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Are you filled with dread at the thought of going home? Is your family constantly at war with each other? Do you feel neglected or worry about a possible violent outburst? You may think you’re the only one whose family life is filled with tension, strife, and emotional chaos. You’d be wrong. Far too many people are living in families where communication, emotional support, and love are in short supply.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family can leave you emotionally scarred and set you up for a lifetime of issues. Not all dysfunctional families are the same though, and each type can create specific problems that carry on into adulthood.
Here are 5 types of dysfunctional families:
1. The Substance Abuse Family
Over 8 million children under the age of 18 live with a parent who has a substance use disorder, according to research in Social Work in Public Health. When one or more parents abuse drugs or alcohol, it can lead to chaotic family life. Children of alcoholics or drug addicts may not have their basic needs met. The addicted parent may forget to pick up the kids from school, neglect to fix lunch or dinner, and skip important health checks. Unreliable and inconsistent parenting causes children to feel insecure and leads to issues with trust and pent-up anger that may linger for decades.
Living in constant fear, being blamed for problems the parent creates and feeling ashamed impact the ability to form healthy relationships later on in life. Children of alcoholics are prone to develop overactivity in the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, and can contribute to mental health conditions, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. And research in Drug and Alcohol Dependenceshows they are at heightened risk of developing substance use disorders.
2. The Conflict-Driven Family
Is your family life filled with heated arguments, hurtful disputes, and long-running feuds? When family members are constantly picking fights or pressing each other’s buttons to create conflict, it creates a highly stressful environment. When one family member feels threatened, they may retaliate with even more hateful actions. It doesn’t really matter what the conflicts are about—money, personal style, where to go to dinner, or what to watch on TV—it’s the inability to communicate and resolve issues peacefully that causes lasting damage. Children in conflict-oriented families often develop stress disorders and have trouble with attachment.
3. The Violent Family
Each year, approximately 4.5 to 15 million children are exposed to some form of physical violence in the home. Growing up in a volatile or violent family is a horrific experience that no one deserves. Family violence is not only physical. It can also include verbal, sexual, or psychological abuse or any other behavior that makes you feel unsafe. For children, simply witnessing domestic abuse can have the same devastating effects as experiencing abuse oneself, according to 2018 research in JAMA Network Open.
Childhood trauma causes physical changes in the developing brain that are associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders and substance abuse. For example, brain imaging research shows that children who grow up in an abusive environment tend to have:
- Decreased volume in the prefrontal cortex, an area involved in judgment, impulse control, planning, and follow-through
- A smaller hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning and memory
- Reduced volume in the cerebellum, an area involved in coordinating physical movement and thoughts
- Excessive activity in the amygdala, the brain’s fear centers
4. The Authoritarian Family
Authoritarian parents act like dictators, making great demands but giving little positive feedback. Mistakes are often met with severe punishment, which can include yelling, spanking, or other forms of corporal punishment. In these households, the authoritarian sets the rules and it’s “my way or the highway.” Children learn to follow rules but don’t gain valuable experience in making their own decisions or learning from their own mistakes.
When they grow up, these youngsters tend to have poor self-esteem, may be overly aggressive or excessively shy in social situations, may be prone to anxiety or depression, and may be vulnerable to substance abuse due to an inability to control their own behavior.
5. The Emotionally Detached Family
In some families, signs of affection and warmth are missing. Emotional unavailability and a lack of hugs, handholding, and other physical signs of love teach children to repress their emotions. This causes little ones to bottle up their feelings and have a hard time opening up to others, which can lead to a series of failed relationships.
In some cases, it creates problems with self-esteem and feelings of unworthiness. Without loving parents, children are more likely to have a fear of abandonment, school problems, and psychological issues, such as a lack of identity or personality disorders.
Overcoming the Dysfunctional Family Curse
Whichever form of family dysfunction affects your home life, understand that you can overcome these issues. You don’t need to let them ruin your life. Here are some powerful steps that can help you heal from a dysfunctional upbringing.
- Adopt brain healthy habits. Even if your brain bears the emotional scars of childhood abuse, you can improve your brain function, which will enhance every area of your life.
- Find a support network. If your family unit isn’t there for you, find friends, a church group, a support group, or a therapist who can be a good listener and be there for you when you need help.
- Work on relationship skills. Even though you didn’t grow up with healthy relationships, you can learn to develop strong bonds with others.
- Stop being a victim. When you are a victim, you are powerless to change anything. Only when you take responsibility for your own behaviors can you gain the power to make changes.
If you’re struggling with issues that stem from growing up in a dysfunctional family or you’re still caught up in an unhealthy family dynamic, Amen Clinics can help. At Amen Clinics, we can help you—and everyone in the family unit—achieve better brain health and a stronger, more fulfilling relationship. We use brain SPECT imaging to help diagnose mental health conditions and to identify areas of the brain that may benefit from optimization. We believe in using the least toxic, most effective solutions, including psychotherapy, natural supplements, nutritional coaching, medications (when necessary) and more.
To find out more about how we can help, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
When the TV remote goes on the fritz, do you throw it against the wall in anger? If someone cuts you off on the highway, do you want to chase after that person and run them off the road? When someone looks at you funny, is your first instinct to yell at them or punch them in the face?
Reacting with anger, aggression, or violence can get you into trouble. Temper flare-ups can cause strife in your relationships. Getting into fights can lead to physical harm. And if you go too far, a violent nature can eventually lead to trouble with the law.
For many people, episodes of anger or aggression are often followed by feelings of guilt and shame. Even though you know that shoving someone and throwing things isn’t desirable behavior, you can’t help yourself. Does it mean you’re a bad person?
Are Angry People Bad People?
Take a look at these individuals who struggle with anger.
Blaine: As a schoolboy, Blaine had a terrible time learning to read and frequently got into fights.
At age 60, he was still aggressive and moody. His temper outbursts just seemed to come out of the blue. “The littlest things set me off. Then I feel terribly guilty,” says Blaine.
Jason: This 30-something business executive admits he has frequent, intense violent thoughts. “I can be walking down the street and someone accidentally brushes against me, and I get the thought of wanting to shoot him or club him to death,” says Jason. “These thoughts frighten me.”
Misty: At age 45, Misty was besieged by angry outbursts. One day, someone had inadvertently bumped into her in the grocery store and she had started screaming at the woman. “I just don’t understand where my anger comes from,” she says. “I’ve had 16 years of therapy, and it is still there. Out of the blue, I’ll go off. I get the most horrid thoughts. You’d hate me if you knew.”
What Brain Imaging Reveals About Anger and Violence
Are Blaine, Jason, and Misty bad people? Do they lack a moral compass? Is there a reason why they act the way they do? Brain imaging studies show that anger, aggression, and violent behavior—often diagnosed as intermittent explosive disorder—are often signs of abnormalities in an area of the brain called the left temporal lobe.
The temporal lobes are located on either side of the brain behind the eyes and underneath the temples. On the dominant side of the brain (the left side in most people), the temporal lobe is intimately involved with emotional stability, as well as memory, language comprehension, and visual and auditory processing. Research has shown that emotional stability is heavily influenced by the temporal lobe. Optimum activity in the temporal lobes enhances mood stability, while increased or decreased activity in this part of the brain leads to fluctuating, inconsistent, or unpredictable moods and behaviors. Problems associated with abnormal activity in the dominant (usually left) left temporal lobe include:
- Aggression—internally or externally directed
- Dark or violent thoughts
- Sensitivity to slights
- Mild paranoia
- Emotional instability
- Word-finding problems
- Auditory processing problems
- Reading difficulties
The symptoms above are typically thought of as psychological, but in reality, they have a biological basis. Temporal abnormalities occur much more frequently than previously recognized. This is because the temporal lobes sit in a vulnerable area of the skull that makes them prone to damage even in mild traumatic brain injuries and concussions. Head injuries aren’t the only source of temporal lobe problems. They can also stem from genetics or exposure to toxins or infections.
What’s Behind Their Anger?
What caused Blaine, Jason, and Misty to develop such an aggressive nature? Brain SPECT imaging studies, which show healthy and abnormal brain activity, helped shine a light on their behavior.
Blaine: When Blaine was 5 years old, he fell off the porch headfirst into a pile of bricks. His SPECT scans showed significantly low activity in his prefrontal cortex and left temporal lobe, likely due to that childhood head injury.
Jason: Because Jason’s father was also a “rageaholic” it is likely that there was a genetic component involved and Jason inherited his temporal lobe dysfunction. His SPECT scan confirmed left temporal lobe abnormalities, but he had good prefrontal cortex activity, so he was able to supervise his behavior and maintain impulse control over his terrible thoughts.
Misty: At the age of 4, Misty fell off the top of a bunk bed and had been unconscious for only 1-2 minutes. Her brain scan revealed damage to the front and back parts of her left temporal lobe.
Can Violent People Change?
Is there any hope for people like Blaine, Jason, and Misty to change? Is there hope for you if you’re filled with anger or have violent thoughts and behavior?
Blaine: On a comprehensive treatment plan intended to stabilize temporal lobe activity and enhance prefrontal cortex activity, Blaine got a grip on his anger. And it happened quickly. Just 3 weeks after starting treatment, he said he hadn’t lost his temper a single time since getting on the new regimen. “That was the first time in my life I can remember going 3 weeks and not screaming at someone,” he says. Four years later, his temper was still under control.
Jason: With treatment, Jason had far fewer violent thoughts. And after seeing that his aggressive nature was related to biological abnormalities in his left temporal lobe, he no longer felt ashamed.
Misty: When Misty began a treatment program that included both medication, supplements, and other natural therapies, she found it very helpful in calming the “monster” within.
As these 3 individuals show, people who have a tendency to explode in anger can change. Seeking an evaluation and looking at the brain to understand the root causes of unwanted aggressive behavior is an important first step.
If you want to feel more in control of your temper, or you want a loved one to stop violent behavior, the Amen Clinics can help. We’ve helped thousands of people, including Blaine, Jason, and Misty, rein in their anger. We use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to find underlying patterns of brain dysfunction associated with aggression and violent behavior. Based on this information, we are better able to personalize treatment using the least toxic, most effective solutions for a better outcome.
For more information, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
When you hear about bullying, you probably think about kids or teens getting teased or tormented at school. But did you know that bullying can also occur between adults in the office? And it’s more prevalent than you might think.
According to a survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute, 27% of employees say they’ve been bullied in the workplace, and 21% say they’ve witnessed bullying. The main culprits? Bosses are the most common workplace bullies. What’s really surprising is that 72% of employees get in on the act by denying it happened, downplaying it, rationalizing the behavioral problems, or even encouraging the perpetrator.
Is someone willfully sabotaging your performance, giving you unwanted and undeserved harsh criticism, spreading rumors about you, humiliating you in front of coworkers, or intentionally excluding you from work activities? You could be the victim of bullying.
Workplace bullying can take a toll. People who have been targeted by a bully in the workplace are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a 2019 study in European Heart Journal. with people complaining of headaches, nausea, insomnia, and burnout. Being targeted at work can also lead to anxiety and depression.
When Bullying Leads to Anxiety Disorders
People who are victimized at the office can experience a variety of anxiety disorders that remain long after the intimidation has stopped. The main forms of anxiety that affect victims include:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): If you’re filled with worry, anxious thoughts, and fears that interfere with your daily life and your ability to do your job, you may have GAD. You may go to work in the morning with the expectation that something bad is going to happen, or you might have bullying scenarios looping in your head. You may also be plagued by physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomachaches.
- Panic attacks: For some people, being targeted can make you vulnerable to panic attacks. With this condition, you may suddenly feel a sense of terror and be overcome by physical symptoms, including a racing heart, sweating, and a heaviness in your chest that won’t go away. Since you may associate your office or work environment with the bullying you experienced, you may experience panic attacks at the office or even just thinking about going there.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): For most people, once a traumatic event has passed, they are able to overcome negative feelings and move on with their lives. For others, however, the effects of bullying linger and develop into PTSD, which is characterized by flashbacks, being easily startled, and being hyper-vigilant. Avoiding the people and places associated with a traumatic event is common in PTSD sufferers, so you may find yourself wanting to avoid going to work.
- Social anxiety disorder: Being exposed to bullying that involves public humiliation, being blamed for business failures that weren’t your fault, or other negative verbal assaults may lead to an intense fear of being judged negatively or being rejected in a social or performance setting (like giving a presentation at work), which are common signs of a social anxiety disorder. This causes people with this condition to experience extreme anxiety and distress in social settings or to attempt to avoid them altogether.
Unfortunately, exhibiting anxious behavior makes victims more vulnerable to continued abuse, which compounds the problem, according to a 2015 study in Anxiety, Stress, and Coping: An International Journal.
When Bullying Makes You Depressed
Depression is another unwanted outcome of bullying at work. People who have been subjected to intimidating or aggressive behavior at work are more than twice as likely as their peers to develop the condition. Among those who have experienced frequent bullying? They’re 10 times more likely to become clinically depressed, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Depression—which can drain your energy, make it hard for you to concentrate, and make you feel irritable and cranky—can prevent you from performing at your best on the job. This creates a downward spiral that can negatively impact your career and your life.
When to Seek Help
Every company has its own policies regarding bullying in the workplace. You may want to speak with someone in your HR department to discuss how to put an end to the behavior. But if your feelings of anxiety or depression are getting in the way of your daily life, or if the aggressive behavior has ended and you’re still reeling from its effects, it’s time to seek help.
At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of people learn to overcome feelings of anxiety and depression. The Amen Clinics Method takes an integrative approach to diagnosis and treatment that includes brain SPECT imaging as well as looking at the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of your life to identify areas that can be optimized.
If you want to stop suffering and start feeling better, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
Your kindergartner shoved another kid at a birthday party—and it wasn’t the first time. Your second-grader threw a temper tantrum in class—again. Your adolescent child is getting into fights at school—on a regular basis.
What’s a parent supposed to do? If you’ve tried all the most trusted parenting strategies and nothing is working to calm the intense rage in your child, it’s time to look for the underlying cause behind the behavior. Uncontrollable anger is usually a sign of abnormal brain activity and can be associated with a range of mental health conditions and other issues.
1. ADD/ADHD
Children with ADD/ADHD often experience frequent angry outbursts. In part, this is due to the impulsivity that is one of the hallmarks of the condition. Many youngsters with ADD/ADHD have low activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This area is involved with impulse control, judgment, and decision-making. When activity is low in this region, kids tend to speak and act without considering the consequences of their actions. So, they are more likely to throw a temper tantrum when it is inappropriate or cause physical harm to a classmate or themselves.
2. Anxiety Disorders
In some kids, tantrums, meltdowns, and aggressive behavior are signs of anxiety. Anxiety is associated with increased activity in a number of areas of the brain, including the basal ganglia (involved in setting the body’s anxiety level) and the amygdala (the brain’s fear center). Being in a heightened state of alert can cause the body’s fight-or-flight stress response to kick into gear. For some kids, this results in going for the “fight” option rather than avoiding conflict.
3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Research shows that about half of all people, including kids, with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), experience intense bouts of rage and anger. People with OCD tend to have excessive activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), which is the brain’s gear shifter. Too much activity here can make people get stuck on obsessive thoughts and get locked into actions. Children with OCD may have compulsions that help them cope with the distressing thoughts that loop inside their head. When OCD is left untreated and there is interference with those compulsions, it can cause kids to panic and react with anger.
4. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
If your child has ever taken a tumble off a bike or fallen down the stairs and hit their head, it can lead to lasting consequences, such as problems with anger and aggression. Even a mild head injury where they don’t blackout or get a concussion can cause problems. No amount of talk therapy will help a child overcome these issues unless the underlying brain injury is treated.
5. Temporal Lobe Abnormalities
Aggression is often associated with abnormalities in the left temporal lobes. Located on either side of the brain behind the eyes and underneath the temples, the temporal lobes are involved in mood stability, memory, and learning. Brain imaging research shows that emotional stability is heavily influenced by the left temporal lobes. Problems with this area of the brain are associated with anger, dark or violent thoughts, and emotional instability. Temporal lobe problems are commonly due to genetics, head injuries, exposure to toxins (such as toxic mold, drugs, or alcohol), or infections (such as Lyme disease).
At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging as part of a comprehensive evaluation to diagnose and treat children. This helps our Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists identify any dysfunction or damage in the brain, as well as any co-existing conditions, that need to be addressed. Based on this information, we are better able to personalize treatment for your child using the least toxic, most effective solutions for a better outcome.
To find out more about how we can help your child, call 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit.
Did you know that…
As many as 1 in 3 kids in school say they have been bullied at school?
About 1 in 7 adolescents say they’ve been cyberbullied?
Nearly 1 in 3 students admit to bullying others?
Over 7 in 10 students have witnessed someone being bullied?
The effects of bullying can be devastating for everyone involved—the bullies, the victims, and the bystanders. Some of the negative consequences can have lifelong impacts.
Altered Brain Structure
Research from a 2018 issue of Molecular Psychiatry shows that being bullied can also lead to physical changes in the brain. In this neuroimaging study, students who had been bullied showed decreased volume in two regions of the brain involved in how the brain processes memories and in movement and learning. The researchers suggest these changes are related to increased levels of anxiety by the age of 19.
Heightened Risk of Mental Health Issues
Bullying puts kids at increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders, not only during childhood and adolescence when the bullying occurs, but also long after the victimization stops. A 2015 study in JAMA Psychiatry tracked about 5,000 children from age 8 to 29 and found that being bullied at a young age raises the risk of depression as a young adult. Kids who were frequently bullied and who bullied others at age 8 had the highest incidence of depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and substance abuse.
Increased Risk of Suicide
Young people who have been bullied are 2 to 9 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared with students who haven’t been victimized.
Greater Risk of Substance Abuse
Bullying makes kids more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol as adolescents and to have addiction problems as adults.
Lowered School Performance
Bullying reduces grades and academic performance and makes kids more likely to skip school or drop out.
Recognize the 4 Types of Bullying
You may think its only physical aggression that can have such a negative impact on a child’s brain development and mental well-being, but any type of bullying can lead to lasting consequences. Bullies may harass a child about their appearance, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or even a mental health condition, such as ADD/ADHD, anxiety, or OCD.
The 4 different types of bullying are:
- Physical Bullying: This involves any form of physical contact, including pushing, shoving, hitting, slapping, kicking, pinching, or tripping.
- Verbal bullying: Some bullies victimize others with name-calling, harsh teasing, threats, or inappropriate comments.
- Social bullying: Deliberately preventing a child or adolescent from being part of a group activity is a form of bullying.
- Cyberbullying: Some bullies target their victims on social media—starting rumors, posting embarrassing photos, or otherwise attempting to humiliate someone.
Warning Signs of Bullying
How can you tell if your child is being bullied at school? Many children choose not to open up about the problem, so don’t expect your child to tell you if it’s happening to them. Stay alert for the following signs and seek help if you notice them in your child:
- Increased moodiness
- Injuries they can’t explain
- Social isolation
- Not wanting to go to school
- Avoiding using the restroom at school
- Changes in eating habits
- Trouble sleeping
- A sudden drop in academic performance
- Frequent physical ailments (headaches or stomachaches)
- Faking illness to avoid going to school
If you suspect your child is being bullied, bullying others, or being exposed to it, and they are already exhibiting signs of mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety, we can help. The Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists at Amen Clinics have helped thousands of kids and teens overcome depression, anxiety, and other conditions. Unlike traditional psychiatry, which rarely looks at the organ it treats, we use brain SPECT imaging to assess brain health, and we use the least toxic, most effective personalized solutions to optimize brain function and minimize symptoms.
To find out more about how we can help, speak with a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
Unfortunately, we hear news stories every day about another young person who has taken their life. To most people it is unfathomable someone who has so much to live for would feel such despair to want to die. But often we hear that the person who has taken their own life had head trauma.
Could a concussion make a person want to commit suicide?
After Dr. Daniel Amen, Founder and CEO of Amen Clinics, wrote a column on head trauma in a Northern California newspaper, he was contacted by a woman who told him a very sad story. The woman said her daughter had been a model child up until the time she had a bike accident when she was about 18. She hit a branch, flew over the handlebars, landed face-first on the street, and momentarily lost consciousness. Since then, everything changed. The young woman went from being happy and cooperative to angry and moody. Therapy didn’t help, and the young woman eventually took her own life when she was just 20 years old. Her mother was heartbroken, especially when she discovered the connection between concussions and suicide and that there are things you can do to help heal the brain after a concussion. If only she had known earlier, she said.
What is a Concussion?
Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury that temporarily interferes with normal brain function. Most people think that concussions always cause a person to black out or lose consciousness, but this isn’t the case. Many people who experience a concussion are never diagnosed and don’t even realize they’ve experienced one.
Concussions on the Rise
More than 2 million people each year suffer a head injury. And the number of concussions in the U.S. is rising, especially among younger people. The number of Americans diagnosed with a concussion rose 43% from 2010 to 2015. But among people between the ages of 10 and 19, it jumped up by 71 percent.
Some of the most common causes of concussions include:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Falls
- Sports injuries
- Explosive blasts and other combat injuries
- Violence
The Hidden Dangers of Concussions
Concussions often cause headaches, nausea, confusion, fatigue, or amnesia about the event. These symptoms may last days, weeks, or even longer. But there are many other symptoms tied to concussions that may not appear until weeks or months after the incident.
Healthy Surface SPECT brain scan:
Surface SPECT brain scan of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
For example, head injuries often damage the pituitary gland, an area within the brain that is involved in the production of hormones, including thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and more. When the pituitary gland is damaged, it can result in hormonal imbalances that cause mood and energy problems, as well as other issues.
Having a head injury also increases the risk of many mental health conditions, including:
- Depression
- Anxiety and panic disorders
- ADHD
- Drug and alcohol abuse
- PTSD
- Psychosis
- Suicide
Sadly, many people do not associate new symptoms of mental illness or suicidal thoughts with a head injury they suffered months or years earlier. Because of this, they may receive treatment for depression and anxiety, for example, but they often do not get the help they need to heal the underlying traumatic brain injury. Too often, this results in someone taking their own life like the woman’s daughter you read about at the beginning of this blog.
Healing Concussions
To complement other treatments, there are ways to help heal the brain after a head injury or concussion, including:
- Neurofeedback: This computer-based interactive therapy involves the use of video games to help people control their brainwaves. More than 1,000 scientific studies show that this non-invasive technology can help with TBI, depression, ADHD, addiction, and more.
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT): This non-invasive treatment uses concentrated oxygen to promote faster healing. Research shows it enhances brain repair, as well as cognitive and emotional functioning after a concussion or traumatic brain injury.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of people with traumatic brain injuries or concussions to heal their brain and improve their quality of life. We use a combination of the least toxic, most effective therapies, which may include neurofeedback, HBOT, talk therapy, and medications, in addition to small lifestyle changes that can make a big difference. If you or someone you love has suffered a concussion or head injury, find out how we can help. Talk to a specialist today by calling 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
Do mass shooters brains look different than non-violent brains? The answer is yes. Our founder, Dr. Daniel Amen, spoke with ABC reporter, Frank Elaridi on the epidemic that we are facing today.