When people ask me how brain imaging can affect mental health care, I tell them about one of my favorite patients, Jarrett. As a little boy, he was hyperactive, restless, impulsive, and highly vocal, and he wouldn’t pay attention. His behavior was so disruptive that other kids didn’t want to play with him, and he didn’t have a single friend. Diagnosed with ADHD as a preschooler, Jarrett seemed to be on a bad path, and his parents were distraught.
Jarrett’s parents took him to five different doctors, who prescribed five types of stimulant medications for ADHD. But none of them worked. In fact, they made things worse by triggering extreme mood swings and episodes of rage that frightened his siblings. Jarrett’s conduct got so out of control that one physician suggested antipsychotic medication. That was the last straw for his mother, who decided to bring Jarrett to see us at Amen Clinics, which I founded over 30 years ago.
We took a very different approach to treating Jarrett. Nutritional supplements to calm his overactive brain, a host of brain-healthy daily lifestyle habits, and parent training led to significant improvements in his behavior. He started making the honor roll. The rages disappeared. And he finally started making friends.
How Do You Know Unless You Look?
Psychiatry remains the only medical specialty with practitioners who virtually never look at the organ they treat. Cardiologists look at the heart, oncologists scan the body for cancerous tumors, and orthopedists take X-rays of bones. Psychiatrists guess. Even if you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, or other issues, your doctor is not likely to look at your brain.That’s insane!
- Almost 25 percent of Americans are taking at least one prescription mental health medication.
- More than 337 million antidepressant prescriptions were given in 2021.
- Twenty-seven percent of doctor visits result in a prescription for benzodiazepines (anxiety medication).
What Brain Imaging Reveals About Mental Health
Brain imaging is changing the way we think about mental health. There’s a growing understanding in the field of psychiatry that mental health is really brain health. And experts, as in the journal Radiology, have validated the use of brain imaging in psychiatry. In 2021, the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine endorsed brain SPECT imaging for the assessment of:- Neuropsychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, and PTSD
- Suspected dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal lobe dementia, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment
- Traumatic brain injury
- Substance abuse
- Strokes
Brain SPECT imaging can help identify the root causes of psychiatric symptoms and prompt psychiatrists to ask better questions to get to the source of a person’s symptoms.
- Regions of the brain that work well
- Regions of the brain that are working too hard, indicating abnormally high blood flow
- Regions of the brain that are not working hard enough, indicating low blood flow
You Can Change Your Brain and Change Your Life
One of the most exciting things we have learned from our brain-imaging work is that you’re not stuck with the brain you have. You can change your brain and life for the better.11 Risk Factors That Harm the Brain
Based on our brain imaging work and more than 30 years of clinical practice, we have identified the 11 major risk factors that harm the brain and steal your mind. We developed the mnemonic BRIGHT MINDS to help you remember them.- B is for blood flow. Blood flow delivers oxygen and other nutrients to your body and brain and carries away waste products. Low blood flow seen on brain SPECT imaging is associated with many psychiatric symptoms and is the No. 1 brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer’s disease.
- R is for retirement and aging. When you stop learning, your brain starts dying. Your brain is much like your muscles in that as you age, it will degenerate much more quickly if you stop giving it enough challenging activity.
- I is for inflammation. Chronic inflammation is like a constant internal fire that harms your organs and can destroy your brain. Inflammation is easily triggered by unhealthy foods, ongoing stress, and even excess body weight.
- G is for genetics. Brain health issues clearly run in families, but genes are not a death sentence. They should be a wake-up call to take brain health seriously.
- H is for head trauma. Mild traumatic brain injuries—even bumps or blows to the head that don’t cause you to black out—are a major cause of psychiatric symptoms, but few people know it because psychiatrists don’t look at the brain.
- T is for toxins. Exposure to environmental toxins—such as alcohol or marijuana, or those found in household cleaners and personal care products—has been linked to numerous psychiatric symptoms.
- M is for mental health. Having untreated ADHD, depression, or other conditions can be devastating and is associated with increased risk of divorce, job failure, and general unhappiness.
- I is for infections. Infectious illnesses, such as COVID-19, Lyme disease, and streptococcus (strep throat), are a major cause of psychiatric and cognitive problems that few medical professionals recognize. A 2022 study in The British Medical Journal found that people who have had COVID-19—even mild cases—are 60 percent more likely to struggle with mental health problems. And one of the study’s authors said that more than 2.8 million new cases of psychiatric illness can be linked to COVID-19 infections.
- N is for neurohormone issues. Hormones imbalances can lead to a host of psychiatric symptoms. For example, research shows that hypothyroidism is associated with depression, memory loss, attention problems, and mental sluggishness.
- D is for diabesity. The word “diabesity” combines diabetes and obesity, both of which decrease the size and function of your brain, according to research. One study found that obesity is also associated with greater risk of depression, bipolar disorder, addictions, and more.
- S is for sleep problems. Your brain needs sleep to stay healthy, but 60 million Americans aren’t getting adequate shut-eye. Research shows that over time, sleep problems can lead to a higher risk of depression, ADHD, panic attacks, brain fog, memory problems, and dementia.
11 Daily Habits That Boost Brain Power
The exciting news is that you can boost your brain health and mental well-being by adopting the following daily habits.Reduce inflammation. Avoid foods that increase inflammation (such as sugar, refined carbohydrates, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and gluten). Instead, consume prebiotics (apples, beans, cabbage, psyllium, artichokes, onions, leeks, asparagus, and root veggies) and probiotics (fermented foods like kefir, kombucha, and unsweetened yogurt, or supplements).
In addition, it’s critical to take nutritional supplements to support optimal brain health. I recommend that everyone take a multivitamin, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics for gut health, and vitamin D (if your levels are low). Other supplements with scientific evidence of their benefits are GABA to help calm anxious brains; saffron to boost moods; rhodiola, ashwagandha, and green tea extract to support focus and energy; and phosphatidylserine to support memory.
When you learn to love and care for your brain every day, you boost your mood, memory, focus, mental clarity, and sense of calm. Are you ready to make brain and mental health a daily practice?