Change Your Brain Every Day - Low Moods, Dark Thoughts? Why Your Brain Needs More Than a Pill

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Feeling stuck in low moods, negativity, or the never-ending “blahs”? It’s not just in your head—it’s in your brain. Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen expose the hidden biological, psychological, social, and spiritual mood stealers that quietly hijack your happiness. Tana opens up about how a cancer diagnosis—and the wrong antidepressant—sent her spiraling into darkness, and the life-saving strategies that helped her fight her way back. Plus, find out how an everyday spice—saffron—could work as well as antidepressant medication, backed by decades of research. 00:00 Intro 00:57 Mood is a Brain Function 02:45 Your Physical Brain Function Affects Your Mood 05:48 The Physical Causes of Mood Disorders 09:00 Taking the Wrong Medication 11:50 Psychological/Social/Spiritual Factors 13:46 Mood Robbers 17:49 Sponsor 18:30 Mood Enhancing Fakers 24:53 Saffron 31:53 TMG/SAMe 35:16 Wrap Up https://brainmd.com  

So it started when I was 23 and I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. And treatment for thyroid cancer back then is different than it is now. But I went through two surgeries, two radioactive iodine treatments, and they took me off of all my thyroid medication. Back then, that's what they did in order to give you the testing and the treatments that you needed. And that eight weeks of being off my thyroid medication, no one explained to me that, oh, I wouldn't die, but I'd wish I was dead.

So no one told me that part. They didn't tell me that I was gonna have no energy, I would be, I could get really depressed. It was really awful. I couldn't climb out of my own skin. It's not like anything you can explain, and it's just the darkest place you can be. Every day, you are making your brain better

or you are making it worse. Stay with us to learn how you can change your brain for the better every day. Welcome to the Change Your Brain Every Day podcast. Today we're gonna talk about the war for your mood. And mood matters. What steals your mood, what fakes your mood up, but then brings you down and how to truly fix it.

I know a lot about this topic. So very excited to talk about it and share. So your mood isn't just a feeling, it's a brain function. And when your brain works right, you work right. And when it doesn't, your emotions can spiral. And so many people are struggling when they don't have to. And there's like a whole list of mood disorders from major depression to dysthymia, which is sort of like a chronic low level sadness, irritability, bipolar disorder, and hedonia,

which just means you don't get pleasure out of things that usually give you pleasure, apathy. And like you said, you know a lot about it. And there's so many things that can cause it. When we talk about this, we talk about it in four circles, the biological, so what's happening with your body physically, the psychological, what's going on in your mind, the social, what's going on with you socially,

who are you hanging out with, where are you spending your time, and the spiritual, and all of it matters. But the physical part of this can be so complicated. I really wanna talk about that because sometimes people think that their mood is entirely related to willpower or they're needing to snap out of it. And it's a lot more than that.

So let's talk about it. I actually love that you framed it in four circles is that's how we always think. But we always think that way because it's the most effective way to think. And too often you go to your family doctor and you go, I'm sad or my mood's bad. And the first thing they do is give you a prescription for an SSRI. So tell your story and then we'll go through with the four circles. So, it started when I was 23 and I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and treatment for thyroid cancer back then is different than it is now. But I went through two surgeries, two radioactive iodine treatments and they took me off of

all my thyroid medication back then. That's what they did in order to give you the testing and the treatments that you needed. And that eight weeks of being off my thyroid medication, no one explained to me that, oh, I wouldn't die, but I'd wish I was dead. So no one told me that part. They didn't tell me that I was gonna have no energy. I would be, I could get really depressed.

It was really awful. And so I started to get really depressed, which I didn't really know what was happening. I thought it was all my fault. I thought it was just this lack of willpower, if you will. And when I went to the doctor, he's like, well, maybe you need to go see a psychiatrist. And I went and saw a psychiatrist and he put me on Prozac right away and it was literally almost ruined my life. So, but the part that I want to highlight is- I want to hear the part. I know. I actually wrote a book about it. That's how bad

it was. I wrote a book about it. So if someone- The relentless courage of a scared child. Yeah. And if someone puts you on the wrong medications for you, it can be a disaster. If it's the right medication, it can be a miracle, but if it's the wrong one, it can be a disaster. But the part I wanna highlight is that time in my life was so awful, I couldn't climb out of my own skin. And if you haven't experienced this, I really encourage people who are dealing with someone in their life that's going through this

to have some empathy and some patience because it's not like anything you can explain and it's just the darkest place you can be. And it's a feeling like you just can't rip your own skin off to get away from it. It's pretty awful. And it turned out a lot of it was the thyroid. Yes, a lot of it was psychological and emotional because my whole world got flipped upside down

because everything came to a screeching halt at 23 years old and I was like for the first time in my life had to think about things in a different way I wasn't invincible you know my social circle got turned upside down my spiritual circle definitely did so all of it mattered. So thyroid is absolutely critical to a healthy mood. It's critical to every function in your body. And we have this acronym that we talk about a lot on the program called bright minds. You want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it. If it's headed for trouble,

you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors. And the acronym is bright minds and all of them are involved in depression, right? Low blood flow, commonly associated with depression. And that's why they do TMS with people, transcranial magnetic stimulation, because it increases blood flow to the left front side of the brain. Retirement and aging, the older you get,

the less blood flow, more likely to have issues with depression. The eye is inflammation, which many psychiatrists now thinks a major cause of which makes sense. Depression genetics. Well, you have it in your family, right? So that makes you more vulnerable to it. On your dad's side, your dad was depressed, his mother was depressed. To clearly have evidence of it in your family.

Head trauma. I remember when I scanned you and I'm like, oh, you had a head trauma. You go, no, I didn't. And except your sister fell asleep going 75 miles an hour, flipped the car three times. Yeah, you had head trauma. And I thought because I didn't lose consciousness that the car three times. Yeah, your head had trauma. And I thought because I didn't lose consciousness

that it didn't count. Yeah, but that doesn't matter. Right. Tea is toxins, so environmental toxins, heavy metals, alcohol, all associated with. And that's complicated because if you have the mutation, the genetic mutation for the MTHFR gene, you don't detox correctly. Like you need help detoxing.

Right. So that would be in the G. That can actually increase your risk of depression. Right. And then the M in bright minds, mental health issues. You clearly had trauma growing up on our A score, which we've talked about, adverse childhood experiences, your eight out of 10. The second I is immunity and infections. And now we know with COVID and Lyme, they're major causes of depression and then N, neurohormone disorders that, you know, was sort of the star of the show for you. Well, and then you think about, you know, women at different life stages, postpartum depression, menopause, PMS, it's just, it's complicated.

Our bodies are complicated and we are at high risk. And then D is diabetes. If you're overweight or have high blood sugar, if your grandmother had diabetes, makes you more risk for depression. S is sleep, if you're not sleeping right. And so knowing which of those risk factors you have, it's just so important to just stop going,

oh, I'm a bad person, or I have low willpower, because you couldn't control it, even though you desperately wanted to control it. And you went to a psychiatrist for help, but because your frontal lobes tend to be sleepy, what Prozac does and all the SSRIs is it calms down your brain. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which means it just calms things down. But if you start low and it calms them down further, it can disinhibit you. And then all of a sudden you make decisions that you normally wouldn't make. And then now, not your case, but people could end up pregnant when they don't want to be. They could end up

in compromising situations where they didn't want to. Oh, it was, it was a crazy, it was crazy. And I remember taking myself off of it because I'm like, this isn't normal. I'm not acting normal. And I didn't have the same feeling about it. But the flip side of that is the correct medication can do the opposite, right? It can help you sometimes get through. It can help balance it. But if you don't look, you don't know. If you don't look, you don't know, which became sort of the theme of my life since 1991 when we started doing brain-spect imaging here. And when I looked at your brain, I'm like...

That was the aha moment for me because you didn't even know that about me. We were just we just started dating. And you saw my scan and you're like, Well, I hope you said don't let don't ever let anyone put you on Prozac. That's what was your comment. I was like, Why? Because I just I didn't realize that that I knew something wasn't right. But I was like, Why that period of my life did I just do stupid things like crazy things? I mean, it was book worthy. I wrote a book about it. But but like, why did that happen? And yeah, I'm like, you didn't know. But you said, because that's the wrong drug for you. It drops your frontal lobes and can disinhibit you. And I'm like, ding, ding, ding. Like, it just

made sense to me. I didn't realize where Where at the time, getting you back on thyroid would have been the first logical thing. And then a medicine like Wellbutrin or a supplement like SAMI plus trimethylglycine or betaine, that would be the right thing for your brain because it's more stimulating rather than more common. If someone had given me hope and said, give it two months when we get your thyroid stabilized,

I would have been like, oh, there's light at the end of the tunnel, but I had no idea. Right. And the doctor only had one hammer, so assumed everything would respond to Prozac, which obviously it doesn't. So we look at the biological causes, think bright minds.

There are also psychological causes. On a scale of zero to 10, you have an eight when it comes to adverse childhood experiences. And quite a few ants, the automatic negative thoughts that steal your happiness. And socially, your whole life got turned upside down from, you know, going in one fun direction to all of a sudden now you're a cancer patient. Well, and you know, when something like that happens, I had to quit my job and my friends, you know, I wasn't hanging out with those friends anymore.

And I had to drop out of school for that period. And that's really rough for people. So whatever it is you're going through, I think we underestimate how much those types of things can affect our lives when you're social circle. And also spiritually. Yeah. In fact, going back to church

was one of the most helpful things. It was, because I remember at that point when I was really depressed, I wasn't suicidal. I never had the thought I'm going to kill myself, but I did have the thought I wish I would die. And it was pretty close. I mean, it was like, it was a fine line. And I'm like, I'm wasting oxygen on the planet.

It was really awful. And it was such a dark time. And someone tried to talk to me about God back then. And I was like, if there's a God, he doesn't love me. And I just remember that thought. It was such a hopeless feeling. Wasn't true, but it was a hopeless feeling. And yeah, it was dark.

But then a friend took you to church, right? And it was for me, that's, it was, purposeful people live 11 years longer. and a friend took you to church, right? And it was for me, that's, it was, purposeful people live 11 years longer. People who believe in something beyond themselves do better in life, they heal faster, they get better, they do more for other people. And it's just a really important thing. I think having spiritual, deep spiritual ties is critical.

I mean, for me, for more than just that reason, but it's important. So let's talk about what robs your mood and steals your joy. So if we think of mood robbers as lifestyle, environmental, or relational triggers that make things worse. So one, if your hormones aren't right.

And so anybody with a mood disorder should have their hormones checked. And for females who are ovulating, should check them around day 19 to 21 of your cycle, just so you know what's normal about that time. I think going through all the bright mind things, all of them can rob your mood from low blood flow because you're sedentary and having too much caffeine or nicotine, alcohol or marijuana.

I mean, I have to say it, right? As those things in society have gone up, so has depression has gone up. Blood sugar crashes. Clearly, if you are sensitive, do you remember Chloe when she was little and she'd take a nap in the car? And so she'd gone a while without eating when she woke up, she'd start screaming at me. She was so sweet. And then she would like to have this little demon in her. Like it was the craziest thing. And then as soon as she would eat she'd be sweet again.

And that's how we sort of figured out she was going too long without eating. Yeah. Both of us get pretty hangry. Yeah, I try to keep food with me just in case you bite me. I'm like, Oh, I wonder if she's hungry. Or I wonder if I deserve to be bitten. I usually will let you know. Social media scrolling it steals your dopamine and there's a term I learned this week I like called dopamine

discipline. It's like let's drip dopamine let's not dump it. And social media can dump it. News doom loops. People who start the day with the news are 27% less happy in the afternoon. And if for some reason I have it on in the morning, you're like, turn it off. Yeah, it's because I'm very susceptible to it. Not everybody is as susceptible, but the minute it starts, it just, I'm very susceptible to it. Not everybody is as susceptible, but the minute it starts it just I Feel myself just getting irritated and it just yeah Well, they do it purposefully and I know they do so I don't want to get my news from that source

Toxins clearly can damage your mood. I was been listening to the Old Testament and they actually talk about mold poisoning in the book of Deuteronomy. I thought it was so interesting. Even then, they knew that mold could damage your brain and then damage your mood. Alcohol, heavy metals, and a lot of people don't test for heavy metals, but things like lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminum can have a negative impact on your brain, which means they then have a negative impact on how you feel.

And then unresolved trauma, especially rage. And so often people can't sort of get to the anger that they've been holding inside since childhood. This was so, so important. That's why I Rage Journal. It's so important. Rage journaling is like life changing. I have a book coming out at the end of the year on pain and the research on repressed emotions

is fascinating. So it's one of the things I loved about practicing martial arts was because it was such a great release when you hit big padded guys like over and over again it's just like the best therapy but when I wasn't able to do that when I hurt my back I started to feel more pain and then when I learned how to rage journal, it really helped. Your brain is your most valuable asset. It controls everything from your focus and memory to your mood and energy.

That's why I created BrainMD, to give you science back supplements that support your brain so you can feel and perform your best every day. If you haven't tried them yet, go to BrainMD.com and use the code PODCAST20 for 20% off. Because when your brain works better, you work better. So what give you false promises? These we call mood enhancing fakers.

So what do you turn to for emotional relief that often backfires? Sugar. And do you know why people do sugar or simple carbohydrates like bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice, sugar? Because a sugar burst and when you eat a piece of bread, it turns to sugar faster than table sugar. People have a religious attachment to bread. Whenever I tell them that they get very angry. It boosts serotonin. So it actually causes an insulin spike, which drives tryptophan, the amino acid precursor to serotonin into your brain. And you just feel better.

And so when people cut out bread, they're like, well, when can I have it back? Oh no, and if I like the number of times I have heard, but Jesus ate bread, like he didn't eat the kind of bread we eat today. And he turned the water into wine. So we need to address diet when we're talking about this. We know that, you know, if we give kids the wrong foods,

they don't focus in school, but it also affects their mood. It's not just focus. So diet matters because it increases things like your inflammation, which we just got done talking about. It influences things like your blood sugar, which we just got done talking about, which influences your mood. So it really is the cornerstone and where people should really start when it comes to

those things. And it really is interesting because not everyone is the cornerstone and where people should really start when it comes to those things. And it really is interesting because not everyone is the same. So that's why I wrote some of the books that I wrote on nutrition and on with all the recipes because like for me, a low glycemic, low carb or low simple carb diet really, really is life changing. Balances my blood sugar, my energy like not only goes up, but then stays stable. simple carb diet really, really is life-changing. Balances my blood sugar, my energy, like not only goes up, but then stays stable. I don't have those dips during the day.

And it's pretty incredible. Like everything is better. My blood sugar, everything, focus, mood, all of it. But my daughter, if she goes on a low carb diet, she's the opposite, right? So it's- She gets mean. Right.

So she needs like really healthy carbs, not the simple carbs that quickly turn to sugar, but doing like a high protein, high fat diet for her doesn't work. It makes her irritable, anxious, her brain starts to spin. But the point is overall, what's really important is getting rid of the processed food and the sugar and making sure that you're eating a diet high in nutrients so that you do those things like balancing your blood sugar and your inflammation, getting inflammation down. So like you said, it needs to be personalized. And what I like to do for my patients who are struggling is put them on an elimination diet for a month. No gluten, dairy, corn, soy, artificial dyes,

and sweeteners, and limit sugar. You can't believe the number of people that when they do that, they feel radically better. I had this one patient, Jeff, and he had ECT, electroconvulsive therapy, three times. He'd been on 30 medications and his brain was clearly not healthy. And I'm like, let's try an elimination diet if you're up for it, because not everybody's up for it. And he's like, well, nothing else has worked.

And within three weeks, literally felt dramatically better. And I'm like, so let's add things back, but one at a time. Let's add back gluten. Nothing happened. Let's add back dairy. Nothing happened. Let's add back dairy. Nothing happened. Still felt great. Let's add back corn. He said within 20 minutes, he had a vision of putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

Isn't that crazy? He's like, it's the corn. And so he had to break up with corn. Now, he loved popcorn and corn tortillas, but they didn't love him. And that's the secret. Only love things or people that love you back. That's going to be hard for people who have been in abusive relationships for a long time, who tolerate it. It's about learning how to. When I lecture, I always go, how many of you have been in a bad relationship? And I raised my hand, because I certainly have.

And I'm like, but I'm not doing that anymore. I'm married to my best friend. I said, and I'm damn sure not doing it with food. If there's something I love, rocky road ice cream, brownies, chocolate sundaes, love them. They hate me. They make me fat, depressed and feeble minded. So no, we're breaking up. Right. Because I'd love myself. Yeah, it makes me want to go back to teaching the classes that I used to teach. Just the stories were so good at it. Well, the stories were incredible. You're so good at it. Well, the stories were incredible and it was based on this.

That's what the OmniDiet was based on was really eliminating those things. So we talked about biological. Psychologically, I think one of the most effective things for you was getting the trauma out of your head. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Right. So doing EMDR and then the work of Byron Katie, learning how to not

believe every stupid thing you thought. Meditation, prayer, positivity, bias, training. Yeah. I think all of that's critical socially, being in a relationship that works for you. Well, on boundaries, when it comes to the social circle, having those healthy relationships like you and my family and the people that are really positive and healthy, but that wasn't enough. It was having boundaries with the ones that weren't. And that was critical for me. And then spiritually, believing that we're not here by random chance, that we're here for a purpose and every day we can make the world a little bit better.

So I want to talk about happy saffron. And the reason I want to talk about happy saffron is it's just been pivotal for so many of my patients and for myself. And as I, when I started scanning people in 1991, I realized some of the medications I was taught to prescribe were not great for the brain, especially benzos. And I remember in medical school at Oral Roberts University, our professors used to hammer us, first do no harm, don't hurt people, use the least toxic, most effective treatment. And so after I started looking at the brain, I started studying and things like St. John's

Wort, 29 randomized controlled studies showing that was very effective for mood, except St. John's Wort has problems with it, can decrease the effectiveness of some medicine. Omega-3 fatty acids very effective to help with mood and then around 2000 I learned about saffron and what caught my attention and you're gonna laugh when I say this you're gonna like of course what caught my attention with saffron not only did it help mood it improved sexual sexual function. And I'm like, what? Because so many of the SSRIs, I had ruined so many people's sex lives with SSRIs. I hated that for them. That if I had something that helped your mood and enhanced your sex life. Well, why wouldn't I use that first?

So, I want to show you the slide deck that I use with my patients. So, those of you that are listening, I'll narrate it, but try to watch it on YouTube as well. So So this is the scientific substantiation for happy saffron and in happy saffron plus, it has three things. It has aphron, which is an extract of saffron that's highly concentrated, Long Vita curcumin from turmeric and zinc. And the research on curcumin just for depression is actually very good. There are randomized controlled trials showing it's effective. An effective treatment for major depression. It's an effective add-on treatment when they add it to antidepressants in the dose we have and happy saffron plus.

There are also multiple studies with zinc and it's especially effective if you have low levels of zinc. And I list six studies, but saffron it's just a superstar. There are now five studies for ADHD and actually some comparing it head to head with Ritalin showing that it's equally effective for focus and kids. There's five studies now for Alzheimer's disease head-to-head against Aricept showing it helps improve memory. There's studies for anxiety. There's one with MS, multiple sclerosis,

how it improves anxiety and lowers C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation. There's a study for anxiety, depression in women with breast cancer. There's another study on pain, arthritis and fibromyalgia significantly improved the Hamilton depression rating scale, but also decrease the number of tender and swollen joints, pain intensity, and disease activity. There's a study for asthma, another one for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But if you look at the studies for depression, there are a lot of them from 2004 all the way up through

2025. Amazing comparing it to Prozac and Zoloft, Selexa, Wilbutrin, basically showing equal efficacy but with a better side effect profile. Research has also shown it helps for mood, well-being and healthy people. I think I started it February of 2020. So BrainMD launched Happy Saffron February of 2020. So BrainMD launched Happy Saffron February of 2020. Well, what happened March 10th, 2020? It's like the whole world shut down. I had a brand new book, The End of Mental Illness. I was getting ready to go to New York and be on a national television show. And they're like, don't come, we're closing New York. And it was a very hard time,

but I think I managed the pandemic so well, in part because I had you, in part because I generally make good decisions, but I think this was very helpful. In fact, I gave Happy Saffron to Kim, our assistant, and the next day she starts humming. And I'm like, why are you humming? She goes, I don't know, I'm just happy.

Studies on diabetes and metabolic syndrome, studies for eye health, for OCD, PMS, hot flashes and depression in women with PMS. A whole slew of studies on sexual dysfunction for sleep. One study in stroke studies for strength. We're gonna talk about strength in the next podcast. Another one for opiate withdrawal. Another one for traumatic brain injury.

I mean, if you just think of the breadth of research on saffron, it's sort of like why wouldn't you take it? Interesting. No, I know there's, and it's got so many benefits. It's amazing. But I want to talk about two of my favorite products. So it's kind of funny. I actually didn't know that a product called TMG or Betaine

was used for mental health purposes at all or for brain function at all. I had no idea. So I was doing research on how to lower homocysteine. My homocysteine for the first time in my life had started to creep up. And I always say I'm like the healthiest person with health challenges that you've ever met because I work so hard at it. But because I've had cancer

and I've had 10 medical surgeries and thyroid issues, which create metabolic issues, I have to watch things, right? I have to be careful. Right, so I have to be careful. So as my, I've been like, why is my homocysteine like border, like starting to like not be where I want it?

And so I was doing some research and I come across this product TMG and I'm like, oh, that's supposed to really help. And so I didn't even realize BrainMD was in the process of making it at the time for the more mental health reasons or for brain reasons. And so I ordered some and I start taking it without doing enough research, which I don't normally do, but I did this. And all of a sudden I like, two days later, I'm like, I can't sleep at, which I don't normally do, but I did this. And all of a sudden, I like, two days later, I'm like, I can't sleep at night. I didn't know why.

And all of a sudden I'm like, what am I doing differently? Oh, it's that TMG stuff. I wonder if that keeps you awake for some reason. And I start doing more research. I'm like- And then I go, oh, we make that. Yeah, I'm like, what? And you guys had just started making it.

And so it was so crazy because my energy was through the roof, but then I learned, don't take it in the afternoon. You're supposed to take it in the morning. Don't take it past like noon. So, but what is so crazy about TMG, it is a dopamine enhancing, like it enhances dopaminergic things that you do or take.

So like SAMI. So if you take TMG and SAMI, like I didn't know this, like they actually are synergistic or you take TMG and SAMI, like I didn't know this, like they actually are synergistic or you take TMG with other things that like, you have to be careful doing caffeine with it or anything like that, because it's synergistic. So what happens is your energy goes way up, but so does your mood.

And that's not even why I was taking it. I was taking it for inflammation, right? So it decreases inflammation, it increases, elevates your mood, decreases pain, does all these amazing things. And when you take it with SAMe, apparently it's great for mood. Right. So there's actually a couple of studies that show when you add BTane or TMG to SAMe, it makes the SAMe better for depression. Well, and I've, so I the SAMe better for depression.

Well, and I've so I take SAMe also for pain. So there are over 40 studies with acid, denosyl methionine or SAMe that it helps both pain, arthritis and mood. And it's like, so it's so simple. Now, people who have bipolar disorder, you probably should make sure you do this under the supervision of a psychiatrist who's well-trained in supplements because there's some cases where it has flipped people

from depression into a manic state. I've actually never seen it, but I'm always cautious if I think somebody's really bipolar. seen it, but I'm always cautious if I think somebody's really bipolar. But Samy 400 to 1600 milligrams a day can be really helpful. It was pretty wild. It was wild to me because I came across it by accident. So in summary, think of yourself in four circles, biological, psychological, social, spiritual. All of those circles can create depression. And when you have multiple ones working against you at once, you won't just get better with a pill, right?

And then getting better is getting your brain healthy, getting your mind healthy, working on your relationships and knowing why you're on the planet and being purposeful and getting outside yourself every day. And then products to support your mood, Happy Saffron Plus, Sam-E, B-Tain, Omega-3, fatty acids, all of these things can be helpful. So leave us a comment, question, or review. We'd love if you reviewed the podcast. We'd love what you want to hear more of. And if you're interested in Happy Saffron Plus or any of the other products we have mentioned, go to BrainMD.com.