Change Your Brain Every Day - How The New 12 Step Model Can Help Substance Abusers with Orlando Vargas

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Dr Daniel and Orlando Vargas discuss the middle steps in the new 12 steps program and share inspiring stories from members of the House of Freedom.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. We're back with Orlando Vargas from the House of Freedom in Orlando, Florida. We're talking about substance abuse treatment. We're talking about the context of the new 12-step program I developed and wrote about in Your Brain is Always Listening. Talked about step one, know your goals. Two, knowing your behavior doesn't fit your goals. When you've been taken hostage. Three is love, balance, and repair your brain. And we started talking about hyperbaric oxygen, which it's really a very effective treatment to help repair the brain. And whenever you go in a chamber, you're doing something good for your brain,

which means you're less likely to do things that are bad for your brain. Tell me your experience with hyperbaric oxygen. Yeah, well, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you know, we've seen some amazing results. Okay, usually we first scan someone, we have a brain inspect. And after the results,

that's when we sort of make the recommendations. And honestly, what we have seen works the best is when we do at least 40 sessions of hyperbaric treatment. Okay, so that's the protocol that we've been implementing. And the faster they can actually complete the hyperbaric treatment, the better the outcomes. Okay. So for example, a lot of times, we'll tell clients, you know, you have to do a minimum of five sessions a week, but if you could do 10 sessions a week and even better. And oddly enough, you know, every single time that somebody follows the protocol, they get better. Right. And, and my focus, when they start doing hyperbaric treatment is you have to exercise, you have to take your supplements.

You have to manage your stress. You have to do a lot of the things that are going to help your brain because then it's going to have a synergistic effect. So then it's going to amplify the benefits and the effectiveness of the hyperbaric treatment. So a lot of times when we see a before and after from hyperbaric, it's like they can't believe it, you know? And the great thing is that when the client has a loved one that they live

with either a spouse, a kid or brother, you know, they have reassurance that not only is the scan looking better, but they're actually looking at the person and they seem different. And I'll tell you a story. We had a veteran that actually went through that process. Okay. His brain obviously had a traumatic brain injury and substance use disorder because, you know, one of the tours he did in Afghanistan. And he was always mad.

You know, he didn't know why. He would go to the VA. They would do an MRI. They would, he didn't know why he would go to the VA, they would do an MRI, they will tell me, you know what, everything is fine. They give him some medication, and we'll see you in a year. So this veteran still struggling with mood disorders, you know, he can't sleep well, etc, etc. So you know, he comes to us, he gets the help. And I remember like it was yesterday, he tells me, Orlando, I was playing in the playground with my son, he's seven years old. And he tells me, Dad, I'm so happy. And, you know, he asked his kid, Well, why are you so happy? Because you don't get mad at me

anymore. And he just started crying. I mean, he just couldn't help himself, you know, and, and see, and those are the things that makes, makes us so proud, you know, so fulfilling to see a change like that, because one of the things you say in your book, it's not just about you, but about generations of you, right? So when we change that person's life, we're changing potentially not only one life, but two, three, four or five lives. Okay. So that's crucial. And, and we, we, we preach that all the time. You know, we tell our clients, you know, it's not just about you, but about generations of you. So think about the decisions you make today, how would that impacts other things and other people that perhaps we haven't even met.

No question about that. Um, That is just such a beautiful story. And that's why we do this. The fourth step is about forgiveness. And I love that step. And that's what the imaging work has taught us, that behavior is complicated it's easy to call someone bad it's harder to ask why i saw a woman yesterday we're doing an influencer series and her brain was terrible. And she had a lot of shame because she was really bright, but was not anywhere near her potential.

And everybody in her family knew it. And she hated that and felt shame around it. But no one knew that she was really suffering with low blood flow to her frontal and temporal lobes. And we did an exercise called REACH, which is a forgiveness exercise. Recall what happened so the shame around not being as accomplished as she wanted to be empathize it's like wait a minute there's a big reason why you're right on her altruistically give the gift of forgiveness, commit to it and hold on to it. And it was just so helpful. What have you seen from a forgiveness standpoint? Yeah, you know, I think with forgiveness, a lot of times, especially when it comes to people who've suffered through substance use disorders,

you know, I think the biggest obstacle is them accepting forgiveness. Because a lot of times, you know, they ask forgiveness from the Lord or they ask forgiveness from a loved one. And the forgiveness is there. Okay. A lot of times people are willing to forgive, you know, they understand because they love. But the person who struggled with the addiction sometimes is so difficult for them to grasp the concept of forgiveness because they're thinking, I have done so much harm. I've done so many bad things. How is it possible that somebody can really forgive me? You know, and that's something that we push a lot here at House of Freedom because that's one of the steps that also has to occur.

There has to be an acceptance of forgiveness. And the funny thing is that forgiveness, in a sense, is free, right? Because, you know, you can't pay a price for that, right? And you sort of have to accept that forgiveness and embrace it. And, you know, and that's sort of like a step where the person starts to love themselves, which is really, really necessary, right? In order for someone to take care of their body and to love others and just to be a better human person.

So again, you know, in my perspective, in my experience, forgiveness, it's a powerful tool that has to occur for that healing to occur and for that person to really embrace their new lifestyle and really forget about the things they did in the past so important um and then step five is know your type because clearly all addicts are not the same. All people struggle. Some of them are impulsive. Some of them are compulsive.

Some of them are sad. Some of them are anxious. Some of them are all of those things. Some of them are temporal lobe and that they had a head injury. And this one-size-fits- all treatment plan is stupid it just it's like one size fits all for fever or one size fits all for chest pain and targeting the treatment to their brain and if you can't get a scan that's why we have our questionnaires for our brain health coaches. You know, that's we use those questionnaires in our office and they're not nearly as good as a scam, but they're better than nothing. And it helps us get to the right category of help quickly. When we come back, we're going to talk about locking up the craving

dragon and how you help people manage their cravings. Stay with us. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe. So you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast. If you're interested in coming to Amen Clinics, use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com. For more information, give us a call at 855-978-1363.