sound of a brief tone.
The Results
When the tone was repeatedly played without the accompanying electric shock, the mice with no alcohol exposure gradually stopped fearing it. The mice with chronic alcohol exposure, on the other hand, froze in place each time the tone was played, even long after the electric shocks had stopped.
Alcohol & Anxiety
Understanding the relationship between alcohol and anxiety at the molecular level could offer new possibilities for developing drugs to help patients with anxiety disorders who also have a history of heavy alcohol use. This study is exciting because it gives us a specific molecule to look at in a specific brain region, thus opening the door to discovering new methods to treat these disorders.
