Functional medicine specialists Dr. Kabran Chapek, Dr. Eboni Cornish, and Dr. Mark Filidei from Amen Clinics recently hosted a webinar to answer questions about this unique field of medicine and how it relates to mental health. Here are some of the questions they answered during this popular online event.
Dr. Chapek: Functional medicine, also known as integrative medicine, involves looking at treating the root cause of psychiatric symptoms and looking at the whole person. For instance, inflammation can cause depression. In addition, brain injuries, specifically mild traumatic brain injuries, are a major cause of mental illness, but no one’s talking about it because you can’t see the injury.
For example, I had a patient who was a pastor. He was in a car accident and at the ER, he was told he was fine. But two weeks later, he couldn’t write a sermon because he was having difficulties with memory problems and couldn’t focus. That’s a classic example of how physical injury causes a mental health issue and a brain issue.
Dr. Filidei: Brain SPECT scans are really helpful for us to determine if there is an underlying brain problem. If you come in for a mental health condition and your brain doesn’t look healthy, it means you have a brain problem that could be causing all of your psychological issues, or making your symptoms worse. Then as functional doctors, we try to figure out what’s causing your brain to look abnormal. There can be a lot of reasons.
For example, a 24-year-old patient who saw one of our New York psychiatrists was referred to me because their brain scan didn’t look good. It turned out the young man was a normal kid until he came home from college, then all of a sudden, he was having brain fog and anxiety. People thought it was simply because he was out of college and couldn’t find a job. In fact, he had jobs lined up, but he couldn’t do them. One of the questions I always ask patients is, “Have you ever been exposed to mold?” It turned out he was living in his family’s basement where they created a room, and guess what? That basement flooded every year, and there was mold they hadn’t seen. This was 100% mold-caused “mental illness.”
Dr. Cornish: I specialize in the treatment of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic tick-borne diseases (such as Lyme disease), and other underlying infections, including pediatric autoimmune infections. Several years ago, a colleague’s daughter had severe neuropsychiatric symptoms but none of the psychiatrists she saw could figure out what was wrong. They gave her medications, but they didn’t help. Eventually, she was tested and screened, and it turned out she had a tick-borne illness. When the underlying infection was treated, her neuropsychiatric symptoms got remarkably better. At Amen Clinics, we’ve diagnosed hundreds of cases where infections were causing mental health symptoms.
Dr. Filidei: I keep telling a lot of my psychiatrist colleagues, “If you do one thing, try to optimize hormones because you could probably toss out half the medications your patients ‘need’ if their hormones are optimized.” You might go into your mental health practitioner saying, “I just have no energy. I have no motivation,” and they give you Prozac. In reality, you need your hormones optimized. So, that’s why we look at all those things and try not to miss it because the tragedy is misdiagnosing a hormone imbalance—or Lyme Disease or any of these things that we look for—and then getting drugged for it and labeled for it.
Dr. Chapek: Certainly, if cortisol— a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands—is too low, it can indicate adrenal hypofunction from chronic stress. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause high cortisol putting you in a fight-or-flight state for months and years, but then eventually, the adrenals stop producing as much cortisol and become depleted. And this can certainly cause depression.
Dr. Filidei: As Dr. Chapek said, high or low cortisol is not good. Too much cortisol over too long a period is very damaging to your entire body. You’ll age faster. You’ll get sick more often. You’ll have direct atrophy of tissues and damage to your brain. After a while, you end up with low cortisol, which can worsen depression, worsen fatigue, and worsen energy.
Dr. Chapek: I recently wrote a book called Concussion Rescue, which is a handbook of the method we use at Amen Clinics to help patients heal from head injuries. In it, I reveal that 25% to 50% of people with brain injuries have damage to the pituitary gland, which is your master hormone gland in the brain. This can cause low thyroid, low adrenal, and low testosterone, among other hormonal issues. And these can lead to a wide range of psychiatric symptoms. In fact, many of the football players we have treated at Amen Clinics and many other people with a history of brain injury have low testosterone or low growth hormone. It’s staggering.
Dr. Cornish: Our environment is so toxic—from our foods to our air, to our water, to chemicals and mold. You name it. We’re all toxic. How does someone look with toxins in the brain? It’s across the board. They can look normal, or they can have invisible symptoms, or they can look like they have dementia. It’s all different extremes. In children, it can appear as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome, diseases, and associative disorders, which are known as PANS or PANDAS.
Dr. Chapek: We perform a functional medicine panel, which looks for inflammatory markers, deficiencies, and metabolic measurements. That covers a lot, but we can also do additional labs, such as hormone testing, toxicity testing looking for mold, and testing looking for Lyme and other infections. This information, in combination with brain imaging and a complete personal history, can be so helpful in finding the root causes of symptoms so we can find the best solutions.
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.
Mental telehealth and video therapy can provide you with the vital care you need—when, where, and how you need it. At Amen Clinics, we understand that this time is very valuable to you, and we want you to get the most out of it. To make virtual mental health as effective as possible, follow these tips for before, during, and after your appointment.
If you’re used to seeing your mental health professional in their office, it may take some time to adjust to this new process. Take heart that our patients typically find video conferencing beneficial. Here’s what some Amen Clinics physicians are saying about virtual appointments:
“My patients are enjoying connecting via video conference calls. They seem to be more relaxed talking from their own home.” —Dr. Jennifer Love
“My patients have found the video conference evaluations to be meaningful and they are surprised at the level of connection that is being made.” —Dr. Robert Johnson
Make a list of the main symptoms you want to address in the conversation. Also be sure to indicate when your symptoms started, what tends to exacerbate them, and what, if anything, seems to soothe them.
Remember that mental health appointments are a two-way street. This is your chance to ask questions you have about your symptoms, brain scan, diagnosis, and treatment. Having a list of questions ready can help you remember to ask them.
Your Amen Clinics specialist may ask questions about past medical or psychological issues in addition to inquiring about names and dosages of medications you have taken. Having this information available can save precious minutes during your appointment so you can spend more time talking about how you are going to get healthy.
One of the best strategies to ensure a meaningful appointment is to eliminate distractions. Close your door, turn off the notifications on your phone, and make sure someone is watching the kids so you can focus. Being able to hear clearly is another important element of an effective mental telehealth appointment. Try to minimize any background noise, such as the TV, the washing machine, or a barking dog. In addition, it’s important that you feel comfortable in your setting during your appointment. Find a spot where you are relaxed and at ease.
Find out what technology will be used and make sure you know how to use it prior to your appointment. Are you signed up for Zoom, Skype, or another video conferencing app? Do you know how it works? If you have never used the app before, do a practice call with a friend beforehand so you can work out the kinks.
Most of us can benefit from helpful reminders and alerts from our digital calendars. Setting your calendar to send you an alert 5-10 minutes prior to your virtual session can give you the time to gather your lists and questions and to prepare yourself mentally. Reminders can be especially critical if you have a tendency to be forgetful or inattentive.
If you’re doing a phone call, make sure your phone isn’t set to block unknown callers and answer your phone at the designated time even if it shows that it’s from an unknown caller.
When you begin your call, ask if it will be recorded or if you’ll be receiving a recap of what you talk about. It’s always a good idea to take notes to help you remember the most important insights and recommendations.
Don’t hold back emotionally. Be unreservedly honest and open about your symptoms, fears, challenges, and frustrations, and be equally candid about what you’re hoping to get from treatment.
Check with your mental healthcare professional about follow-up sessions so you have a complete understanding of your treatment path.
Your virtual sessions are only part of a comprehensive treatment plan. To make the most of it, you need to stick with your provider’s recommendations and keep any follow-up appointments.
On a routine basis, remind yourself that seeking treatment for your mental health is one of the most important things you can do for your overall quality of life. And always remember that you deserve it. By taking the steps now to engage in mental telehealth, you’re setting yourself up for enhanced brain health and emotional well-being, so you can feel better fast.
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.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Justin Bieber—who revealed in his 2020 docuseries that he has been seeing neuropsychiatrist and brain imaging specialist Dr. Daniel Amen for years—and his wife Hailey Baldwin put themselves into self-quarantine in their home in Canada.
That may have been a smart move for the superstar, who also recently announced that he’s been diagnosed with Lyme disease.
“Having Lyme disease may increase vulnerability to the coronavirus and could raise the risk of serious consequences if you’re infected with COVID-19,” says Mark Filidei, D.O., the director of integrative and functional medicine at Amen Clinics in Costa Mesa, California.
That’s bad news for the estimated 300,000 people who are diagnosed each year with Lyme disease, according to the CDC. In many areas of the country, it’s tick season, and according to a report from Boston 25 News, one doctor said they’re already getting more calls about tick bites than usual.
The threat of developing Lyme disease while sheltering at home can be especially frightening during the pandemic because it causes many of the physiological symptoms as those seen in COVID-19—fevers, sore throat, headache, and body aches. Nobody wants that now.
Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) is a bacterial infection caused by the bite of an infected black-legged tick, also known as a deer tick. It is associated with a telltale bulls-eye rash that develops within a few days of a tick bite. “But a considerable percentage of people never get a rash, and many people don’t even realize they have been bitten by a tick,” says Filidei.
This is one reason why Lyme disease has been vastly under-diagnosed in the U.S. Other reasons include inadequate testing methods and a general lack of acknowledgment by the medical community that it is a real illness.
If the infection is caught early, antibiotics can often successfully treat it and avoid any lasting problems. However, when Lyme disease remains undetected, it allows the infection to fester, wreaks havoc on the immune system, causes a host of inflammatory responses, reduces blood flow, and impairs healthy brain function.
Immune system disruption is the last thing anyone needs now with COVID-19 spreading around the globe, infecting nearly 2 million people and causing over 100,000 deaths.
A 2018 study in the Journal of Immunology found that Lyme disease disrupts the immune system. The findings show that the disease activates T cells, soldiers of the immune system that are intended to target foreign invaders in the body. In the case of Lyme disease, however, the activated T cells interact with the bacteria from the tick bite, producing a cascade of inflammation.
In some people, treatment with antibiotics doesn’t alleviate symptoms, and 5%-30% of people develop chronic symptoms, a condition known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). A 2019 study in BMC Public Healthestimated that nearly 2 million people are living with chronic symptoms of Lyme disease.
In a 2017 study with 61 PTLDS patients and 26 healthy controls in Frontiers in Medicine, 50% of the chronic Lyme disease patients reported severe fatigue, 31% had severe sleep issues, 28% suffered from severe pain, 23% struggled with severe cognitive issues. By comparison, the healthy controls reported no “severe” symptoms.
“People with chronic Lyme disease struggle with a host of neuropsychological symptoms, including memory problems, trouble with focus, impulsivity, poor problem-solving, slower mental processing speed, addictive behaviors, changes in personality, suicidal thoughts, and more,” according to Filidei.
Traditionally, the medical community has dismissed the fact that infections can be associated with these types of symptoms, but that is changing. A 2016 editorial in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease written by a worldwide group of 33 scientists suggested the medical community has been neglecting to look at infectious diseases as a root cause of many memory problems, including Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
Because many traditional healthcare providers still don’t acknowledge that psychiatric symptoms may be caused by Lyme disease, symptoms are often misdiagnosed. People with undetected Lyme disease may be diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, dementia, or other mental health conditions. Filidei says that “unless the underlying Lyme disease is addressed, traditional treatments for these issues may not be effective, or they may actually make symptoms worse.”
If you suspect you may have this tick-borne disease, it’s more critical than ever to seek help in light of the coronavirus pandemic. But Lyme disease can be challenging to diagnose. Seeing an integrative or functional medicine physician is a good place to start.
In addition, brain imaging can help. On brain SPECT scans, infections in the brain tend to show an overall pattern of significantly low blood flow and may appear toxic. When these abnormal brain patterns are visible, it calls for additional testing to determine the type of infection that may be causing cerebral blood flow issues. Lab tests for Lyme disease include the Western Blot (WB), Immunoblot, and C6 Lyme ELISA, and although they offer critical data, Filidei cautions that they are only part of a comprehensive diagnostic process. Diving into a person’s clinical history helps complete the picture.
With a precise diagnosis, you are better able to address underlying infections and related symptoms. And that makes you better able to fend off other infections and to cope with the mental strain associated with quarantine.
At Amen Clinics, our integrative and functional medicine physicians have seen hundreds of patients with resistant complex psychiatric symptoms or cognitive problems who tested positive for Lyme disease. When the underlying infection is addressed as part of a comprehensive treatment plan, symptoms improve significantly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When you’re feeling worried or anxious, you want to feel better now, fast, pronto! And now with the coronavirus pandemic, more than ever, we’re all feeling on edge, and that’s perfectly normal. How we respond during these difficult times, however, can make all the difference in the world when it comes to our overall health and well-being.
In my new ebook Conquer Worry and Anxiety, you’ll find dozens of feel better fast strategies to help you cope in these stressful times. Here’s one method that can help you get out of the “fight-or-flight” mode and into a calmer state.
Many people associate hypnosis with loss of control or stage tricks. But doctors know it to be a serious science, revealing the brain’s ability to heal medical and psychiatric conditions.
Using hypnosis, guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) can quickly decrease the fight-or-flight response in a wide variety of conditions. Research shows these techniques have many benefits, including lowering anxiety and depression.
Learning hypnosis, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation is simple; there are many online audios that can guide you. You can find several audios on our BrainFitLife site, and you can certainly do it yourself.
Below are the instructions I give my patients to help them go into a deeply relaxed state. The skill builds over time, so it is important to practice this exercise to gain mastery. Set aside two 15-minute periods a day and go through the following 5 steps:
Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet on the floor and your hands in your lap. Pick a spot on the opposite wall that is a little bit above your eye level. Stare at the spot. As you do, slowly count to 20. Notice that your eyelids soon begin to feel heavy, as if they want to close. Let them. In fact, even if they don’t feel as if they want to close, slowly lower them as you get to 20.
Take a deep breath, as deep as you can, and very slowly exhale. Repeat a deep breath and slow exhale three times. With each in-breath, imagine taking in peace and calmness, and with each out-breath, blow out all the tension—all the things getting in the way of your relaxing. By this time, you’ll notice a calm come over you.
Squeeze the muscles in your eyelids, closing your eyes as tightly as you can. Then slowly let the muscles in your eyelids relax. Imagine that relaxation slowly spreading, like a warm, penetrating oil, from the muscles in your eyelids to the muscles in your face—down your neck, into your shoulders and arms, into your chest, and throughout the rest of your body. The muscles will take the cue from your eyelids and relax progressively all the way down to the bottoms of your feet.
When all the tension has left your body, imagine yourself at the top of an escalator. Step on the escalator and ride down, counting backward from 10. By the time you reach the bottom, you’ll be very relaxed.
Enjoy the tranquility for several moments. Then get back on the escalator riding up, counting to 10 as you go. When you get to 10, open your eyes, feeling relaxed, refreshed, and wide-awake.
To make these steps easy to remember, think of the following words:
If you have trouble remembering these steps, you may want to record them as you read them aloud and then do the exercise as you listen to the audio.
You can find many more calming strategies in Conquer Worry and Anxiety, a new ebook by psychiatrist, neuroscientist, brain-imaging expert, and 12-time New York Times bestselling author Daniel G. Amen, MD.
If you’re struggling with stress, anxiety, and worry, know that at Amen Clinics, we offer in-clinic and Telehealth services (via telephone and video conferencing) 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 fill out our form fill and a brain health advisors will get back to you within 24-72 hours.
Anxiety. Depression. Loneliness. Fear. Stress.
As Americans are being asked to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s taking a devastating toll on our mental health. At Amen Clinics, we are seeing skyrocketing numbers of people seeking help for anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and other issues.
Some patients who have been enhancing their brain health and successfully treating their psychiatric conditions for years are seeing old demons flare up again. And people who have generally enjoyed good psychological health are experiencing angst they have never faced before and are looking for solutions.
Our clinics remain open and will continue to do so to serve our patients. But how can you get the help you need if you’re concerned about leaving your home? Telehealth and video therapy sessions allow you to connect with one of our expertly trained board-certified physicians and functional medicine specialists from the comfort of your own home.
If you’ve been reluctant to seek treatment, this is one of the easiest ways to give it a chance. And it’s one of the most comfortable for you. You can be in your coziest chair with a mug of your favorite tea and your dog or cat on your lap to make you feel more at ease. At Amen Clinics, we are seeing many new patients via video conference to help them deal with their fears and anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.
With telehealth and video therapy, you can still meet with your Amen Clinics psychiatrist or functional medicine specialist in the comfort of your own home. We have many patients whose kids are staying home from school now, so they aren’t able to get away to visit the clinic. They are so grateful to be able to connect on a video conference call so they can still keep an eye on the kids.
Our society still stigmatizes people with mental health issues, which prevents far too many people from seeking the help they need. With telehealth, you have complete privacy. It’s just you and your healthcare professional.
We would all love to have more time. With video therapy sessions, there’s no commute, no need to find a parking spot, and no time spent in waiting rooms.
People who live in rural areas or who would have to travel for an appointment can have access to world-class psychiatric care and functional medicine specialists. Research shows this can be particularly helpful for children with ADD/ADHD who live in rural areas and wouldn’t normally have access to care.
Being able to check in with your psychiatrist allows you both to discuss the effectiveness of your treatment plan and make adjustments if necessary. This can be critically important during anxious or stressful times when people may be more tempted to fall back into old habits that are bad for brain health and mental wellbeing. I recently had a follow-up session with a patient this week who was worried about traveling to the clinic. We were able to make some adjustments to her treatment plan online, and she emailed me a few days later to say she was already feeling better.
Anxiety levels are through the roof right now and being able to have a therapy session from home is proving to be a real comfort for people who are struggling with the fears and stress surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our psychiatric clinics are open and we are doing everything possible to reduce the risk of exposure for patients and staff, you may still have concerns. We are finding that this is especially common among patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. With digital meetings, these fears are virtually eliminated.
If you have symptoms of COVID-19, have tested positive for the virus, or if you have a common cold or flu bug, you may be even more scared. You can still get the mental health help you need without exposing others to these viral infections. Research shows that acute upper respiratory infections, such as the cold or flu, can be destabilizing for people with mood disorders, so it is even more important to seek help when you’re under the weather.
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.
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.
Blood flow is critical for life. It transports nutrients, including oxygen, to every cell in your body and flushes away toxins. Even though your brain, which weighs about 3 pounds, makes up only 2% of your body’s weight, it uses 20% of the oxygen and blood flow in your body. Anything that impairs blood flow or damages your blood vessels hurts your brain and your mental well-being.
On brain SPECT imaging scans, low blood flow is associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, traumatic brain injury, hoarding, murder, substance abuse, seizure activity, and more. It’s also the #1 brain imaging predictor that a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Over 90% of teenagers do not get the recommended level of exercise, which could be one of the major reasons why mental health issues among teens have skyrocketed in the last 30 years.
Drinking more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages a day reduces blood flow to the brain.
Smoking constricts blood flow to the brain. On brain SPECT scans, the brains of smokers tend to look older than they are.
In particular, drinking alcohol lowers blood flow to the cerebellum, an amazing part of the brain that is associated with physical movement, which means it can make you less coordinated. Plus, people who drink every day have smaller brains.
Coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, and heart arrhythmia are all indicators that cerebral blood flow is decreased.
High levels of LDL cholesterol, and in particular having a high content of small LDL particles, is a sign that blood flow isn’t optimal.
High blood pressure negatively impacts blood flow to the brain.
Experiencing a stroke indicates that blood vessels are already damaged or vulnerable to trouble.
If you have blood flow problems anywhere, it likely means they are everywhere, including in the brain.
High blood sugar levels, associated with diabetes and pre-diabetes, cause blood vessels to become brittle and more likely to break, delaying healing and causing disease complications.
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that lowers overall blood flow to the brain, especially in the areas that die first in Alzheimer’s disease.
If you want to keep your brain healthy, your mind sharp, and your mental health strong for as long as possible, you need to keep your blood flowing freely. If you have any of the lifestyle factors that lower blood flow, work to change your habits, and if you have medical conditions that impact blood flow, don’t hesitate to seek treatment. Here are 3 additional ways to boost blood flow.
Both prayer and meditation have been shown to improve blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, decrease anxiety, and improve mood.
HBOT is a simple, non-invasive, painless treatment with minimal side effects that use the power of oxygen to enhance the healing process and reduce inflammation. Before-and-after SPECT scans from a 2011 study showed remarkable overall improvement in blood flow following 40 sessions of HBOT.
Nutraceuticals with research-based evidence to help maintain healthy blood pressure and increase blood flow include ginkgo biloba, cocoa flavanols, omega-3 fatty acids, green tea catechins, and resveratrol.
At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging and lab testing as part of a wrap-around evaluation and treatment plan to determine the root causes of your symptoms. We believe in using the least toxic, most effective therapies and strategies to optimize your brain function and feel better again.
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.
“No one has ever grown up in the history of humanity like Justin Bieber. No one has ever been that famous worldwide in an era of social media where every year of your adolescence you were the most Googled person on the planet.”
In Justin Bieber’s new docuseries, “Seasons,” that’s how his manager Scooter Braun describes what it was like for the superstar to grow up in the public eye. The “Baby,” “Sorry,” and “Love Yourself” artist was discovered at age 13 and shot to instant fame, becoming the world’s biggest YouTube sensation, a social media phenom, and an international chart-topper.
Despite his enormous talent and the adulation that came with fame, he faced some serious struggles like so many people do. “Being human is challenging for everybody,” he says in the docuseries. “We’re all struggling to some degree. We all have our individual pains, and fears and anxieties, worries.” Justin knows this only too well because while his career was soaring, his personal life was spinning out of control into anxiety, depression, and addiction. And his brain was under assault.
The adolescent brain is a remarkable work in progress, with billions of connections called synapses being created at lightning-fast speeds, and an important process called myelinization underway. With myelinization, brain cells are coated with a protective sheath that increases the brain’s processing speeds. The process begins at the back of the brain and works its way forward, with the prefrontal cortex (the area involved in impulse control, forethought, judgment, and empathy) the last area to gain the protective covering, usually around a person’s mid-20s.
Certain things like alcohol, drugs, and even fame can disrupt this important process. A brain imaging study appearing in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that heavy marijuana use among young adults and adolescents may affect normal brain development. The study found brain abnormalities in areas involved with decision-making, memory, and executive functions—the regions in the front of the brain that are the last to undergo myelinization.
Substance use and fame at a young age can also disrupt the reward system in the adolescent brain. In a healthy brain, whenever we do something enjoyable, it’s like pressing a button in the brain to release a little bit of the neurotransmitter dopamine to make us feel pleasure. Pushing these pleasure buttons too often or too strong reduces dopamine’s effectiveness. Eventually, it takes more and more excitement and stimulation to feel anything at all.
In the YouTube docuseries, Justin reveals he started smoking marijuana when he was just 13. Then he moved on to harder substances, including a mind-numbing cocktail of cough syrup (hydrocodone) mixed with alcohol and prescription medication. The concoction was so potent, his security team would creep into his room in the middle of the night to check his pulse and make sure he was still breathing. With the substance abuse and all those screaming fans, Justin’s reward system was getting worn out. He was addicted not only to the drugs but also to fame. And he was in a downward spiral.
It became so overwhelming for him that he canceled the final dates of his “Purpose” world tour in 2017, and the media announced that he was having issues and it seemed like he was “falling into another dark place.” They were right.
In Episode 5 of the docuseries (which is currently available on YouTube premium), Justin reveals that he has been coming to neuropsychiatrist and brain imaging expert Dr. Daniel Amen at Amen Clinics for 5 years for help with the issues he’s been struggling with.
Justin bravely opened up to Dr. Amen about the trauma and instability he experienced in his childhood, his addictions, and his anxiety and depression. To find the root causes of his issues, he underwent brain SPECT imaging. SPECT measures blood flow and activity in the brain and shows 3 things: areas with healthy activity, too much activity, or too little activity.
Before coming to Amen Clinics, Justin had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition that is often misdiagnosed. In fact, 57% of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder don’t actually have the condition, according to a 2008 study from researchers at Brown University. Justin’s brain scans showed something other than bipolar disorder, and it changed the course of his care. You can see more about what his brain scans revealed in the episode.
Drawing on our brain imaging work and the latest neuroscience, Justin made the commitment to get on a path to better brain health. To help heal his brain, the young man started doing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a noninvasive treatment that involves breathing 100% pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. The increased oxygen is picked up via the bloodstream and transported to damaged tissues to facilitate the healing process.
HBOT has been used to improve many issues including, but not limited to:
Justin has told Dr. Amen that he loves HBOT therapy so much he got a hyperbaric chamber for his home, and he uses it on a daily basis.
When Dr. Amen informed Justin how important nutrition and supplementation is if you want to change your brain and heal your mind, the musical artist cleaned up his diet and also started doing IV nutrient therapy on a regular basis. IV therapy provides more potent doses of important nutrients than oral supplements, and because it bypasses the digestive system you get 100% absorption without any gastrointestinal issues.
HBOT and IV therapy are only part of the brain-based plan that has been helping him cope with the anxiety, depression, and other issues he faces.
The artist has subsequently received a diagnosis of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that can lead to a vast array of neuropsychological symptoms, including:
With a comprehensive treatment plan in place, the superstar feels like he’s on the right track to healing and getting back to the creative music-making process and performing that feeds his soul. He says it’s because he’s “in a good headspace… a better headspace.” We would say, it’s really all about being in a better “brainspace.”
At Amen Clinics, we take a unique brain-body approach to diagnosis and treatment that includes brain SPECT imaging, as well as laboratory testing to check physical health, and other important factors that could be contributing to symptoms of depression. By getting to the root cause of your symptoms, we can create a more effective, personalized treatment plan for you.
If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and improved their quality of life at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
By Kabran Chapek, ND
Almost everybody has a first aid kit for life’s little emergencies—the scraped knees, sprained ankles, or painful insect stings that happen when you least expect it. Most of them contain the typical bandages, gauze pads, antibiotic ointment, antiseptic wipes, aspirin, and tweezers. But do you have anything in your first aid kit to deal with concussions or other head injuries? And would you even know what to put in it? And what about school sports teams? Isn’t it time they stock their first aid kits with the must-have items that can accelerate the healing process after a concussion?
I’m a psychiatrist who has seen far too many patients with long-lasting symptoms—including “psychiatric” symptoms like anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, anger, substance abuse, dementia, and suicidal thoughts—related to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). I’m shocked that we’re all so well-prepared to take care of minor cuts, burns, and bruises, but we’re so ill-prepared to minimize the damage from injury to our greatest asset—the human brain.
Because I understand how devastating and life-changing head trauma can be, I always carry a TBI first aid kit with me on hikes and bike rides or keep one stashed in my car just in case. My goal isn’t to replace 911 or emergency medical care, but rather to do immediate preventative care while waiting for trained EMTs to arrive.
I recommend that you keep a concussion first aid kit on hand, and I urge every school sports team (including cheerleading and dance squads) and every professional sports team to make it standard practice to have one.
I’m providing a handy chart below to help you know what to include in the kit. And if you’re wondering if it’s a hassle carrying such a kit on a hike or bike ride, let me put you at ease. This TBI first aid kit is designed to be portable and to do the most good for your brain in the shortest amount of time.
Your TBI emergency kit should include 6 important nutrients that accelerate the healing process and increase the likelihood of recovery if the head is rattled or injured. They include potent antioxidants and other nutrients that aid with brain protection and cell repair that will ameliorate some of the cell death and inflammation that starts almost immediately following a concussion.
Here is what you should include in your kit, along with basic information about timing and dosage. Make a copy of the following list and keep it in your kit at all times so you don’t have to have to try to recall all the information from memory during an emergency.
Remember, this first aid kit does not in any way take the place of emergency medical care.
8 NAC (500 mg/cap)—Recommended dosage is 50mg for every kilogram of body weight—this dosage is based on a 175lb person
2 curcumin (500 mg/cap)
2 vitamin C (1000mg/cap)
2 vitamin D (5000IU/cap)
1 TBSP MCT oil powder or 6 caps
1 TBSP flavored branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) powder
Place all the supplements—NAC, curcumin, vitamin C, and vitamin D—in a small sealed baggie or an empty vitamin bottle. In a separate sealed baggie, measure out 1 tablespoon of the MCT oil powder (or 6 caps) and 1 tablespoon of flavored BCAA powder. Some companies make premixed MCT oil/BCAA powder in convenient packets.
In case of a head injury, take everything in the kit immediately, ideally within 1-3 hours, but no later than 24 hours after the injury. Be sure to mix the MCT oil powder and BCAA powder into 8-10 ounces of water. The kit relies on the injured party’s ability to swallow supplements, which can be problematic for young children, but even kids can take the MCT and BCAA powders when mixed with water.
The idea is to use these ingredients in addition to getting a thorough check-up to make sure that nothing serious, such as a brain bleed or skull fracture, has occurred. Remember, loss of consciousness is not required for a serious injury to the brain. Taking immediate action with a TBI first aid kit may help you avoid a future of debilitating fatigue, depression, anger, and a higher risk of dementia.
In addition to the emergency kit, you should also have a home TBI first aid kit that includes an adequate supply of supplements to take for at least one week. In my book, Concussion Rescue, I share which supplements to include and the recommended dosages for your at-home kit.
In Concussion Rescue, author Dr. Kabran Chapek shares many of the protocols he uses with TBI patients at Amen Clinics. Order your copy here.
If you or a loved one is struggling with symptoms that may be related to a concussion or TBI, it’s important to make sure you’re getting the nutrients your brain needs for healing and supplements can be an important part of an effective treatment plan. If you want to join the thousands of people who have already healed from TBIs with the Amen Clinics Concussion Rescue Program, 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.