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WHAT ARE DRAGONS FROM THE PAST?

DISCOVER YOUR DRAGONS FROM THE PAST

HOW TO TAME YOUR DRAGONS

LOOKING INSIDE CAMERON’S BRAIN

• Head trauma—mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a major cause of psychiatric symptoms but few people know it because traditional psychiatry rarely looks at the organ it treats. So the answer to our initial question is ABSOLUTELY YES.
• Decreased activity in the frontal lobes—often seen in people with ADD/ADHD
• Increased activity in the limbic region—commonly seen in people with depression
• Overactivity in the basal ganglia—associated with anxiety
• Too much activity in the right frontal lobe—often seen in people with obsessive thoughts and behaviors
• Scalloping—associated with substance abuse or exposure to toxins

DIGGING DEEPER INTO CAMERON’S LIFE

• Biological: how your physical body and brain function
• Psychological: developmental issues and how you think
• Social: social support, your current life situation, and societal influence
• Spiritual: your connection to God, the planet, past and future generations, and your deepest sense of meaning and purpose

• Biological: His brain isn’t healthy and shows signs of trauma. It turns out that at the age of 2, Cameron fell 10 feet down and landed on his head. At age 4, he broke a snow globe on his face, requiring stitches. And he’s suffered several concussions from skateboarding and basketball. In addition, he has a poor diet, is underweight, has trouble sleeping, and is fatigued, among other issues.
• Psychological: He has negative thinking patterns and has experienced emotional trauma. At the age of 17, he was stabbed and when he was 18, he was held at gunpoint in the woods by people he thought were his friends.
• Social: He used to go to AA and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings, which can provide a good social network for recovering addicts, but he stopped going because he didn’t think they were working for him.
• Spiritual: He hasn’t found his purpose in life yet.

TREATMENT SOLUTIONS FOR CAMERON

• Medications: targeted to his needs
• Nutraceuticals: everyday essentials including a multivitamin, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D, plus targeted supplements including GABA, l-theanine, magnesium, and vitamin B6 to calm anxiousness; saffron to promote more positive moods; melatonin and 5-HTP for more restful sleep
• Brain healthy diet: higher-protein/lower-carbohydrate meals with foods like salmon, walnuts, fruits, and vegetables
• Protect his head: prevent further head injuries and do hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to help heal the existing damage to his brain
• Relaxation exercises: meditation, deep breathing, yoga
• Calming music: to help support temporal lobe function
• Kill the ANTs (automatic negative thoughts): challenge his anxious and worrisome thoughts every day
• Optimize neurohormones: check levels and optimize
• Improve sleep: develop a healthy sleep routine
• Coordination exercises: activities like table tennis, air hockey, or dancing

BREAK THE BONDS OF THE PAST

1. When was the last time you struggled, had the painful or disruptive memory or feeling, or felt suffering? Write down the details.
2. What were you feeling at the time? Describe the predominant feeling.
3. When was the first time you had that feeling? In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to the time when you first had the feeling. Write down the incident or incidents in detail.
4. Can you go back even further to a time when you had that original feeling? Write down the details of the original incident.
5. If you have a clear idea of the origins of the feelings, can you disconnect them by reprocessing them through an adult or parent mindset, or reframe them in light of new information? Consciously disconnect the emotional bridge to the past with the idea that what happened in the past belongs in the past, and what happens now is what matters.

HOW A TEEN LEARNED TO LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND

1. When was the last time you had a panic attack?

2. What you were feeling at the time? Describe the predominant feeling.

3. In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to a time when you first had the feeling that you were going to die.

4. After he settled down and composed himself, I asked him to go back even further in his mind to see if there was an earlier time when he had the feeling he was going to die.

5. Break the bonds of the past through an adult or parent mindset or reframe them in light of new information.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM BREAKING THE BONDS OF THE PAST?

Normally, you can handle life’s everyday stressors. You keep your cool when your ADD child can’t stay focused on homework. You work through any relationship issues with your significant other. You find healthy ways to decompress from your stressful job.

But not these days.

Any little thing in your life that isn’t humming along is becoming a compounded trauma due to what you’re experiencing from the pandemic, economic shutdown, and months of physical distancing. The result?

Your nerves are frayed. You’re losing your temper with your ADD child. Your marital problems seem insurmountable. You feel like you need a Quarantini—or 2 or 3 of them—to help you cope with work stress.

What can you do about it?

5 Ways to Cope with Compounded Stress

1. Disinfect your thoughts.

During a stressful pandemic, mental hygiene is just as important as washing your hands. If your head is filled with ANTs (automatic negative thoughts), it is only adding to your stress. Learning to question your thoughts and eliminate unhelpful ANTs can help you begin to see options and come up with solutions for your everyday stressors.

2. Find some “me” time.

Are you so focused on taking care of others—your kids, your spouse, your coworkers—that you’re neglecting your own health and well-being? When you spend all your time helping others without giving yourself the self-care you deserve, you’re left with nothing in the tank. If you’re running on empty, you don’t have the bandwidth to handle additional stress. Schedule time in your day for self-care. Make it an appointment so you’re more likely to stick with it.

3. Boost your blood flow.

When you have low blood flow in the brain, especially in the frontal lobes, it reduces your ability to problem-solve, impairs judgment and decision-making, lowers your empathy, and makes it less likely that you’ll bite your tongue before saying something hurtful to someone you care about. Simple ways to increase blood flow to this area of the brain include physical exercise, meditation, and taking fish oil supplements that are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

4. Share your feelings with a friend.

Feeling like you’re all alone with nowhere to turn for help can compound the stress you’re experiencing. Find an ally with whom you can share your feelings. This is different from complaining, which typically centers on blaming or judging others. Sharing feelings helps you get negative thoughts and emotions out of your head so you can move ahead with constructive solutions to the issues you’re facing.

5. Seek professional help.

If you had been coping fairly well with your temper, anxiety, or drinking, or if your child’s ADD or behavioral problems had been treated effectively, but now things have spiraled out of control, it may be time to seek help from a professional.

Anxiety, ADD/ADHD, addictions, behavioral problems, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever and waiting until life gets back to “normal” is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

When 3 psychiatrists from Amen Clinics hosted a webinar to answer people’s questions about the coronavirus pandemic, they received such a flood of queries they couldn’t get to them all during the allotted time.
Dr. Robert Johnson, Dr. Jennifer Love, and Dr. Jay Faber graciously agreed to respond to some of the most common additional questions they received. Here’s what they had to say.

“Would a couple of hyperbaric treatments a week be preventative for COVID 19?” 

Dr. Johnson: There was a study out of Wuhan, China, involving the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases. It involved 5 COVID-19 patients, 2 of whom were critically ill and 3 of whom were suffering from “severe” illness. They were treated with HBOT at the Department of Hyperbaric Oxygen in Wuhan Yangtze River Shipping General Hospital.

In that report, hyperbaric oxygen was added to the current comprehensive treatments being performed at the hospital for COVID-19 affected patients, with a dose of 90-120 minutes at treatment pressures of 1.4 to 1.6 ATA. The results were very encouraging; 5 patients received significant therapeutic benefits, including rapid relief of symptoms after the first session. The rationale for the improvement was the ability of hyperbaric therapy to quickly reverse progressive hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels).

However, there is no data regarding HBOT’s ability to prevent COVID-19 infection.

“How do we shift focus to our values and stop obsessing with goals? Especially when our goals seem further away due to the economic and social shifts we are seeing?” 

Dr. Johnson: A good model for this comes from the domain of sports. As an athlete, all you can control is your process. In fact, most athletic breakthroughs occur when you relinquish concern about the result and focus on your preparation and execution. The same principle holds as it relates to our obsession with goals in everyday life; we as individuals don’t have control over the macroeconomic effects of the coronavirus, but we can focus on clarifying the following:

1. “What have I learned is most important to me going forward in this next chapter of my life (relationally, physically, spiritually, vocationally)?”
2. “What are the changes I need to make in order to live those values?” 

So, it starts with clarifying your core values at this point in time, then developing, implementing, and sustaining the habits, practices, and mindset that will serve those core values/priorities. The key is to slow down and find joy in each step of the process—really enjoying your body’s ability to move when exercising, being present to your breath during mindfulness meditations, mining a feeling of gratitude for each small pleasure in your life, and enjoying the fruit that grows from being as authentic and vulnerable as possible in your relationships.

“How can we help our friends and family not falling to depression at this time when some are isolated alone?”

Dr. Love: FaceTime, send flowers or small tokens—books, a candle, a hand-written letter. Even a picture drawn by a 50-year-old of something ridiculous like a dinosaur walking through a garden with a robot would make anyone laugh (maybe at you, but whatever).  Write a series of encouraging notes, drawings, articles of interest, crosswords from the newspaper; put them into separate envelopes with dates to open, and send them together in a large envelope.  Find out whether there is a certain time of day when they feel the most lonely, sad, or anxious, and contact them half an hour before. Send them a TikTok. Video record the family singing a favorite song or a silly song. Send things randomly, frequently, and follow up with regular FaceTime calls or phone calls.

“I have an adolescent who is experiencing some paranoia. We are mainly staying home during the pandemic and not allowing him to visit his friends during this time. What are some recommendations for him?”

Dr. Faber: Loneliness and not seeing friends has been a big issue during the pandemic. Here are my suggestions. I would highly encourage using social media like FaceTime, Skype, or Zoom to spend time with friends. With that recommendation, your adolescent may be spending more time on social media than recommended before the COVID-19 restrictions. If social time is being used constructively, parents might think of giving their children more time to be on social media to talk with friends.

“My 26-year-old daughter is out there working with kids with autism. how can I help her cope with the added stress of being exposed to Covid-19?”

Dr. Faber: This is a great question. In order to cope with the stress, I would work closely with your doctor to make sure you’re doing everything possible to promote healthy immune functioning. Talk to your doctor about the proper use of multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc, as well as other agents. To decrease stress, simple relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can help keep our body in a protective state to stay calm and promote healthy immune functioning.

If you missed the webinar, click here for the video and the first round of questions answered.

Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

One of the most powerful “feel better fast” techniques Dr. Daniel Amen—a neuropsychiatrist, brain imaging expert, and founder of Amen Clinics—uses is called “Breaking the Bonds of the Past.” It stems from the belief that negative feelings and behaviors—such as anxiety and panic attacks, addictions, and angry outbursts—are often based on past memories that are either toxic or misinterpreted.

This technique requires only 5 simple steps, but it can have a powerful and lasting effect. Here’s what you do. Whenever you have a painful or disruptive memory or feeling, write out the answers to the following questions:

1. When was the last time you struggled, had the painful or disruptive memory or feeling, or felt suffering? Write down the details.
2. What were you feeling at the time? Describe the predominant feeling.
3. When was the first time you had that feeling? In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to the time when you first had the feeling. Write down the incident or incidents in detail.
4. Can you go back even further to a time when you had that original feeling? Write down the details of the original incident.
5. If you have a clear idea of the origins of the feelings, can you disconnect them by reprocessing them through an adult or parent mindset, or reframe them in light of new information? Consciously disconnect the emotional bridge to the past with the idea that what happened in the past belongs in the past, and what happens now is what matters. 

Here’s an example of how Dr. Amen worked through these questions during a psychotherapy session with a young patient.

How Nate Broke the Bonds of the Past to Overcome Panic Attacks

Nate, 15, desperately wanted help for panic attacks but didn’t want to take anti-anxiety medication. He had several episodes a day when he felt like he was choking or drowning. His breathing became shallow, fast, and labored. His heart raced, he broke out in a sweat, and he felt as though he was dying. Nate hated these episodes. The fear of having them was so overwhelming that he stopped going to school. On Nate’s second visit, Dr. Amen went through the Breaking the Bonds of the Past steps with him.

Tell me about the last time you had a panic attack?

Nate said it was the day before. He was eating dinner when all of a sudden, he felt like he was starting to choke. He couldn’t get air, his heart started to race, he was sweating, and felt as though he was going to die.   

Tell me what you were feeling at the time. Describe the predominant feeling.

Nate said he felt as though he was going to die. 

In your mind, imagine yourself on a train going backward through time. Go back to a time when you first had that feeling, the feeling that you were going to die.

Nate sat there for a minute and then started to choke. I thought he was having a panic attack in front of me. I asked him to breathe slowly and tell me what was going on. He slowed his breathing, wiped his brow, and told me about a time when he was 6 years old. He was sitting at a lunch table at school and accidentally swallowed a plastic wrapper from a candy bar. He started to choke on the wrapper. Initially, no one saw him. He said he started to turn blue. He couldn’t breathe, and no one noticed. He thought he was going to die. After what seemed an eternity a teacher saw him and did the Heimlich maneuver on him, dislodging the wrapper. Nate said he had forgotten about the event until now.

After Nate had settled down and composed himself, I asked him to go back even further in his mind to see if there was an earlier time when he had the feeling he was going to die.

He closed his eyes and said he remembered a time when he was very young. He was coming out of a very dark place into a place filled with bright lights, lights that felt hot. People were moving around. He felt fear. He couldn’t breathe, and something awful covered his face. He felt as though he was going to die.

To my amazement, Nate had just described a birth experience. When he opened his eyes, I asked him if he knew anything about his birth. He said no, no one had ever talked to him about it. I asked his mother to come into the room. I asked her about his birth experience. She told me that he was a meconium baby, where the infant’s feces get into the amniotic fluid which is very dangerous for the newborn. He was born blue and had to be resuscitated by the doctor. His mother said she had never talked about it with Nate. She didn’t want to worry him.

Break the bonds of the past through an adult or parent mindset or reframe them in light of new information.

With Nate’s mother in the room, I took him back to both of those times. First, with the birth experience, I had the grown teenage Nate go back and explain to the baby what had happened. The baby was in trouble for a short time, but the doctors helped clean him up so he could breathe normally. I then took him through the candy wrapper incident and had the teenage Nate tell 6-year-old Nate that he is grateful to the teacher who helped him and that he is alive, well, and healthy (and he needed to stop eating candy wrappers). 

After that session, Nate’s panic attacks disappeared. Dr. Amen saw Nate a few more times, but essentially disconnecting his present symptoms from the past sensitizing event resolved them.

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

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

The threat of illness, job losses, social isolation—it’s a recipe for heightened stress, irritability, and anger. But it’s even worse for people who are trapped at home with a domestic abuser.

Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic has created a sort of perfect storm for domestic violence. Reports of increases in partner abuse, child abuse, and pet abuse are emerging across the nation and around the world. According to a study in Forensic Science International: Reports, incidences of domestic violence have risen 40-50% in Brazil and are up 30% in France. In the U.K., the BBC reported that calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline saw a 25% increase since the lockdown began. And in the U.S., hotlines are reporting a spike in calls.

Abusers often use tactics, such as isolation from friends and family, as a way to control their victims. Constant scrutiny, restrictions on behavior, and limiting access to necessities (like food and using the bathroom) are other common strategies. With the world on lockdown, this has given perpetrators a stronger weapon in their arsenal.

For victims, it’s made it more challenging to be able to reach out to friends or a support network for help without their abuser’s knowledge. And it’s preventing them from escaping the situation by leaving home when things turn violent. Going to a shelter may not be an option now for fear of infection from COVID-19.

This sad situation makes you wonder what makes some people violent? The answer lies in the brain.

Violence and the Brain

The added stressors of the coronavirus pandemic can be contributing to serious anger and violence issues. In some people, violent outbursts may be a sign of a mental health condition called intermittent explosive disorder (IED).

This condition is more commonly seen in people who grew up in an abusive home or in those who have suffered multiple emotional traumas. The likelihood of problems with anger or violent behavior is increased in people with other mental health problems, such as ADD/ADHD or personality disorders. In addition, conditions like anxiety, depression, or substance abuse are seen in over 80% of people who suffer from IED.

In a brain SPECT imaging study performed at Amen Clinics on people who had assaulted another person or damaged property, more than 70% had abnormalities in the left temporal lobe region of the brain. Brain imaging scans indicate that damage to the left temporal lobe or dysfunction in this area of the brain makes people more likely to struggle with irritability, anger, and violent thoughts and behavior.

The temporal lobes, situated on either side of the brain behind the eyes and underneath the temples, are involved with emotional stability, understanding and processing memories, and more. When there is abnormal activity in the temporal lobes, it can be associated with aggression (internally or externally directed), dark or violent thoughts, emotional instability, and other problems.

Temporal lobe problems can come from many sources, the most common being genetics, head injuries, and toxic or infectious exposure. Since the temporal lobes sit in a cavity surrounded by bone on 5 sides (front, back, right side, left side, and underside) they can be damaged by a blow to the head from almost any angle. In fact, the temporal lobes, along with the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus, are the parts of the brain most vulnerable to damage by virtue of their placement within the skull.

Childhood Trauma and the Brain

For children, being abused or witnessing intimate partner violence can have devastating, long-term effects on the brain and mental health.

In a typical year, an estimated 4.5 to 15 million children experience exposure to physical violence at home. It’s likely that there will be an uptick in these numbers as a result of families being cooped up at home due to the pandemic. This doesn’t bode well for the future generation.

Research in a 2018 issue of JAMA Network Open found that for children, witnessing domestic abuse can cause the same damaging effects as if they had endured the abuse themselves. In addition, brain imaging studies show that childhood trauma—including physical, verbal, and sexual abuse—causes structural changes in the brain that have been linked to a greater risk of mental illness and addictions. For example, a 2016 review of neuroimaging studies in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines found that youngsters exposed to abuse experience physical changes in the following areas of the brain:

• Hippocampus: Decreased size in this area that is involved in memory and learning
• Prefrontal cortex: Reduced volume in this region, which plays an important role in impulse control, judgment, planning, and follow-through
• Cerebellum: Less-than-normal volume in this region located at the back of the brain that helps coordinate physical movement and thoughts
• Amygdala: Heightened activity in this area, which is known as the brain’s “fear center”

These brain changes can lead to trouble in many areas of a person’s life, including at school, at work, and in relationships.

Damaged Brains Can Heal

Domestic violence can seem like a hopeless situation with no way out. But decades of brain imaging work and clinical practice at Amen Clinics have shown that there is hope for people in abusive relationships and for children who have suffered emotional trauma. Addressing underlying brain dysfunction is critical to treating IED, as well as for overcoming the lasting consequences of experiencing or witnessing abuse.

Note: If you or a loved one is in an unsafe domestic situation, also consider these resources:

• In an emergency: call 9-1-1
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233

If you’re struggling with issues that stem from growing up in an abusive family or you’re experiencing domestic violence, 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. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment until the pandemic is over is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

“I was in Ireland & had been invited to open up, solo, for U2. It was the day of the show… I spent the whole day getting more & more anxious that I didn’t have anything to wear. Instead of going to the arena where the show was being held, I went to a huge shopping mall… I started to get a string of texts from U2’s tour manager asking where the hell I was & why I was skipping soundcheck… Then I got a final text from U2’s tour manager: ‘Don’t bother coming. Show has been canceled. Bono has just died suddenly and unexpectedly from COVID-19…’”

This is an excerpt from one of the many submissions to “I Dream of COVID,” a website where people are documenting the weird and wild dreams they’re having during the global coronavirus pandemic. People are also posting their nightly subconscious escapades on Twitter using #pandemicdreams, including this one:

“I had a dream last night that I went food shopping and people kept intentionally touching me, circling me and intentionally coughing on me. Apparently my subconscious along with the rest of me is pretty damn terrified. #pandemic dreams”

Apparently, the coronavirus isn’t just attacking people’s health and mental well-being, it’s also messing with our minds as we sleep.

What’s Causing Pandemic Dreams?

“Our dreams are being influenced by our heightened stress and anxiety, changes in sleep patterns, isolation, and more,” says Dr. Shane Creado, a psychiatrist and sleep medicine physician at Amen Clinics in Chicago and the author of Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes.

Dr. Creado says he’s been hearing from many patients that not only are they having dreams that are extremely vivid and strange, but they also seem to be remembering more of their dreams. They’re not alone. French scientists from the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center have found a 35% increase in dream recall due to the global pandemic.

Dr. Creado, who does sleep consults and who hosts an online course on Overcoming Insomnia, explains that this may be because the anxiety we’re experiencing during our waking hours is impacting the quality of our sleep. According to Dr. Creado, the fears and stress surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are causing more awakenings, or what is known as sleep fragmentation. This means that when you’re anxious, you lose sleep.

More importantly, to make up for sleep loss, your brain may quickly take a dive into rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, which is when our most vivid dreams typically occur. “Thus, worry can not only trigger nightmares,” says the sleep specialist, “but the sleep loss associated with them can increase their frequency.”

Why Nightmares Aren’t All Bad

As many as 85% of adults occasionally experience nightmares, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. What are the most common nightmare themes? A 2016 study found that the top 10 nightmares involve:

1. Falling
2. Being chased
3. Death
4. Feeling lost
5. Feeling trapped
6. Being attacked
7. Missing an important event
8. Waking up late
9. Loved one passing
10. Sustaining an injury

Other common nightmares include your teeth falling out, being paralyzed, or bugs crawling on you.

But nightmares aren’t all bad. Dream experts believe they may serve a purpose. “In some ways, nightmares may help us better navigate stressful situations in our waking lives,” says Dr. Creado, who trained in sleep analysis from a psychoanalyst from Harvard, and who helps his patients in dream analysis sessions.

A 2019 study in Human Brain Mapping suggests that nightmares help decrease anxiety by acting like a sort of rehearsal for how to deal with daytime stressors.

Having nightmares during this global pandemic is understandable. But having repetitive nightmares can be very troubling and can prevent people from even wanting to go to sleep.  They are common in people who have been traumatized. And we are all currently being traumatized by the fear of COVID-19. Dr. Creado says, “It’s very likely that after things go back to ‘normal,’ we’ll be seeing rising numbers of people suffering from recurring nightmares and sleep disturbances.”

How to Reduce Nightmares Even During a Pandemic

To minimize nightmares, you need to get restful sleep. The following simple strategies can help you get better quality sleep to reduce the sleep fragmentation that can increase vivid dreams and nightmares.

• Don’t watch stressful TV news at bedtime. Limit your exposure to news about the coronavirus, and don’t tune in when it’s time to hit the sack.

• Avoid alcohol. So many people are using alcohol to calm their anxieties while in quarantine, but this can backfire. Alcohol may make you feel drowsy initially, but its effects wear off and make you more likely to wake up in the middle of the night.

• Skip caffeine. Similarly, consuming coffee, tea, or chocolate in the afternoon or evening can disrupt sleep. Avoid these substances after lunch.

• Stop eating 3-4 hours before bedtime. If you’re indulging in comfort foods and snacking on the couch while you’re binge-watching Netflix, can interrupt your sleep.

• Try natural supplements. Melatonin, magnesium, l-theanine, GABA, and 5-HTP—all found in Put Me To Sleep Naturally—help to calm the brain and promote healthy sleep.

• Seek professional help for sleep disturbances before you start popping sleeping pills. Brain imaging studies show that sleeping pills can harm the brain, and once you start taking them they can be very hard to stop. You don’t have to live with sleep disorders like chronic insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or others. Finding a sleep specialist who is also trained in psychiatry like Dr. Creado, can help identify the root causes of your issues so you can fully address them.

If you’re struggling with sleep disturbances, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or other mental health issues, you aren’t alone—45% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic has impacted their mental health. Just because you’re sheltering at home doesn’t mean you have to wait for the pandemic to be over before seeking help. In fact, during these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

You’ve got questions. These 3 psychiatrists from Amen Clinics have answers. Dr. Robert Johnson, Dr. Jennifer Love, and Dr. Jay Faber recently hosted a webinar to allow viewers to ask them anything about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on emotional health. Here’s what they had to say.

“I’m early in my recovery. How can I cope?”

Here are 5 key things people in addiction recovery can be doing right now for their health.

1. Stay connected to a sponsor or someone who’s a sober encouragement through FaceTime or video chat, not just telephone.
2. Find small groups of people that you’re comfortable with and do group chats, so they can have accountability but also just hang out and have a cup of coffee together and have some social time.
3. Stay on your sleep schedule. Don’t stay up all night and sleep all day and going into bad behaviors, staying on a clean diet.
4. Schedule. Take time at the end of the day and write out everything you’re going to do the next day and fill your schedule. Even if it’s just like “Call mom, watch a film on Netflix, make lunch,” it gives a sense of structure to the day.
5. Set an intention. Pick a word of the week—kind, honesty, bravery, peace, calm. Really think about that word and how it applies to you in your life.

“My kids are driving me crazy. They’re just arguing and getting on each other’s nerves constantly. I tried different things to entertain and distract them. It just doesn’t seem to work for very long. Any recommendations?”

“I hear this every other day from one of my patients,” says Dr. Faber. Here are 3 strategies to try.

1. Keep a schedule. You don’t have to schedule something every hour, but just break up your day in the morning, afternoon, and evening and make sure your kids have something to do in those 3 time slots. You might want to do that for yourself too to keep your own sense of wellbeing.
2. Keep your kids active. Kids who get fidgety or antsy at home may start taking it out on themselves and play can sometimes turn into fighting, arguing, and other unpleasantries. Take advantage of the internet. For example, if your kids are into dance, you can find some of the coolest dance lessons for free or for a nominal charge.
3. Encourage your kids to get creative and use FaceTime or Zoom to connect with others. For example, a couple of my older kids have brunch in the morning with their friends online and talk to each other for 30 minutes. This really gives your brain and your whole body an escape from all the internal things that are coming at us on a daily basis.

“I can’t stop worrying where all this is headed—whether I’ll have a job or be able to keep my car. I just end up monitoring events constantly on my phone, my laptop, and TV. Help.”

At this time, we have to figure out what we can control and what we can’t control. And the things we can’t control we have to just put in a box. Here are some techniques based on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) you can use these to distract yourself from your stressful thoughts.

1. Get engaged in activities. This can be anything like doing puzzles, coloring, or painting. “A lot of my patients are doing paint by numbers,” says Dr. Love.
2. Contribute to others. Thinking about what you can do for other people is one of the best ways to stop negative ruminations and to help with depressive or anxious ruminations. Who can you be kind to today? If you’re going to the market, can you pick up something for an elderly neighbor? Can you call someone you know is vulnerable?
3. Gratitude. Train your brain to look at the things in your space around you that you’re grateful for.
4. Limit TV news and social media. The information we get from these sources may be sensationalized and can be harmful to our emotional health. “I had a patient this week in Spain, and she and her 3 children are literally locked up in their apartment. They can get out for 1 hour a week to go grocery shopping and that’s it,” says Dr. Faber. “She’s been trying to contain her own emotions as she watches a lot of social media.”

“What are some healthy grounding techniques to ease or cope through a busy, racing, or anxious mind?”

Practice DBT principles of self-soothing and use all 5 of your senses to help stay grounded. Here are some well-known grounding techniques for people who have trauma in their background or who can dissociate in the context of being triggered emotionally. They’re very simple but very effective.

1. Sights. “When I’m really anxious, I like to look at color, I like to look at art. I like a fire in the fireplace or just watching candles,” says Dr. Love. “Even just noticing where you see squares in a space or the color of the carpet can help,” says Dr. Johnson. “Or try standing on one leg with your eyes closed because you can’t stay dissociated, you can’t stay in that anxious space if you have more of a present moment sensate focus.”
2. Sound. Listen to the rain or the wind or use white noise machines. You can also go online and play ocean sounds, music, or whatever you love.
3. Touch. For touch, many people have animals they can pet. For kids, you can get a huge bucket and just fill it with dried beans and let them stick their feet and hands in it. It’s a very tactile, calming thing. “I’ve even had patients take an ice cube out of the freezer and just stick it on their wrist because it brings you back into the moment faster,” says Dr. Love.
4. For scent, you can use candles, food. Add spices when you’re cooking. It smells wonderful. Lavender and vanilla are really calming. “A lot of my patients are using aromatherapy or lotion with a special scent that’s really relaxing,” says Dr. Love.
5. Taste. Don’t scarf down junk food. Make something healthy and really savor the bites and take time to enjoy the meal as if you were at a 5-star restaurant. “Yesterday one of my patients asked, ‘Can I take a bite of a lemon?’ and I told them to go for it,” says Dr. Love.

“After surviving the COVID-19 illness, with moderate symptoms for 7 days, what recovery strategies do you suggest for supplements, exercise, nutrition, or other therapeutic techniques to help you when you come out of isolation?”

1. Focus on nutrition. Stay away from inflammatory foods like sugar, junk food, cookies, candy, and potato chips. Eat more protein—chicken, fish, or low-fat beef—with no breading. And eat lots of fruits and vegetables.
2. Boost your immune system. Some simple things you can do right now is take Vitamin C (500 milligrams twice a day for adults), Vitamin D (5000 IUs), zinc (particularly zinc
   picolinate at 25 mg a day), omega-3 fatty acids (try Omega-3 Power) Throw garlic in there as well.
3. Saunas. If you look at the MERS syndrome that occurred, which was a coronavirus, there was some work done in test tubes looking at how heat causes the virus to die. If you have access to heat, especially saunas that get to 170 to 180 degrees, look about doing that.
4. Exercise. “The first several days of this quarantine, I was in absolute CrossFit withdrawal. I was cranky and impatient until I got disciplined enough to start doing some kind of exercise every day,” says Dr. Johnson. Many companies have stepped up and provided free, home-based exercise options.
5. Boost your brain. BrainFitLife—a personalized brain training site created by Dr. Daniel Amen and based on research derived from the world’s largest database of functional brain SPECT scans—has lots of awesome content about exercise, nutrition, sleep induction tapes, and brain training games.

“Can you talk about sleep needs during these times and how to improve sleep hygiene during these stressful times?”

Sleep hygiene is so important right now. “If you don’t get eight hours of sleep, we’re more likely to keep inflammatory toxins in our brain,” says Dr. Faber. Be very consistent with the time you go to bed and wake up, don’t take naps, and skip caffeine after lunch. “I create transition times in that hour before bed and in that hour when I get up. That hour before my bed is my spa hour,” says Dr. Love.

“Can we talk about when you’re staying home with an abusive family member and not feeling safe?”

We may be on lockdown, but you have to stay physically safe, emotionally safe, and sexually safe. If you’re with someone 24/7 who’s harmful to you, you’ve got to get out of that situation. Domestic shelters are open or stay with a friend where you can have a refuge. Also be aware of when these episodes more likely to occur, such as if someone is using alcohol or drugs or if someone’s not taking their psychotropic medications. “If your significant other is doing any of those, be much more watchful and be ready to get plan B ready,” says Dr. Faber.

If you’re struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or other mental health issues, you aren’t alone—45% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic has impacted their mental health. Just because you’re sheltering at home doesn’t mean you have to wait for the pandemic to be over before seeking help. In fact, during these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever, and waiting to get treatment is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

Over 15,000 lives lost. Nearly half a million people infected. Millions of jobs lost. Nearly all of us forced into isolation. As a nation of over 327 million people, we are all feeling the effects and being traumatized. For some of us, it may develop into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that affects approximately 3.5% of American adults.

PTSD has been making headlines in recent years as awareness about the condition grows, but there’s another side to trauma that few people know about. In some people, trauma can actually lead to something positive. And during these unprecedented times, it may spark post-pandemic growth.

What Trauma Does to the Brain

First, let’s look at the effects of trauma on brain activity. Brain imaging research has shown that PTSD is associated with hyperactivity in the amygdala (the brain’s fear center) and other emotional parts of the brain. It also leads to decreased activity in parts of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is the region involved in impulse control, judgment, empathy, and forethought. This means that people who suffer from trauma can have heightened fear responses (high amygdala activity) and lower self-control (lower PFC activity).

The combination of heightened fear and lowered self-control is a prescription for trouble and often leads people to try to self-medicate. Common forms of self-medication, such as alcohol, opiates, marijuana, or a diet laden with sugar and foods that turn to sugar, can help to calm the amygdala and anxiety in the short run, but they also reduce the activity of the PFC even more, giving someone less control over these behaviors. It all adds up to further trouble, including addictions and obesity.

But it doesn’t have to.

Strive for the “Post-Pandemic Growth”

One of the most exciting areas of trauma research is in posttraumatic growth (PTG). The term was coined in the mid-1990s by psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

They have found that whenever a group of people is traumatized—as we are all currently being traumatized—about 10% will develop PTSD. Considering our current population, this means that following the pandemic, about 30 million people could develop symptoms of PTSD, such as nightmares, flashbacks, or feeling numb. Approximately 80% of people will return to their normal baseline within a few months. Another 10% will actually be stronger than they were before the trauma happened—they will experience post-pandemic growth. 

Achieving this type of growth is based on 5 factors that can improve symptoms of distress. The mnemonic SPARK can help you remember them. Here’s a look at how some people are already planting the seeds for post-pandemic growth.

• A deepening of Spiritual life, a significant change in one’s belief system, a new or stronger sense of meaning and purpose. For example, one woman said she felt guilty about staying home and felt like she wasn’t doing enough to help people with coronavirus. However, by staying at home, she is actually being heroic for doing the right thing to help prevent the spread of the virus. You are too. If you’re staying at home, you’re saving lives, which can give you a stronger sense of purpose.

• Seeing new Possibilities because of the trauma or grief. New opportunities have emerged from the situation, opening up possibilities that were not present before. What are the possibilities you’re going to experience in your life because of the imposed quarantine? Are you learning a new skill or changing the way you do business? For example, in the healthcare industry, some providers have had to introduce telemedicine practically overnight. Amen Clinics has been using telehealth for 30 years. With patients in 120 countries, some foreign patients may come to the clinic for a scan, but all follow-up appointments are via phone, Zoom, or some other form of video conferencing. Try to embrace the possibilities this situation presents.

• Increased Appreciation of life in general; better at appreciating each moment. With COVID-19 stomping around the globe like Godzilla making people afraid, this may be the first time you’re faced with a real fear of death. But when you come to terms that death is inevitable, it can make you realize that you need to truly enjoy this gift of life. You can flip this to a positive by using this time to ask yourself, “What is important to me?” Is it your family? Your career? Giving to others? You can begin building more appreciation for life while you’re in quarantine so it will flourish when things get back to some semblance of normalcy.

• A change in Relationships or relating to others in more meaningful ways than before the trauma occurred. There is an increased sense of connection. People appreciate family and friends more. During this pandemic when people are being forced to shelter at home, it’s an ideal time to deepen your relationships with loved ones. One Amen Clinics patient is married to a professional athlete, who is typically traveling for much of the year. But now, he is able to be home with their young children, and it’s turned out to be a great opportunity for family bonding. What are you doing to enhance your relationships?

• Increased sense of Kick-ass personal strength. This is seen in expressions such as, “If I lived through that I can live through anything!” Now is the time to work on your mental toughness. You need to practice mental hygiene and disinfect your thoughts on a regular basis, just like you wash your hands multiple times a day. To begin planting the seeds for post-pandemic growth, start making the following part of your daily habits:

• Start each day with, “Today is going to be a great day.”
• End each day with “What went well today?”
• Before making any decisions, ask yourself, “Is this good for my brain or bad for it?”
• Whenever you feel mad, sad, nervous, or out of control, write down your thought and ask yourself, “Is it true?”

In this current time of coronavirus-fueled trauma, ask yourself what changes you can start making now to spark post-pandemic growth. According to Dr. Tedeschi, as many as 90% of trauma survivors report at least one aspect of posttraumatic growth. Which aspect of your life can you improve?

If you’re struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or other mental health issues, you aren’t alone—45% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic has impacted their mental health. Just because you’re sheltering at home doesn’t mean you have to wait for the pandemic to be over before seeking help. In fact, during these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever and waiting to get treatment is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time. 

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples, as well as in-clinic brain scanning to help our patients. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.