Change Your Brain Every Day - How to Turn Post-Traumatic Stress into Post-Traumatic Growth

Episode Date: January 4, 2018

When it comes to victims of trauma, there tends to be a bell curve-shaped pattern of response. On one end of the spectrum are those that suffer severe post-traumatic stress, but on the other end are those that use the trauma as an opportunity for meaningful growth. In this episode, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen weigh in on this phenomenon and provide tips.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the 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 nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Welcome back. So we just finished talking about post-traumatic stress disorder. Now we're going to talk about post-traumatic growth. So I gave five talks last week at the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference. And while I was there, I attended a lot of other lectures and went to a lecture by Marty Seligman, who is what most people think of as the father of positive psychology.

Interesting. And he worked a lot with the military. And he said, you have to think of PTSD on a bell shaped curve. That people toward one end, you know, maybe 10% of people that experience traumatic events end up with post-traumatic stress disorder, so really have significant psychological problems. And then there's most people, but people don't talk about what happens on the other end of the bell-shaped curve, that it's actually post-traumatic growth. So I love that idea. That these are people, because of the trauma, have used it in a way to make their lives significantly better. And I actually think of that with you, that you grew up in a very chaotic, traumatic situation.

And yes, it had a negative fallout for you. But you have spent so much of your life helping people who have suffered that you're really a better person and the world is better because of what you experienced. Oh, thank you. Well, I actually love the concept of that there's this idea or possibility that you can grow and become better after trauma because the idea of being a victim to me, I've said this in other podcasts, it's repulsive. Like I just, I don't like it. It's scary to me. And when I get scared, I'm not that nice. So it's this idea that you can do something and you often make fun of me and you tease me because I, you know, I still practice karate and I love it. It's my favorite

thing. Like, you know, learning how to sort of stay strong and that fighting mentality and also going on survival weekends with my daughter. You know, but it's a mindset. It's not just because I'm crazy. It's because it's, don't look at me like that. It's because it's a mindset. No, you qualified it. It's not just because you're crazy. You're not even qualified. No, it's a mindset. For me, it is I'm doing something empowering. Does that make sense? So I love this idea that I'm doing something empowering. And so do I need to? I live in Newport.

Probably not. But it's, you know, I like it. So it makes me feel secure. And so it makes me feel safer. I like it. So it makes me feel secure. And so it makes me feel safer. I like it. And it's learning something new. So it's taking the bad thing that happened and turning it into a skill. Right.

Or a set of skills that not only help you but help other people. Right. I love it. So we ended the last podcast that we did on PTSD with the story of Denny. And I just want to open it with his actual testimonial because I sort of did an overview. This is what he said. He came and got scanned and he said, it's only been a week and I can already feel a difference. Since the scan, I've increased my

activity level, fitness. I've modified my diet. And most importantly, I've maintained for a week the vitamin regimen. I feel sharper in my responses and I'm more active in my everyday activities. I feel less pain. We talked about that also in a previous one, less pain from inflammation as well. It's been a much needed redirect. I'm very thankful for the support. And then he goes on to say, I'm doing great. My energy level and attention span has increased, allowing me to focus more. As a result, I've been more active and outdoors every day. Since I started adjusting my habits, it seems I've gotten more happy and positive. I really want for my brain to have an improvement that can be visible on my scan. That motivation is what's gotten me back to normal.

So he's a little competitive. He's a Marine, right? So he's a little competitive. So, but it was only a week and he like, once he could see, and you know, his response was so cool when he was here. He's like, I knew, I knew, I knew it. He's like, I just knew there was something not right. I knew that there was something missing.

And being able to see it made a difference for him. It got him, like, motivated to do the right thing. And you did, on your page, didn't you do a live chat? It's on your page? Yeah. And what I want to do, though, is have something more in-depth. I want to have him on as a guest on our podcast where we can go more in depth. So.

All right. So who develops post-traumatic stress disorder versus post-traumatic growth? Right. And my goodness, it's 1982. And I don't know that you know this. I was an intern at Walter Reed. And there was a writing contest with the Baltimore DC Institute for Psychoanalysis. And when psychoanalysis was still big.

And so I entered the contest and I wrote an essay called Post-Vietnam Stress Disorder, a metaphor for current and past life events. And what I argued is the people who come out of war with PTSD often went into war with stress and with trauma. And now what I would say is they often went in with vulnerable brains. That's fascinating. So people can experience the same thing, but if they had more brain reserve or if they had more purpose even going in, they didn't feel as vulnerable or they didn't have as deal with whatever stress comes your way. And when you're born, if your mom was good to you when she was having you, and even before, and that's a big if. Because a lot of people, you go, well, did you drink when you were pregnant with her?

They'll go, oh, no, as soon as I found out, I stopped. But those first two months are critical but the first two months and often if you're drinking or using drugs you don't discover it for six or eight weeks and when does the brain start forming week three and so there are a lot of people who have less reserve well and 50 years ago they think, you know, a little bit of alcohol and smoking was that bad. That's right. My mom smoked. Mine did too. Which was not a good thing. And, you know, and I'm not bitter. It's just, she just didn't know. And so brain reserve is the extra tissue you have to deal with whatever stress comes your way. And so if your mom was good to herself and good to you when she was pregnant with you,

if you were fed well, if they didn't let you play contact sports, if you didn't think of alcohol as a health food, I mean, all of these things can steal your reserve because you have to ask yourself. Put two people in a tank. Expose them to the same blast at the same angle, the same force. One of them walks away unharmed. The other one's permanently disabled. Why? And it has to do with the level of brain function they actually brought into the accident.

And it's not just brain function. It's the four circles. It's the level of health within the four circles that determines who grows from that experience and who suffers. And one of my best examples, I love this child. His name is Chris. He's 12. Oh, this is a good story. He wasn't 12.

He was 16. 16, yeah. Yeah. And he was born without a left jaw. It's an amazing story. And it's called Golden Harse, H horse h-a-r-s-e syndrome and I saw him because he started having panic attacks and well why are you having panic attacks in order to fix his face he had had 20 surgeries 20 reconstructive

surgeries and on the last one they had problems with the intubation and he started hyperventilating. And now whenever he thought of a new surgery, he would hyperventilate. And so they brought him to see me. One session of hypnosis fixed the anxiety. It was really awesome. But I kept seeing him because I had never met a healthier human being in my life. That's amazing. His face looks like a railroad yard. And straight A's in school. He's got a girlfriend.

He's president of his class. He's optimistic. I love that. He has goals. You should make a movie about that. I have to understand why is he that way. And he was that way because his mom never let his disability be an excuse for him. First of all, I hate that word. Not to do his homework, not to take out the trash, not to be kind and nice to people. So his mother was massively important. And plus, he was an optimist.

His glass was always half full rather than half empty. He said, well, I don't have cancer. I don't have anything that's going to kill me. Yes, I look different, but I think I look pretty good. It's like you. You're like that. You're so funny. I look different, but I'm I look pretty good. It's like you. You're like that. You're so funny. I look different, but I'm cool.

I got you. So, I mean, I'm like, there's no discussion. If I'm not good looking enough. That's a great story. And, you know, the word disability has always bothered me a little bit. It's like a challenge. It's like, why is that a disability? It just bothers me that we do that in society.

I mean, we do it because we need something to say. We have to have a label somehow. So there's psychological traits of post-traumatic growth. And optimism is one. Now not blind optimism, but optimism is really important. Your attitude and gratitude and appreciation and counting your blessings versus counting your curses, really important to how you feel. And then there are social influences to post-traumatic growth. His mom, I mean, hugely supportive, but also she's not taking any grief from him. She expects him to perform

at a high level way. And there are spiritual influences. I am here for a reason that his life had meaning and purpose. That's awesome. That's a great story. And I think for you, you have post-traumatic growth. Why do you think so? My mom. If I had to narrow it, I mean, I think there's a lot of reasons. I think if I had a good enough brain that I decided to marry you, so that's one. So there's some biology. Yeah, probably. But I mean, I think, you know, I think part of it is maybe there's something hardwired. I'm not 100% sure. But I do know that my mom is a fighter. I mean, she's a fighter.

Because I know there are just people in my family who didn't end up sort of the same way, even though they share my genes. Because they grew up in an environment with parents who weren't. They gave up. They had more of a victim mentality. They were self-de... And that's never you. No.

You are not a victim. And you're a learner. Right. You love learning. Love to learn. Yeah. But that was my mom. One of the reasons I fell in love with you

is that you're curious and you explore and you seek answers. But my mom was successful. She defied all of the odds. She was a 16-year-old runaway. She didn't finish high school and she's wildly successful. It wasn't easy. And she has post-traumatic growth too. Right. And I think that that's a big part of it. I was close to my mom. And you've always had a sense of meaning and purpose that life just isn't

about you, that you're here on the planet to do something good for a lot of people. Right. Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and and The Brain Warrior's Way Cookbook we give away every month.