Change Your Brain Every Day - What Does an “Evil” Brain Pattern Look Like on a SPECT Scan?

Episode Date: November 29, 2018

After scanning the brains of criminals who have committed atrocious crimes, Dr. Daniel Amen has found that there are interesting patterns of brain activity amongst these disturbed individuals. In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Amen and his wife Tana discuss what was found during these scans, and what that might mean for the mental health community.

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. We're so happy you are with us. We're continuing to talk about the X factor. And before we get back to the lessons from imaging, this is from Food Equals Treatment from the United States. There seems to be a lot of confusion among experts on what you should eat. This podcast was really simple and easy to understand.

I'm also reading Memory Rescue, which is a great book by Dr. Amen. Thank you so much for saying that. Bless you. As we talk about our series on feel better fast and make it last, the X of BrainXL is the X factor. You know, if you're not feeling better fast by doing the simple things that we talked about, somebody should look at your brain. And lesson number four is if what you're doing isn't working, you should look. And I tell the story of a case of a guy that had panic disorder, all of a sudden came out of nowhere and he tried Xanax and it didn't work.

He tried Prozac, became suicidal. And this was a highly, highly successful person. And when we looked at his brain, it was very clear he had a brain injury. Right. And it's like, so when did you have a brain injury? And he said, I never did. And I'm like, well, are you sure? Have you ever? We've talked about that on the podcast a lot. And two weeks before he had his panic attack, he had a mountain biking accident in the Santa Monica Mountains and damaged the left front side of his brain. And the idea was take him off the psych meds, put him on treatments to rehabilitate his

brain. And he just did remarkably better. So if you don't look, you don't know. The next lesson was looking at the brain improves outcomes and people get better faster. Looking at the brain, this is lesson number six, completely changes the discussion about good and evil. And this just creates the discussion in our house. It's just good and evil. A lot of tension. The redhead in my life loves to, you know,

well, people are bad. No, no, no, you don't get to know. It's not black and white, but I absolutely. No, no, no. You don't get to, no. It's not black and white. But I absolutely-

Ah, it's not black and white. Notice that she said, it is not black and white. The discussion is not black and white. But there is definitely evil and people still must pay for their actions. So there's responsibility. Absolutely there is responsibility. And the responsibility must match the crime. Sorry. So I said it. So the responsibility must match the crime. Sorry.

So I said it. So I was in a death penalty. But that does not mean where this work has changed, softened my heart, is that I do agree. It's hard to soften steel. It is, yes. Because I've often said I was the judge, jury, and the executioner. Okay. I admit it. I said it. Not a nice thing the judge, jury, and the executioner. Okay. I admit it.

I said it. Not a nice thing to say, but it's the truth. I just married a prettier version of my father. Especially where children are concerned. Any crimes against children, I just had zero. Zero. Yeah, there's no room. But where the discussion comes in is that when you do know that someone has a really bad brain,

they still have to pay for the crime, I'm sorry. But at the same time, when you see that they do have trouble, now this is where the system is completely broken. Because we leave no, there is no room for someone to be at all rehabilitated. Not at all. No, I don't think they should get out at all. Never, never going to happen. All right.

We're not doing this in a straight line. Okay. I'm just saying. I know. So the idea in this part of the lesson, the lesson I learned, like I had no opinion on the death penalty until 1991 when I started looking at people's brains.

You know, growing up Catholic, the Catholic church was against it. But I really didn at people's brains. You know, growing up Catholic, the Catholic Church was against it. But I really didn't think about it. But when we started looking at the brain, attorneys began to send people to us and go, why did this person do this awful thing? And out of the 100 murderers I've scanned, about 95 of them have really terrible looking brains. But that means five of them don't. And there are a lot of people who have terrible looking brains that never do anything bad.

Right. See, this is where it gets complicated. But is it really the sign of an evolved society to kill sick people? Okay, but you have to let me respond. If you're going to say that, you need to let me respond. Let me finish. You don't get to make that comment without letting me respond. This is not a debate. It is.

You don't get to comment and not let me respond. You married a redhead in your words. So I was... Still going to respond. In a death penalty case where I testified. And this guy was terrible. He killed four people in 11 days while he did a methamphetamine run. And it was planned. It was purposeful. And his brain was devastated. And when you understand the story of his life, so I'm on the witness stand, and George was the prosecutor, and he didn't like me because I'm giving the jury a reason to have mercy. Now, just because you have a bad brain doesn't mean you

didn't do it, doesn't mean you didn't plan to do it, and doesn't mean you're not responsible for it. And so I talked to the jury about his very damaged brain, and the prosecutor, sort of like you, was irritated with me. And he said, Dr. Eamon, I understand you grew up Catholic. I'm like, yes, sir. He said, well, as a Catholic, don't you believe in evil? And I stopped and I thought about it. And then I looked at the jury and I said, yes, sir, I do believe in evil. But I'd never call anybody evil unless I could scan them first. And the jury laughed and George turned red and he was mad at me. And behavior is complicated.

And you're kicking me. And I'm still going kicking me to the comment about it's not a sign of an evolved society but we still need to protect the innocent we need to protect them the laws are there for a reason and we can't but it doesn't mean i would advocate for lewis to go home right absolutely but hold on but that's sometimes and, and this is where it gets murky. We have to be careful. Okay. Because what ends up happening is the way the system is designed, oftentimes in order for them to protect people who are, if you try to start saying that they are sick and

not, they begin to point fingers at the victims or they make the victims feel like they are the criminals and the criminals like the victims. But the victims. We need to protect the victims. We need to protect the victims. But the fact is most people who go to jail go home. Right. And so we should also be rehabilitating them. But we're not.

So that when they go home, there's a better chance. No, you and I agree on that. That they can take care of their families. We agree on that. Have jobs. That doesn't happen now. Pay taxes. Doesn't happen yet.

So I always think of this as a very conservative idea. So if someone hurt my daughter and they got out, whether it was on this argument or not, I would be waiting for them when they got out. Just, it's on film. Just say it. So I actually, and you can read the book to learn more lessons from imaging. But what I did is we sent an email out to our patients and we said, what were the big lessons you learned from imaging?

And I just want to read you a couple. One, prior to having my scan, I was misdiagnosed and then mistreated. After having my scans, I have a new life. Yes. So I love that part. I learned as an adult that I still have lasting brain effects from heart surgery I had as an infant. Yes. It helped explain many of my struggles and gave me direction on how to get help. Yep.

If I didn't see the damage to my brain, I wouldn't have taken actions needed to make it better. The first scan helped me realize I wasn't crazy. It made total sense. I had focus and anxiety issues, but I had never admitted them to myself. The second scan three months later verified that the supplements and dietary changes had calmed my brain dramatically, which is why I was feeling so much better. Another one, I had no idea how I was hurting my brain and my future with the alcohol. That's a good one. So I want to add one to that.

Last one, your brain wants to heal itself and given the right conditions, it can. So I want to add one to that. One way that it has changed the way I think and where this discussion actually I think is most effective is I think that the big part of the mission for me is in prevention. So this has the ability to help people get treatment before they do these really awful things. Once the awful things are done, you and I are always going to have this discussion. Sorry. I don't think anybody should go home. Hold on.

It's not the point. Right. The point is, the point is you and I are always going to have disagreements on that. Where we will never disagree is that it has the ability, it has the potential and the power to prevent some of these awful things. And that is for me, the huge, that's where it's huge. That's where we need to be really pushing on getting people the proper treatment. Because there are signs, these horrible crimes that have been happening, right, with these shootings,

in almost every single one of them, there were signs. People knew. They were getting treatment, but they were getting the wrong treatment. You know, the one in Aurora, Colorado, his psychiatrist fired him. It's not like he wasn't trying to get help. That's what's not fair. It's because we are working on the wrong paradigm. Right, and that's what's not fair. It's because we are working on the wrong paradigm. Right. And that is what is not fair. The paradigm is this is mental health,

which implies, you know, snap out of it. And that's, but that's where it's not fair. It's brain health. Right. Stay with us. Use the code podcast10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or on our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. 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 the Brain Warriors Way cookbook we give away every month.