Think of all the things you may have inherited from your parents, such as your height, hair color, and risk for heart disease. But what about your vulnerability to addiction? Research on families shows a strong connection between your genetic makeup and your risk of developing an addiction. Most experts agree that as much as 50% of your risk for substance abuse disorders or behavioral addictions, such as gambling, depends on your DNA.
A 2012 review of the existing research on twin studies found that heritability for substance use disorders can be even higher—ranging from 40% (for hallucinogens) to 70% (for cocaine). Other studies have found that children of alcoholics and drug abusers are 8 times more likely to develop an addiction compared with kids whose parents didn’t have a substance use disorder.
Genetics aren’t the only way your relatives influence your risk for addiction.
You have a genetic vulnerability.
You are more likely to have experienced lasting stress, because of the challenges in your family. For example, children who grow up with stress or abuse from a parent or relative who has addiction problems are significantly more likely to experience anxiety and depression. And people with anxiety and/or depression are twice as likely to abuse drugs and alcohol compared with the general population, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The stress of the addictions in prior generations changed your genes to become more vulnerable to trouble. Stress, poor diets, environmental toxins, and prenatal nutrition in earlier generations changed their genes (known as epigenetics) to be more likely to express trouble.
If your family members self-medicate with bad habits, you are likely to pick up those same behaviors, which increases your risk of substance use disorders. Plus, when a parent has a substance abuse problem, they are less likely to provide children with healthy meals on a consistent basis. A junk-food diet is linked to fatigue, fuzzy thinking, moodiness, and increased cravings. In addition, if your mother was one of the nearly 5% of women who abuse one or more substances while pregnant, this decreased your brain reserve. That’s the extra cushion of brain function you have to help you deal with whatever stresses come your way. The more brain reserve you have, the more resilient you are. The less reserve you have, the more vulnerable you are to stress and addictions.
If your family doesn’t care enough about their own health or about your wellbeing to change their behavior, it can be harder for you to learn to love yourself enough to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Although it’s becoming clearer that genetics plays a role in addiction, it’s important to understand that your genes are not your destiny. Knowing that a parent, grandparent, or close relative has a problem with substance abuse, or a behavioral addiction is not a death sentence; rather, it should be a wake-up call. It means you need to know your vulnerabilities and get serious about taking care of your brain.
Genes load the gun, but it’s your behavior and environment that pull the trigger. A growing body of evidence shows that our diets and lifestyle habits have the ability to either turn on or turn off the genes that predispose us to problems like addiction.
Food has an immediate effect on the moment-by-moment functioning of your brain. Ditching a junk-food diet in favor of foods that enhance brain health will boost your willpower, focus, craving control, and judgment.
Addiction isn’t just a brain disorder; it’s also a thinking disorder. Many of the negative things we tell ourselves—like “I have no control”—are lies that keep us locked in our unhealthy habits. Adopt healthy thinking patterns and learn how to eliminate ANTs.
Practice stress-relief techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, and hypnosis.
If your family engages in bad habits that promote addiction, find ways to spend time with others who are committed to leading a healthy life. Studies have shown that those who surround themselves with a support group are far more likely to have success in implementing major changes.
Functional brain imaging with SPECT shows how the brain works. It can reveal areas with too much activity or not enough activity, so you’ll have a better understanding of what you can do to balance brain activity. Brain scans also show if there is evidence of toxicity from substances, such as alcohol or drugs, and this can be a powerful step in overcoming addiction.
If you have addiction in your family history, it’s even more important for you to be a good role model for your children. Teach your children from a young age how to eat right, kill the ANTs, and manage stress. In doing so, you will increase their brain reserve and decrease their risk of addiction.
Based on the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to behavior, people with addictions tend to have the worst-looking brains. But when these people follow a brain healthy program, they show some of the most dramatic improvements. Even if you have been bad to your brain, you can make it better.
At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to help our patients see and understand any underlying brain dysfunction. This is often a powerful first step to breaking the chains of addiction. We use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain and treating co-occurring mental health problems.
If you want to join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their addictions and psychiatric symptoms at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
We recently got a frantic call from a patient. From her ragged breathing and racing dialog, it was clear that she was close to having a panic attack. After she was instructed to take a few deep breaths, she calmed down somewhat and got to the reason for her call. She had just learned that 3 children at her daughter’s school in Southern California had visited China, and she wanted to know if she should rush over there immediately and pull her own child out of school.
She isn’t the only one freaking out about the coronavirus. On January 31, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the virus a public health emergency here in the states.
So what should you do?
Coronaviruses are a common group of viruses that can cause an infection in the nose, sinuses, or throat. Some coronaviruses are mild and simply produce symptoms often seen in the common cold, such as a runny nose, sore throat, and fever. Other types are far more severe and can lead to pneumonia and early death. You may remember the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses that killed hundreds of people.
In early 2020, the World Health Organization identified a deadly new strain of the virus, the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), also referred to as the Wuhan coronavirus. To date, over 560 people have perished and over 28,000 have contracted the disease, mainly in China where the government has ordered a lockdown on about 60 million people. The illness has already spread to 25 countries, including the U.S. where at least a dozen cases have been confirmed so far.
The new coronavirus is transmitted from human to human and symptoms can appear within a couple of days or up to 14 days from the time of exposure. The symptoms of this coronavirus include the typical cold-like symptoms, and can also include shortness of breath, cough, and fever. Most people experience mild symptoms and recover, but others develop lethal complications.
Whenever there’s a potential pandemic, it’s a good idea to know the basics of preventive measures you can take. Here are 3 strategies that can shore up your immune system to help you fight off the virus in case you are exposed to it.
Freaking out about a potential pandemic raises stress levels, which actually hurts your immune system and makes you more vulnerable to infections. Techniques to soothe stress include laughter, diaphragmatic breathing, prayer or meditation, listening to calming music, warming your hands with your mind, hypnosis and guided imagery, and flooding your 5 senses with positivity.
Foods that are natural immunity boosters include onions, mushrooms (shiitake, white button, portabella), garlic, vitamin C-rich foods (oranges, berries, peppers, dark leafy green vegetables), vitamin D-rich foods (fatty fish, eggs, tuna), zinc-rich foods (oysters, beef, lamb, spinach, asparagus, sesame and pumpkin seeds), and selenium-rich foods (Brazil nuts, seeds, grass-fed meats).
In general, everyone should start taking a multivitamin, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D whether you are healthy or not. Only about 25% of the U.S. population has healthy levels of vitamin D. Get yours checked and optimize your levels if necessary.
Work with an integrative practitioner to determine other supplements and nutrients from the following list that enhance immunity:
See an integrative medicine, also known as functional medicine, doctor immediately if you develop symptoms and suspect you may have been exposed to the virus. Experts are currently working on a vaccine, but as of yet, there is no known treatment for coronaviruses. Most people recover on their own. To treat symptoms, drink lots of water, rest, and take pain or fever reducers if necessary.
At Amen Clinics, our Integrative Medicine physicians treat complex conditions and make recommendations for pro-active therapies to enhance the immune system. If you are having physical or psychiatric symptoms that aren’t improving with traditional treatment, it’s important to get a comprehensive evaluation that includes brain imaging and sophisticated lab testing to identify any underlying infections. 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.
When people are seriously hurt in horrific car accidents, burned in fires, or injured in violent crimes, first responders rush in to treat injuries and to offer emotional support. But who provides support to the first responders? Repeated exposure to gruesome injuries or loss of life can lead to emotional trauma for these everyday heroes.
It is estimated that 1 in 10 first responders will develop a trauma-related problem. And this puts firefighters, law enforcement personnel, paramedics, and others at increased risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, marital conflict, sleep disturbances, trouble concentrating, anger, and suicide. It is estimated that 30% of first responders will develop mental health conditions compared to 20% of the civilian population.
In addition, first responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty, according to the Ruderman White Paper on Mental Health and Suicide of First Responders. This study reported that in 2017, 140 police officers and 103 firefighters died by suicide compared to 129 police officers and 93 firefighters who died on the job. However, the research suggests that not all suicides are reported, so the numbers could be even higher.
Amen Clinics has done brain imaging studies on more than 300 people, including some first responders, who have attempted to take their own life. Some of the common traits found in these people include past head injuries, exposure to trauma, impulsivity, anger, and negativity.
The good news is you are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better. If you’ve had a head injury and been exposed to trauma, or if you struggle with impulsiveness, anger, or negative thinking, there are numerous therapies that can help you change your brain and heal your mind.
Our first responders deserve more support. Helping them understand that “mental health” problems are really “brain health” problems is an important step in ending the stigma associated with seeking treatment. Thinking of these issues as biological rather than psychological may encourage more of these heroes to get the help they need so that heartbreaking suicides may be prevented.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
At Amen Clinics, we have treated hundreds of people who have attempted suicide, including first responders, and many more who have considered taking their own life. We use brain SPECT imaging to help identify underlying brain abnormalities that increase the risk of suicide and offer personalized treatment plans to optimize the brain so you can have a healthier outlook on life.
If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal tendencies and would like more information on how to heal your brain and save a life, call us 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.
In 2015, businessman Steve Easterbrook stepped into one of the most exalted CEO gigs in the nation, leading the franchise that virtually defines America in much of the world—McDonald’s. With a payday that soared to more than $15 million, you would think he would do everything in his power to ensure that he would keep collecting all that dough. But in 2019, he was fired for engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee that violated company policy. It’s been reported that he wrote, “This was a mistake.”
A mistake? Or a sign of a brain that isn’t working optimally?
Easterbrook isn’t the only person who has lost millions due to an impulsive decision. Remember when Roseanne Barr posted a derogatory tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an African-American advisor to President Barack Obama when he was in office? At the time, Barr was poised to rake in millions for the highly anticipated comeback of her massive hit TV show “Roseanne.”
Barr tried to backpedal, blaming her “bad joke” on a sleep aid. “It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting,” she wrote. But ABC, the show’s network, didn’t accept her excuse and canceled her show. Barr’s comeback was a bust, and her bank account took a serious hit.
And who can forget the Tiger Woods scandal? The world’s most famous golfer was viewed as a hero until he rammed his car into a tree, which eventually caused his life to come crashing down. When the public learned about his numerous secret affairs, he tried to blame it on a sex addiction along with the sense of entitlement that comes with fame.
The golfer’s sponsors started dropping him, stripping him of millions in endorsement money. On a personal level, his wife left him and according to Forbes, took an estimated $100 million of his $600 million net worth at the time in the divorce settlement.
What happens in the brain of people who seemingly have it all and then throw it all away with their bad behavior?
The human brain is equipped with a sophisticated system that is intended to hit the brakes when we think about doing stupid things that will cause dire consequences—getting fired, losing your income, getting divorced, or going to jail, for example. In some people, however, the drive to engage in unhealthy behaviors—drinking too much or doing drugs, having affairs, posting something defamatory on social media, or taking naked photos (like Katie Hill who just resigned when intimate photos of the married Congresswoman surfaced showing her kissing another woman).
Here’s what can happen in the brain.
The brain’s reward system is an intricate network of brain circuits and neurotransmitters that work together to drive you to seek out rewarding things (such as food and sex) but that regulate self-control so you don’t overdo it.
This system involves the drive circuits (the nucleus accumbens and deep limbic system) that motivate you to seek out pleasurable things.
This is counterbalanced by the self-control circuit (the prefrontal cortex), which pulls the reins when you want to do something really dumb. It’s that voice in your head that tells you to think twice about the consequences of your actions. And it’s what gives you that 5-second delay that prevents you from pressing the “Post” button on your social media feed when you’re about to post something that will land you in hot water.
Functional brain imaging studies using a technology called SPECT show that the brain’s reward system works differently in people who exhibit bad decision-making, impulsivity, and poor judgment. On SPECT scans, it’s clear that activity in the brain’s drive circuits is too high while activity in the self-control circuit is too low. The drive circuits are basically pushing the pedal to the metal, and even if you’re trying to pump the brakes, they aren’t working. It puts you on a collision course for disaster.
Even if there are negative ramifications from your actions, the dysfunction in your brain’s reward system pushes you to repeat the behavior over and over again. For many people, it isn’t until they are faced with dire consequences, say losing millions of dollars, that they seek help for their problem.
People may seek out psychotherapy or other support groups for help, and these can be powerful tools, but unless the underlying abnormal brain activity patterns are optimized, it’s unlikely that people will be able to follow through with the recommendations.
The good news is, you are not stuck with the brain you have. You can change your brain and change your life for the better! Brain imaging studies show that the right strategies—including natural therapies like changing your diet, taking supplements, and making lifestyle changes—can have a powerful and positive impact on the moment-by-moment functioning of your brain.
Thousands of people have tamed their impulsivity, improved their judgment, and boosted their ability to make better decisions—all by focusing on enhancing their brain health.
So, the next time you read about some famous person in the news who makes a seemingly colossal bonehead mistake that costs them millions, don’t just ask, “What’s wrong with them?” Ask “What’s wrong with their brain?” And ask the same thing if you or someone you love is making bad decisions that are negatively impacting your life.
At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to help our patients see how their brain activity is influencing their behavior and decision-making. This is often a powerful first step to putting a stop to the unhealthy habits that are hurting their lives. We also use an integrated brain-body approach to healing the brain that includes biological, psychological, social, and spiritual areas of your life to help you address the problem more fully.
To learn more, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
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.
It’s the spookiest time of year, and although most kids and adults love joining in the frightful fun of Halloween, some people dread the annual holiday. If you’re filled with anxiety or experience sheer terror at the thought of October 31st festivities, you may have a mental health condition known as samhainophobia—the fear of Halloween.
The term samhainophobia has its roots in an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain that began some 2,000 years ago. Celebrated on October 31, the final day of the Celtic calendar year, it was viewed as a time when the division between the living and the dead became blurred. This allowed ghosts to cross over into the living world, where they could perform evil deeds if they so desired. People wore masks and costumes as a way to appease the roaming spirits to prevent them from their evil-doing. It’s easy to see how the Samhain rituals evolved into our modern-day Halloween trick-or-treating tradition.
Samhainophobia is more than just a general dislike or a mild uneasy feeling for Halloween. It’s what mental health professionals refer to as a “specific phobia.” Phobias are real, and they are considered a type of anxiety disorder that causes people to experience intense, unfounded fears that get in the way of daily life. Approximately 19 million Americans have some type of phobia.
If the thought of Halloween makes your heart race, causes your hands to tremble, or gives you a choking sensation, these are signs you may have a phobia. Other symptoms associated with phobias include nausea, sweating, dizziness, and panic. Children with samhainophobia may cry uncontrollably, act overly clingy, or throw temper tantrums when Halloween rolls around.
If you have a fear of the holiday, you may find it hard to go to work or to concentrate on your projects if the office is filled with Halloween decorations. If your child suffers from samhainophobia, they may be afraid of holiday-related events at school, and their coursework may suffer.
If you notice any of these symptoms or they interfere with your ability to perform your everyday activities and responsibilities, it’s a good idea to visit a mental health professional.
Experts agree that many factors play into the development of samhainophobia. For example:
In addition to these direct links to the fear of Halloween, there are other hidden factors that might increase your risk of developing a phobia. These include:
If you suffer from excessive anxiety about Halloween, take heart that there are ways to work through it.
A word of caution about medications: Although some healthcare professionals may prescribe pharmaceuticals to people who have phobias, be aware that brain imaging studies show that anti-anxiety pills, such as benzodiazepines, are harmful to the brain. It is best to avoid them.
Amen Clinics has helped thousands of people overcome all types of anxiety disorders, including phobias. We use brain SPECT imaging to help identify which type of anxiety you have and to help find the least toxic, most effective personalized solutions as part of a brain-body approach to healing.
If your phobia is affecting your work, school, home life, or relationships, speak with a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
We get so many mixed messages about depression it can be difficult to separate what’s real from what’s bogus. When it comes to depression, however, believing the following myths can keep you mired in sadness, hopelessness, and despair and can prevent you from getting the help you need.
Fact: Since Prozac hit the market in 1987, antidepressant use among Americans has skyrocketed by 400% and over 1 in 10 Americans are currently popping a pill to try to ease their depression. But it isn’t always working. In fact, a 2014 study from researchers in the UK found that over 50% of depressed patients still experienced symptoms after being treated with antidepressants. And about one-third of people still felt blue after trying four different antidepressants.
Antidepressants should never be the first and only treatment for major depressive disorder. There are many natural ways to overcome symptoms, including nutritional supplements, neurofeedback, physical exercise, nutrition, ANT therapy (questioning negative thoughts), practicing gratitude and appreciation, surrounding yourself with people who provide positive bonding, and finding your purpose and passion.
Fact: The notion that you can shake off depression the way you might shake off feeling down after losing a point in tennis is flat-out wrong. You can’t will yourself to stop feeling depressed the same way you can’t will yourself to stop having diabetes, heart disease, or nearsightedness. Believing that you should be able to get over it through willpower alone sets you up to feel like a failure, which will only make depressive symptoms worse.
Fact: Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression, but according to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 6 million men suffer from the condition each year. Mood disorders like depression may be overlooked in men in part due to a lack of willingness to talk about their feelings as openly as women. In addition, males don’t always display the symptoms we typically associate with depression, such as sadness, fatigue, or hopelessness. Men are more apt to exhibit anger, aggression, and irritability or to engage in reckless behavior, such as substance abuse.
Myth: Men don’t get depressed. Fact: Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression, but an estimated 6 million men suffer from the condition each year.Fact: Depression is not an imaginary illness, but it is in your head—in your brain. Brain imaging studies using a technology called SPECT show that people with depression tend to have abnormal activity in an area of the brain called the limbic system. Brain scans reveal that when there is too much activity in the limbic system, it is often correlated with a tendency toward negativity, chronic guilt, crying spells, and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. In a SPECT study of more than 15,000 patients, researchers at Amen Clinics noted a significant correlation between increased activity in this brain region and self-reporting of symptoms of depression.
Fact: Stressful life events, such as the death of a loved one, marital problems, family dysfunction, financial difficulties, or health problems may lead to feelings of unhappiness, but they don’t always trigger depression. Many other things in life are associated with an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms. A family history of mood disorders, early childhood trauma, physical ailments, and substance abuse can increase the risk of developing depression. In addition, mild traumatic brain injuries are a major cause of depression that ruins people’s lives, but very few people knew about it… because only a handful of psychiatrists ever look at the brains of their patients.
Fact: Depression doesn’t discriminate. It can affect anyone—even people who are highly accomplished in their field. Doctors, professional athletes, and even major celebrities can struggle with the condition. Think of people like Kate Spade or Anthony Bourdain, who seemed to have it all but took their own lives. People who appear to have so much often think they don’t have a right to feel depressed. But no amount of material wealth or external validation can heal the emptiness you feel inside or balance abnormal brain activity. Treating the depression is the only way out of the darkness.
Fact: Based on brain imaging research, it is very clear that giving everyone with depression the same one-size-fits-all-treatment plan will never work. Antidepressants, for example, may help some people but can make others worse. This is because brain scans reveal that there are 7 types of depression, and each type has its own treatment needs. In addition, each person may have other factors contributing to their condition—such as hormonal dysfunction, gut imbalances, head injury, a poor diet—that need to be addressed. Finding a treatment plan that is tailored to your needs is the key to overcoming your symptoms.
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues can’t wait. At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, clinical evaluations, and therapy for adults, teens, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or visit our contact page here.
Dealing with exhaustion, body aches, and digestion problems? Could it be adrenal fatigue? You may have heard of this term, which is used to describe symptoms that appear to be related to an overload of chronic stress. The concept is that when the body is under duress, the adrenal glands pump out the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. The theory goes that when stress is constant, it wears out the adrenal glands. But this theory leaves out one very important part of this equation—the brain.
It’s the brain—and in particular, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland—that is controlling the action. Together with the adrenal glands, they form the HPA axis, which regulates the way your body responds to stress.
This hardwired response happens automatically upon activation, such as witnessing or experiencing an emotional or physical threat. Your heart beats faster, breathing and blood pressure increase, hands and feet become cooler to shunt blood away from the extremities to the big muscles (to help you defend yourself or run away), and the pupils dilate (to see better).
For our cave-dwelling ancestors, this stress reaction helped us stay alive by helping us run from predators—think saber-tooth tigers or an encroaching tribe. In today’s world, it’s things like mind-numbing traffic, impossible deadlines, or over-exercising that can set this process in motion.
When stress becomes chronic, the HPA axis gets stuck on high alert, and the brain keeps telling the adrenals to continue releasing stress hormones. This may cause the adrenals to become depleted, but it’s the brain that’s in the driver’s seat. Brain imaging studies show that chronic stress has serious impacts on the brain. It constricts blood flow to the brain, which lowers overall brain function, and it also drains your emotional well-being and is associated with anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. Unrelenting tension can also wreak havoc with gut health, which is involved in producing neurotransmitters, such as serotonin.
The key to reducing chronic stress and reestablishing a healthier HPA axis is to enhance your overall brain health. Here are 11 strategies that help:
At Amen Clinics, brain SPECT imaging is performed as a component of a comprehensive evaluation for people with symptoms of chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. The Amen Clinics Method takes an integrative approach to diagnosis and includes looking at the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of your life to identify areas that can be optimized.
If you’re tired of feeling tired and worn down all the time, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) gets a lot of press, especially regarding military veterans who return from combat. For example, it’s estimated that 11-20% of veterans who served in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD in a given year.
However, you don’t have to see combat in the military to be vulnerable to PTSD, a potentially debilitating condition that can lead to intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event, feelings of guilt, a sense of being on edge at all times, being easily startled, anxiety or depression, problems sleeping, as well as other symptoms.
You may be surprised to discover that PTSD can affect anyone—any ethnicity, nationality, or age—although women are 2-3 times more likely to develop the condition than men. Approximately 3.5% of adults in the U.S. are affected by the condition, and about 7-8 people out of 100 will have PTSD in their lifetime.
What’s even more surprising is that in some cases, you don’t even have to be involved first-hand in a traumatic event. Simply hearing about a traumatic event or repetitive viewing of violent news stories on television can increase the risk of PTSD.
Not everybody who is exposed to a traumatic event will develop PTSD. Certain things can make you more vulnerable to the condition, including having little or no social support in the wake of a traumatic event, as well as coping with additional stresses due to injuries, the death of a loved one, or the loss of your home.
Most media articles talk about PTSD as a psychological problem, but that isn’t accurate. Although it does cause psychological consequences, PTSD is, in fact, a brain disorder. Brain imaging studies using a technology called SPECT show PTSD is associated with changes in the brain. Without brain imaging, PTSD is often misdiagnosed because symptoms overlap with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury. Research shows that brain scans help differentiate PTSD from TBI to help you get an accurate diagnosis and more effective treatment.
If you or a loved one has experienced a traumatic event and is experiencing symptoms of PTSD, it’s important to seek help. At Amen Clinics, we perform brain scans using a technology called SPECT as part of a complete evaluation to diagnose and treat PTSD with the least toxic, most effective solutions.
Don’t let PTSD steal your life. Call one of our brain health advisors at 888-288-9834 to see how Amen Clinics can help you or schedule a visit online.