It’s one of the most gut-wrenching, horrifying, heartbreaking things you’ll ever see. The Netflix docuseries, “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez,” chronicles the 2013 brutal torture and murder of the 8-year-old boy at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.
The series details how the young boy was routinely beaten, forced to eat kitty litter, and shot in the face with a BB gun. Gabriel’s mother, Pearl, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, also repeatedly locked him a cabinet, pepper-sprayed him, burned him with cigarettes, called him “gay,” and performed other unconscionable acts. In the series, one of the first responders who arrived on the scene after Pearl called 911 on May 22, 2013, to report that her son had stopped breathing said it was the worst case of abuse she had ever seen.
It makes you wonder, how could anyone inflict such abuse on an innocent child?
Spoiler alert: The remainder of this article reveals information from later episodes of the docuseries.
In one of the episodes, viewers learn about Pearl’s turbulent background and discover that she herself had been a victim of abuse at a young age. She was beaten by her mother, gang-raped, and subjected to an attempted rape by one of her uncles. Pearl started using drugs (methamphetamine and crack cocaine) and drinking alcohol at a very young age, which likely altered her brain function.
Drug and alcohol abuse early in life interferes with brain development and a process called myelination. During this important maturation process that typically isn’t completed until a person’s mid-20s, a protective sheath coats neurons to help speed communication within the brain. It starts at the back of the brain and works its way forward. The prefrontal cortex (involved in judgment, empathy, decision-making, and impulse control), which is located behind the forehead, is the last area to gain this protective coating. When this process is disrupted, it can lead to lifelong dysfunction, poor decision-making, impulsivity, and a lack of empathy.
In fact, the series shows that according to a neurocognitive evaluation by a clinical psychologist, scans of Pearl’s brain showed abnormalities in the right frontal and parietal lobes. The evaluation also indicated that Pearl had a low IQ and no education beyond the 8th grade. In addition, she had been diagnosed with a litany of mental health disorders, including depression, eating disorders, developmental disability, PTSD, and possible personality disorder.
None of this excuses what she did to her sweet child, but it brings to light the fact that it is common for childhood abuse to repeat from one generation to the next.
Can this cycle be stopped?
What brain imaging and clinical psychiatric practice have shown us is that there is hope for putting an end to this destructive cycle. Here are 3 important steps in the process.
If you remember the pain and trauma from the past, it can help you break it for future generations. If, however, you repress it, you are more likely to repeat it.
Some forms of psychotherapy, such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can be very helpful to eliminate or decrease the pain from past traumas (see www.emdria.org to find a therapist near you). Addressing other mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, or PTSD, can help improve the overall quality of life and the ability to have healthy relationships.
Because childhood trauma can get stuck in the brain’s emotional centers and prevent the brain from processing information normally, it is of the utmost importance to enhance overall brain function with a healthy diet, daily exercise, abstinence from alcohol and drugs, and other lifestyle strategies. Brain imaging studies show that you can change your brain and change your life, which in turn, will change the lives of your children and their grandchildren.
It’s impossible to know if Gabriel’s death could have been avoided if Pearl had sought treatment for her own abusive childhood and mental health problems and if she had adopted brain healthy habits. However, this tragic story should be a wake-up call for all of us to try to heal the traumas of the past that continue to haunt us today and that have a negative effect on our relationships with our children.
At Amen Clinics, we take a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating our patients. We perform sophisticated brain imaging to detect underlying brain dysfunction that may be affecting your quality of life and the ability to be an effective parent. We also perform lab work (when needed) and do an extensive assessment of your personal history to identify biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that may be contributing to your symptoms. This allows our physicians to create a targeted treatment plan for your individual needs.
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.
Do you love your kids? Do you want them to be happy, healthy, and successful? Of course, you do! Unfortunately, many parents who are trying to do their best inadvertently do things that mess up their children’s lives. Then they wonder why their kids are struggling with mental health issues and aren’t reaching their potential.
The human brain uses 20-30% of the calories you consume. If you feed your child a fast food diet, they’re going to have a fast food mind, which is associated with ADD/ADHD, depression, and dementia later in life. Focus on feeding your child brain-healthy foods so they are able to have optimal brain development and function.
Did you know that research shows that teenagers who sleep just one hour less than their peers have overall lower blood flow to their brains and a higher incidence of depression and suicide? Children need much more sleep than most parents realize for optimal brain development and function. For example, the growth hormone actually works more effectively while your child is sleeping. It is essential that you make sleep a priority for your child and stick to a regular sleep schedule.
If your motto is, “Do as I say, not as I do,” you are setting yourself up for frustration. If you lie, cheat, are rude or disrespectful, eat unhealthily, and never address your own health, your child is going to pick up what you do. So, model how you want your child to be.
Heading soccer balls, playing tackle football, or even falling off a bike without wearing a helmet can have devastating consequences for your child’s life. Concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, substance abuse, school problems, and more. The number of concussions in children is rising. From 2010 to 2015, concussion diagnoses in young people aged 10-19 skyrocketed 71%.
While it can be tempting, it is crucial that you not criticize, put down, or complain about your child’s other parent to your child. This not only undermines the effectiveness of the other parent, but it also decreases your child’s self-esteem. Your child is a product of both parents, and by saying negative things about the other parent, you are really saying negative things about your child as well.
By giving in to tantrums, even once, you will teach them what you will tolerate. They will then learn the lesson that misbehaving works to get them what they want. They need to know that they are not able to manipulate you with their behavior.
During adolescence, the most influential people in your teen’s life are the friends they spend the most time with—not you. That is why you want to know the values of the people they are hanging out with. If you are unhappy with what you discover, then get your child involved with the activities of kids who have values that you appreciate.
One of the best sayings related to parenting is, “Be curious, not furious.” Be a good coach rather than a dictator. If a child is unable to have the freedom to explore different ways of thinking and seeing the world and instead feels micromanaged, they are much more likely to rebel and have a conflicted relationship with you.
If you do this and they end up failing to learn something (which they likely will at some point in their lives), then they will tell themselves that they really aren’t smart and become more likely to give up. Instead, point out how hard they work and praise their effort. That way, when something in their life is hard, they will persevere and work harder because their self-esteem comes from hard work, not innate smarts.
Remember what it was like for you when you were a child or a teen. Remember the challenges and struggles you had. This will give you much more empathy for your child. You’ll end up being more helpful to them than if you approach their lives from an adult perspective.
Does your child have trouble with focus and attention? Do they feel anxious or depressed? Do they have conduct or behavior problems? Putting your head in the sand and hoping it just goes away can set your child up for a lifetime of struggles. It takes an average of 11 years from the time kids develop mental health symptoms before they get an evaluation. That’s a lot of unnecessary suffering.
At Amen Clinics, we have treated thousands of children and teens for ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, school problems, addictions, head injuries, and more. We use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to diagnose and treat young people. This helps our Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists identify any dysfunction or damage in the brain, as well as any co-existing conditions, that need to be addressed. Based on this information, we are better able to personalize treatment for your child using the least toxic, most effective solutions for a better outcome.
If you want to help your child live their best life, 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.
(Names have been changed to protect privacy.)
When someone in your family is struggling with a mental health condition—whether it’s anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, bipolar disorder, addiction, memory loss, schizophrenia, behavioral problems, or PTSD—it impacts the whole family and can create dysfunction. Most people want to blame all the stress and drama on that one person and believe that if they could just “fix” that individual, everything would be resolved. In reality, it’s rarely that simple. In many cases, other family members are contributing to the problems due to undiagnosed issues.
Here’s how one mother learned this important lesson first-hand.
Jackie was constantly butting heads with her daughter, Maya, a 16-year-old junior in high school who had been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Like many teens with this condition, Maya’s room at home was so messy it looked like it had been hit by a tornado. She had trouble focusing and was struggling to keep up with her schoolwork while also studying to take the SAT. Maya was having such a hard time, she started thinking she would never get into college, so why should she even bother studying so hard for the SAT?
Jackie was constantly hounding her daughter to study more and work harder and telling her she was being lazy, which only added to Maya’s discouragement. Jackie was a natural at taking charge and getting things done and expected everybody else to be just as good at powering through their to-do list, so she thought Maya was just being lazy with her study schedule.
On top of that, Jackie hated it when things were out of place, so she would get angry at her daughter for having so much clutter in her room. These negative thoughts would get stuck in Jackie’s head, and she would bring up things Maya did wrong years ago. It all added more stress to Maya’s situation and ratcheted up the mother-daughter tension.
Jackie was convinced that Maya’s ADD/ADHD was the source of all their troubles and if they could just get that under control then everything would be better between them.
Jackie decided to take her daughter for a brain SPECT scan and a comprehensive evaluation so Maya could be “fixed.” After learning more about their relationship, however, the psychiatrist suggested that both Maya and Jackie get scanned. Jackie didn’t think she really needed to have her own brain scanned, after all, it was Maya’s brain that was the problem. But she agreed, assuming the doctor could use her own scan as a healthy example to compare to Maya’s.
After going through the process, Maya’s scan showed low activity in her prefrontal cortex (consistent with ADD/ADHD) combined with increased activity in her basal ganglia and amygdala (a tendency for anxiety and predicting the worst).
The patterns of abnormal brain activity in Maya’s scan related to ADD/ADHD didn’t come as a surprise to Jackie. But she hadn’t realized that her daughter’s negativity was rooted in brain activity that revealed a vulnerability for anxiety disorder. She had always thought it was just a bad personality trait.
Then it came time to review her own scan. What she saw was shocking.
Jackie’s scan showed excessive activity in the front part of her brain in an area called the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), which is seen in people with obsessive compulsive disorder and in those who tend to be rigid and hold grudges. For the first time in her life, Jackie grasped that she had brain issues that were fueling the dysfunctional relationship she had with her daughter. “Fixing” her daughter wasn’t going to solve their problems. They both needed to enhance their brain health in order to have a peaceful relationship.
Seeing both of their brain scans also helped Jackie understand that her daughter’s brain simply worked differently from her own, so she stopped expecting Maya to tackle her studies the same way she had done when she was that age. It also helped her see how her parenting style had actually been making Maya’s issues worse. She realized that enhancing Maya’s brain was only part of the solution. She needed to optimize her own brain as well to be able to better support Maya.
With the help of their mental health professional, the two of them began personalized treatment plans using supplements and lifestyle interventions targeted to each individual brain. Maya’s treatment plan focused on boosting activity in the PFC and soothing the basal ganglia, while Jackie’s program aimed to calm her overactive ACG.
After a few weeks, Maya was able to get better organized and stay more focused while studying. And with her own brain calmed down, Jackie stopped getting so upset about things being out of place and quit harping on Maya about things that had happened years earlier. When it came time for the SAT, Maya did better than she had anticipated and eventually got into her top choice for college. And she and her mom now get along much better, so they are both less stressed in general.
At Amen Clinics, when we use brain SPECT imaging to scan entire families, we often discover that one or more family members have a diagnosable mental health condition that has gone undetected. Without this knowledge, the family unit would likely continue to struggle. Optimizing all of the family member’s brains can be the key to a more loving and supportive home life.
If you want to join the tens of thousands of family members who have already visited Amen Clinics and enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and healed their relationships, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
Are you filled with dread at the thought of going home? Is your family constantly at war with each other? Do you feel neglected or worry about a possible violent outburst? You may think you’re the only one whose family life is filled with tension, strife, and emotional chaos. You’d be wrong. Far too many people are living in families where communication, emotional support, and love are in short supply.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family can leave you emotionally scarred and set you up for a lifetime of issues. Not all dysfunctional families are the same though, and each type can create specific problems that carry on into adulthood.
Over 8 million children under the age of 18 live with a parent who has a substance use disorder, according to research in Social Work in Public Health. When one or more parents abuse drugs or alcohol, it can lead to chaotic family life. Children of alcoholics or drug addicts may not have their basic needs met. The addicted parent may forget to pick up the kids from school, neglect to fix lunch or dinner, and skip important health checks. Unreliable and inconsistent parenting causes children to feel insecure and leads to issues with trust and pent-up anger that may linger for decades.
Living in constant fear, being blamed for problems the parent creates and feeling ashamed impact the ability to form healthy relationships later on in life. Children of alcoholics are prone to develop overactivity in the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, and can contribute to mental health conditions, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. And research in Drug and Alcohol Dependenceshows they are at heightened risk of developing substance use disorders.
Is your family life filled with heated arguments, hurtful disputes, and long-running feuds? When family members are constantly picking fights or pressing each other’s buttons to create conflict, it creates a highly stressful environment. When one family member feels threatened, they may retaliate with even more hateful actions. It doesn’t really matter what the conflicts are about—money, personal style, where to go to dinner, or what to watch on TV—it’s the inability to communicate and resolve issues peacefully that causes lasting damage. Children in conflict-oriented families often develop stress disorders and have trouble with attachment.
Each year, approximately 4.5 to 15 million children are exposed to some form of physical violence in the home. Growing up in a volatile or violent family is a horrific experience that no one deserves. Family violence is not only physical. It can also include verbal, sexual, or psychological abuse or any other behavior that makes you feel unsafe. For children, simply witnessing domestic abuse can have the same devastating effects as experiencing abuse oneself, according to 2018 research in JAMA Network Open.
Childhood trauma causes physical changes in the developing brain that are associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders and substance abuse. For example, brain imaging research shows that children who grow up in an abusive environment tend to have:
Authoritarian parents act like dictators, making great demands but giving little positive feedback. Mistakes are often met with severe punishment, which can include yelling, spanking, or other forms of corporal punishment. In these households, the authoritarian sets the rules and it’s “my way or the highway.” Children learn to follow rules but don’t gain valuable experience in making their own decisions or learning from their own mistakes.
When they grow up, these youngsters tend to have poor self-esteem, may be overly aggressive or excessively shy in social situations, may be prone to anxiety or depression, and may be vulnerable to substance abuse due to an inability to control their own behavior.
In some families, signs of affection and warmth are missing. Emotional unavailability and a lack of hugs, handholding, and other physical signs of love teach children to repress their emotions. This causes little ones to bottle up their feelings and have a hard time opening up to others, which can lead to a series of failed relationships.
In some cases, it creates problems with self-esteem and feelings of unworthiness. Without loving parents, children are more likely to have a fear of abandonment, school problems, and psychological issues, such as a lack of identity or personality disorders.
Whichever form of family dysfunction affects your home life, understand that you can overcome these issues. You don’t need to let them ruin your life. Here are some powerful steps that can help you heal from a dysfunctional upbringing.
If you’re struggling with issues that stem from growing up in a dysfunctional family or you’re still caught up in an unhealthy family dynamic, Amen Clinics can help. At Amen Clinics, we can help you—and everyone in the family unit—achieve better brain health and a stronger, more fulfilling relationship. We use brain SPECT imaging to help diagnose mental health conditions and to identify areas of the brain that may benefit from optimization. We believe in using the least toxic, most effective solutions, including psychotherapy, natural supplements, nutritional coaching, medications (when necessary) and more.
To find out more about how we can help, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
Report card time can be stressful for everyone involved. Kids and teens may be wracked with anxiety and dread. And when you see your child’s report card, you may experience frustration, disappointment, and sometimes anger. How you react to those grades can greatly impact your child’s self-esteem, motivation, and mental health.
Wrong reaction: How can you get such bad grades when you spend so much time studying?
Better reaction: If your child spends hours studying but still isn’t doing well at school, it may be time to investigate if a condition, such as ADD/ADHD or another learning problem is keeping your child from performing up to their ability. To make sure your child is getting the support needed, you may want to check into a 504 or Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Wrong reaction: Don’t be silly, this is a good report card.
Better reaction: Don’t discount your child’s feelings. If your child has a meltdown and feels like a failure because they didn’t get all A’s on their report card, they may be a perfectionist. These students place so much pressure on themselves and often set unrealistic goals, so they never feel good about their achievements. This can take a toll on their self-esteem and mental health. Perfectionists are at increased risk of anxiety, depression, and chronic stress. Help your child by modeling healthy coping strategies, sharing your own stories of how you handle failure and praise them for things other than academic achievements and grades.
Wrong reaction: Why do you ruin everything with your bad attitude?
Better reaction: When disruptive, inappropriate, defiant, or aggressive behavior is skewing grades in the wrong direction, you may be tempted to blame them for their attitude or wait for your child to simply grow out of it. But if behavioral problems persist, it can lead to serious trouble, including eventual suspension or expulsion. Checking with a mental healthcare professional to see if these problems are serious enough to need treatment can help put your student on the path to better behavior and better academic achievement.
Wrong reaction: Tests are no different than homework. It’s all in your head.
Better reaction: Some young people are very smart and diligent, but they struggle on exams due to test-day anxiety. Shaming them just makes them feel worse. Rather than telling them not to worry or that there’s nothing to be anxious about, acknowledge their feelings and teach them some simple strategies to help them overcome exam jitters. Deep breathing is one of the most powerful anxiety tamers and it calms nerves almost instantly. Teaching youngsters how to eliminate ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) is another tool that can help them get past performance anxiety.
Wrong reaction: I’m taking your phone away until your grades improve!
Better reaction: If you know your child hasn’t been doing their homework or has been slacking in the studying department, it’s time for a heart-to-heart about effort. Ask your child if they have a plan to improve and let them know that there will be consequences. Make the consequences more immediate and tie them to their effort. For example, tell them they can’t use their phone until their homework is completed.
Wrong reaction: What’s wrong with you? You used to be so smart.
Better reaction: Don’t be furious about a bad report card, be curious. A sudden drop in grades, especially in teens, may be a cause for concern. Take stock of your teen’s lifestyle habits to determine if a lack of sleep, too many extracurricular activities, or too much time on social media may be preventing them from hitting the books. Be aware that this may also be a warning sign of a more serious problem, such as substance abuse, depression, or being bullied. Talk to your teen about what might be the underlying reasons for the change in grades and consider setting up a meeting with their teacher. Remember that solving the root cause of the problem is far more important than the actual grades, so be sure to support your teen rather than scolding them.
Wrong reaction: You got a great report card, so we’re giving you a new phone.
Better reaction: You may be tempted to reward good grades with money, a shiny new object, or a big celebratory dinner. But doling out gifts sends the wrong message. It tells children that your love is tied to how good their grades are. This can fuel a sense of perfectionism, anxiety, and a fear of failure. Rather than focusing your attention on the letter grades or GPA, pay attention to the effort that went into the grades.
At Amen Clinics, we have treated thousands of children and teens for school problems, including anxiety, behavioral issues, ADD/ADHD, addictions, and more. We use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to diagnose and treat children. This helps our Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists identify any dysfunction or damage in the brain, as well as any co-existing conditions, that need to be addressed. Based on this information, we are better able to personalize treatment for your child using the least toxic, most effective solutions for a better outcome.
Speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The ice caps are melting! Sea levels are rising! The Amazon rainforest is burning! Orangutans will be extinct within 10 years! Planet Earth is dying!
Every day, we’re bombarded with distressing and disturbing updates about the impending threats of climate change and other environmental disasters. It’s enough to make you stressed, sad, and worried sick.
According to the American Psychological Association, one of the biggest dangers of climate change is the erosion of mental health in America. In a 2017 report called “Mental Health and Our Changing Climate,” the APA said the impact of climate change will “cause some of the most resounding chronic psychological consequences.”
Co-written with environmental organizations EcoAmerica and Climate for Health, the report also claims, “Gradual, long-term changes in climate can also surface a number of different emotions, including fear, anger, feelings of powerlessness, or exhaustion.”
Helplessness, hopelessness, and fatalism are on the rise, and the report suggests that climate change, natural disasters, and environmental catastrophes are contributing to mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, aggression and violence, suicidal thoughts and behavior, and more.
Some are calling it eco-anxiety.
If you spend your days fretting about the perils facing our planet, you aren’t alone. Millions of Americans and people around the world are expressing a deep sense of malaise about the possibility of impending environmental doom.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenage climate activist, launched a school strike for the climate in 2018 and has since become a global icon. In Greta’s 2018 TED Talk, she sounded the alarm bell, saying “We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, with up to 200 species going extinct every single day.” That’s scary stuff! Her talk has already been viewed over 3.9 million times. And some 7 million people joined her #weekforfuture climate strikes in 2019.
People’s fears go beyond a personal level. You may not be worried about the impacts of climate change in your own lifetime. You may be more concerned about what it means for your children, grandchildren, and future generations. You may feel tremendous guilt that you haven’t done enough personally to reduce your carbon footprint and that your daily habits are making things worse for the future. At the same time, you may feel powerless to effect change on a meaningful scale.
The number of people experiencing eco-anxiety is rising. A 2018 Yale survey—Climate Change in the American Mind—involving 1,114 American adults found that 69% of Americans say they’re “somewhat worried” about climate change and 29% are “very worried” about it. About 56% of Americans think their families will be harmed by global warming, and 75% think future generations will be negatively affected.
Psychologists and psychiatrists are seeing a growing number of people who are feeling stressed about the environment. Eco-anxiety can cause many of the same symptoms seen in other anxiety disorders—panic attacks, nervousness, headaches, muscle tension, conflict avoidance, nausea, dizziness, and more. Fear of climate change can also be viewed as a form of phobia.
A 2011 report from the National Wildlife Foundation suggests the mental healthcare system is inadequately prepared to handle the increases in psychological disorders. The report says, “The American mental health community, counselors, trauma specialists, and first responders are not even close to being prepared to handle scale and intensity of impacts that will arise from the harsher conditions and disasters that global warming will unleash.”
What can you do?
If you’re suffering from eco-anxiety, there is help. Many of the therapies and treatments for anxiety disorders and panic attacks, phobias, and depression may be helpful in overcoming feelings of dread about climate change and the environment.
Amen Clinics has helped thousands of people overcome all types of anxiety disorders, panic attacks, phobias, and depression. We use brain SPECT imaging to help identify which type of anxiety and depression you have and to help find the least toxic, most effective personalized solutions as part of a brain-body approach to healing.
If eco-anxiety is has overtaken your life and is interfering with your work, school, home life, or relationships, it’s time to get help. Speak with a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
When young adults head to college, they sometimes worry about the dreaded “Freshman 15″—the 15 (or more) pounds new students often pack on during their first year in school. But there is something far more worrisome than going up a pant size.
Did you know that many serious mental health conditions begin during young adulthood? The age of onset for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorders, eating disorders, psychosis, and suicidal thoughts and behavior is common in the late teens or early 20s—a time when many students are entering college. In fact, 75% of mental health conditions start by age 24, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
And the numbers are getting worse. In 2017, teens and young adults in the U.S. were more prone to depression, distress, and suicide compared with Millennials when they were the same age.
What is the connection between college and mental illness?
The human brain is not finished developing until age 25 for females, and closer to age 28 for males. A process called myelinization is still underway. With this process, brain cells are coated with a protective sheath that increases the brain’s processing speeds. The process starts at the back of the brain and works forward, making the front part of the brain—the prefrontal cortex that is involved in focus, planning, decision-making, judgment, and follow-through—the last area to gain the protective covering.
Because of this, young people need supervision until their brains have matured and they can supervise themselves. Throwing young adults into an environment where they no longer have parental supervision when their brains have yet to fully develop invites risky behavior and poor habits that may contribute to mental health issues.
The last years of high school and the first years of college can be extremely stressful. And stress can wreak havoc on brain health. Dealing with challenging life circumstances—such as starting college, moving, having new roommates—elevates stress hormone levels and makes people more vulnerable to many mental health conditions. Toxic stress has been associated with ADHD, learning disabilities, social anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, PTSD, and more.
Unfortunately, young people don’t learn about stress management skills in school. Learning how to deal with stress in a healthy way should be taught in elementary classes nationwide.
Cheesy pizza, bottomless cups of coffee or sodas, bags of chips, kegs of beer—the foods most college students eat zap brainpower and mess with your mental well-being. In 2015, a group of 18 scientists concluded that “the emerging and compelling evidence for nutrition as a crucial factor in the high prevalence and incidence of mental disorders suggests that diet is as important to psychiatry as it is to cardiology, endocrinology, and gastroenterology.”
The standard student diet is filled with pro-inflammatory, allergenic foods laced with artificial chemicals that will damage the brain and increase the risk for depression, ADHD, and anxiety disorders, as well as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and even dementia.
While you are sleeping, your brain is hard at work performing some very critical functions necessary to keep it operating at optimal levels. For example, during sleep, your brain cleans or washes itself by eliminating cellular debris and toxins that build up during the day (basically taking out the neural trash), consolidates learning and memory, and prepares for the following day.
College students are notorious for pulling all-nighter study sessions and partying until dawn. It adds up to a sleep deficit that can take a toll on mental health. Over time, sleep problems can lead to a higher risk of mental health problems, including depression, ADHD, panic attacks, brain fog, memory problems, and dementia. For example, teenagers who on average get an hour less sleep at night were 38 percent more likely to feel sad and hopeless, 42 percent more likely to consider suicide, 58 percent more likely to attempt suicide, and 23 percent more likely to engage in substance abuse.
At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of struggling students overcome brain imbalances and mental health problems so they can be more successful at school and in life. Speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
By Eun Paik, MD
When children need help at school for ADHD, anxiety, autism, learning disorders, or other issues, it is often the clinician’s job to help the parents navigate options for academic accommodations. Is an IEP the right fit versus a 504, and what is the difference?
As an Amen Clinics psychiatrist treating children with a variety of brain health disorders, I have learned over the years how vitally important this subject is for my patients. The purpose of this article is to provide a distillation of the basics of 504 and IEP plans. It will discuss how they differ in the real world, how they are obtained, and how to best explain the process to patients and parents.
Short for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the 504 is a federal civil rights law passed in 1973 that bans discrimination in public schools and protects students with disabilities that affect their ability to learn.
What does a 504 provide?
A 504 provides accommodations to students with disabilities to ensure equal access to all learning and school activities.
Who is eligible for a 504?
There are two requirements for a 504 plan. A student must have a physical or mental impairment that significantly limits one or more essential life activities. In addition, the disability must impact the student’s ability to learn in a general education classroom.
What types of accommodations are provided by a 504?
A 504 provides accommodations, such as extended time on tests, audiobooks, and digital recorders to list a few.
Who is involved in a 504?
The child’s caregivers, teachers, and school principals typically make up the 504 team.
Does a 504 require written documentation?
No, a 504 does not need to be recorded in a formal document.
What does a 504 cost?
504 services are provided at no cost to the family.
An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which is a federal mandate.
What does an IEP Provide?
An IEP provides special education and services to fit a child’s unique needs.
Who is eligible for an IEP?
A student may apply for an IEP if they have any of the following 13 disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Specific Learning Disability (such as dyslexia), Other Health Impairment (such as ADHD), Emotional Disturbance, Speech or Language Impairment, Visual Impairment, Deafness, Hearing Impairment, Deaf-Blindness, Orthopedic Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Traumatic Brain Injury, or Multiple Disabilities.
What types of accommodations are provided by an IEP?
An IEP provides accommodations that can involve simple assistance to actual changes in the curriculum or environment to suit a patient’s unique needs.
Who is involved in an IEP?
The IEP team must consist of at least the child’s caregiver, one general education teacher, one special education teacher, a professional capable of interpreting IEP results (usually a psychologist), and a district representative with special education authority.
Does an IEP require written documentation?
Yes, the IEP is a formal document that is legally binding.
What does an IEP cost?
IEP services are provided at no cost to the family but in terms of cost can run up to $20,000 annually per student.
Although these two plans may sound similar, there are some very important differences in the way they are administered in actual practice. Based on my experience working with children who need special education accommodations, there are some key differences that may be anticipated.
As a result, general education teachers are often unaware of a student’s issues or the accommodations they need.
When a student transitions from one level of school to the next (elementary school to middle school or middle school to high school), there is often a lack of communication between the two schools. This means the teachers and staff at the new placement are often unaware of the student’s disability and accommodations.
504s are far less costly than IEPs, which cost schools tens of thousands of dollars annually per student. In addition, the fact that the IEP is legally binding makes schools less inclined to provide it.
An IEP offers more assurances that a child will receive the necessary accommodations, but it takes considerably more effort to obtain one. There are 4 basic components of the process.
The first step to getting an IEP is requesting an educational assessment. Parents must submit a letter by certified mail stating the child’s disability and giving permission to assess the child. The school must complete the assessment within 60 days of the letter’s receipt.
The school should contact parents to set up an initial domain meeting to discuss the assessment results. As a clinician, you may be asked to attend this meeting along with family members, attorneys, and educational advocates. Family members often ask clinicians to help them interpret the results of the assessment as they do not know how to make sense of the document. It is also important to review the actual assessment tools, as I have had the unfortunate experience of having school staff deliberately skew rating scale results to prevent adequate diagnosis.
Based on personal experience, parents can expect to meet with some level of resistance when requesting an IEP. Some of the common avoidance tactics employed by schools include saying the child is not failing and as such does not need an IEP. Another is that the child will be “labeled” in a detrimental way. Sometimes they will simply state that that they do not need to give the child an IEP because they feel that the child does not need one. It is important for clinicians to be prepared for these eventualities.
In the event that a school denies the child an IEP, there are still avenues of recourse. For example, they may request an Independent Educational Evaluation at the school’s expense. Some parents take legal action and file civil suits or can file for a Due Process Hearing where they can ask a court to make a determination if the school has done all due diligence.
When the process is successful and a child is granted an IEP, parents may look to their child’s psychiatrist, counselor, or therapist for guidance on what to expect from the plan. There are several mandatory components to an IEP, including descriptions of:
Understand that IEPs must be reviewed at least once a year and re-evaluated once every 3 years. Unfortunately, schools often try to phase out services as quickly as possible, which is why it is important to know about “stay put” rights. If a school wishes to implement changes to the IEP but the parents disagree with those changes, they have the right to evoke stay put rights. This must occur within 15 days of the date of the written notice of the proposed change. Parents can do this by filing for due process or submitting a request for mediation.
By advising parents on how to secure the appropriate academic accommodations, whether a 504 or an IEP, these patients will have a greater chance of succeeding not only in school but also in life.
Dr. Eun Paik is a Board-Certified Child and Adult Psychiatrist whose treatment philosophy combines conservative pharmacologic management, appropriate forms of psychotherapy, and a thorough knowledge of the rapidly evolving field of Cognitive Neuropsychological. Her particular areas of interest include affective disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Did you know that…
As many as 1 in 3 kids in school say they have been bullied at school?
About 1 in 7 adolescents say they’ve been cyberbullied?
Nearly 1 in 3 students admit to bullying others?
Over 7 in 10 students have witnessed someone being bullied?
The effects of bullying can be devastating for everyone involved—the bullies, the victims, and the bystanders. Some of the negative consequences can have lifelong impacts.
Research from a 2018 issue of Molecular Psychiatry shows that being bullied can also lead to physical changes in the brain. In this neuroimaging study, students who had been bullied showed decreased volume in two regions of the brain involved in how the brain processes memories and in movement and learning. The researchers suggest these changes are related to increased levels of anxiety by the age of 19.
Bullying puts kids at increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders, not only during childhood and adolescence when the bullying occurs, but also long after the victimization stops. A 2015 study in JAMA Psychiatry tracked about 5,000 children from age 8 to 29 and found that being bullied at a young age raises the risk of depression as a young adult. Kids who were frequently bullied and who bullied others at age 8 had the highest incidence of depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and substance abuse.
Young people who have been bullied are 2 to 9 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared with students who haven’t been victimized.
Bullying makes kids more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol as adolescents and to have addiction problems as adults.
Bullying reduces grades and academic performance and makes kids more likely to skip school or drop out.
You may think its only physical aggression that can have such a negative impact on a child’s brain development and mental well-being, but any type of bullying can lead to lasting consequences. Bullies may harass a child about their appearance, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or even a mental health condition, such as ADD/ADHD, anxiety, or OCD.
The 4 different types of bullying are:
How can you tell if your child is being bullied at school? Many children choose not to open up about the problem, so don’t expect your child to tell you if it’s happening to them. Stay alert for the following signs and seek help if you notice them in your child:
If you suspect your child is being bullied, bullying others, or being exposed to it, and they are already exhibiting signs of mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety, we can help. The Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists at Amen Clinics have helped thousands of kids and teens overcome depression, anxiety, and other conditions. Unlike traditional psychiatry, which rarely looks at the organ it treats, we use brain SPECT imaging to assess brain health, and we use the least toxic, most effective personalized solutions to optimize brain function and minimize symptoms.
To find out more about how we can help, speak with a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.