Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - Does Cry It Out Damage A Child's Brain? | Dr. Daniel G. Amen, MD

Starting point is 00:00:00 Is the cry-out sleep method for babies actually hurting their brains? Is it possible to reverse epilepsy? And what can we tell from the brain scans of a couple that fights a lot? These are the topics that I got to sit down and chat about with one of the most influential voices in mental health, Dr. Daniel Aman. He's a psychiatrist, brain scan pioneer, and the founder of the Aeman clinics, and his work has completely changed the way that we understand the brain, and emotional health. We get into everything from parenting and trauma to relationships, memory, anxiety, and even how your diet might be making you more irritable. This is one of those episodes you're going to think about for a long time and probably send to a few people you

Starting point is 00:01:05 care about. Now, I will preface this by saying it is virtual. So we do 99.9% of all of our interviews in person here at my studio in Phoenix, Arizona. But Dr. Aiman is, well, Dr. Aymond. So he was not able to come in person. He did offer us generously to do a virtual, so we took it. So that might be why it sounds just a hair different, although I think the quality is pretty good. So that just is a little preface there so that you kind of understand what you're getting into. If you are new here or you are a longtime cute servitive, please leave a five-star review, tell others why they should start listening to Culture Apothecary more often. We're on a mission to heal us at culture twice a week, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Make sure you join the cute servitist's Facebook group

Starting point is 00:01:50 for more discussion after the show. Please welcome Dr. Amen to culture apothecary. What is the most simple reason we have an epidemic of mentally weak children? Well, I think parents do too much, while at the same time babysit them with devices, give them low-quality food, and put toxic products on their bodies. And ultimately, it's biologically making them vulnerable, their brains vulnerable, psychologically not allowing them to solve their own problems. And nobody really thinks about it from a brain help standpoint, but that's my whole life. Get your brain healthy, your mind will follow.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Get your children's brains healthy. Their minds will follow. Would you advise parents to avoid screens before two years old at all costs? Yes. What have you seen when it comes to screens and brain development in children? They're dopamine destroyers. When the iPhone first came out in 2007, my first grandchild, when he got a hold of the phone, he was like nine months old. That's all he wanted was the phone.

Starting point is 00:03:18 And people didn't know better then. I mean, I did. I was really irritated with my children. Like, take that away from him. And every time I saw him, pop up, phone, pop up, phone. And I'm like, these things are addictive. And they're created that way. And so I think the more you can say no to screen time, the better their brains will develop. Is there a cut off like you should not let any child look at an iPad before this age? I would push it off until they're five or six. That if you're using them as a babysitter, ultimately they're going to be babies longer. Speaking of babysitting, was normalizing daycare for babies one of the biggest mistakes we've made in modern society? It's a really interesting question. I think when other people are watching your children, they're not generally going to be as invested as you are.

Starting point is 00:04:29 Yet our society here in California, where I live, 90% of moms work outside the house just because it's so expensive to live here. And it's like, so what do you do? You try to find the best care for them that is possible. What is your first thought when a mom tells you that her toddler used to scream and cry the entire time at daycare drop off? And then suddenly they're willingly going into the arms of the daycare worker. Well, they're starting to bond with the daycare worker. And so they're less upset. But it's very stressful for children to constantly go from this place to that.

Starting point is 00:05:19 And then if you add divorce in there where they're going to this house, that house, and daycare, you can just see the stress is not great for their development. I think it'll probably be a sign that they're beginning to attach to their other caregivers as well, which I would see as a good sign, not a bad sign. What do you think is the best way to deal with a toddler who's constantly hitting and biting? Well, I'm like a huge fan of rules. It's like I think society has rules. And one of the rules is we treat each other with respect,

Starting point is 00:05:56 which means no hitting, kicking, biting. I think the child's nervous system is just not regulated properly. And so I would be looking at things like, What are they eating? How are they sleeping? What's the level of stress in the house? I would be asking why. But there's also got to be some consequences, simple like time out, whenever they do that because it's important for them to learn not to. How do you feel about the cry-it-out method? So I think when they're really young, you want to go, are they wet? Are they hungry? And if they're not wet and not hungry, I think it's okay to not go rescue them so they can learn how to self-soothe. Now, if it's going on a really long time, for me, I wonder, did they have an ear infection?

Starting point is 00:07:03 Is there something else? If it's just to get your attention, well, you're not going to be able to sleep, which means you're not going to be healthy and ultimately that's worse. So the people who are really anti-cried out method, their claims is that babies are incapable of self-soothing, that it damages the brain to, leave them there to cry. So would you disagree with that? I would. Because babies are capable. And the first night, they may cry for three hours. The next might, it's an hour and a half. And then it's an hour. And then it's half an hour. You have to be careful what you reward. And if you let them cry for three hours and then you go get them. You've just taught them that they need to cry for three hours. It's very important to encourage a child's nervous system to manage it.

Starting point is 00:07:59 What are the best ways a parent can support a child with bipolar disorder? Well, one, make sure that's an accurate diagnosis. We usually don't diagnose it in children. I'm always very suspicious of children being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I wonder a little bit if it's made up by the pharmaceutical industry. I've been a child's psychiatrist for 45 years, and it's a very rare diagnosis. Did they have a concussion? Do they have an infection? What is really the underlying mechanism for bipolar disorder in a child?

Starting point is 00:08:47 Why do you think it might be a overused diagnosis by the pharmaceutical industry? Well, because I've witnessed it. You know, I sort of went through that period of time where, oh, a child is emotionally disregulated, so they must have bipolar disorder. So here, take this antipsychotic medicine that we use to treat bipolar disorder. And I'm like, we need to slow this thing down. What we do at Amon clinics, I have 11 clinics around the United States, we do brain imaging work. And there's a pattern that goes with bipolar disorder, but our first thought is never

Starting point is 00:09:30 take this medicine. It's, why does your brain look inflamed? And what can we do to calm it down naturally? Now, if you need to be on medicine, we'll put you on medicine. But psychiatrists are the only medical doctors who virtually never look at the organ they treat. So just think about that for a second. Last year, there were 340 million prescriptions for antidepressants without anybody ever looking at these people's brains. And I just personally think that's insane. And when you look, you realize it's not a mental health disorder. Think of bipolar. That's a mental illness. And And I'm like, what's going on in their brain? Because they're not mental disorders, ultimately.

Starting point is 00:10:23 They're brain health issues. And where do brain health issues come from? They can be genetic. They can come from toxic exposure. They can come from the food. We eat. They can come from concussions. You know, I often talk about, I think, bipolar disorder is overdiagnosed.

Starting point is 00:10:41 And often it's the result of an underlying head injury. that people didn't take seriously enough. Is it a real thing that a lot of serial killers had head injuries as a child? You bet. What's the correlation with that? Why would that cause, like, sadistic, violent behavior? Well, if you damage the brain,

Starting point is 00:11:03 you know, your brain makes you who you are. Your brain is the organ of intelligence, character, in every decision you make. And if you damage it, you damage your ability to make good decisions over time. And I published a study on murderers, and we've scanned and treated over 150 murderers. They do not have healthy brains,

Starting point is 00:11:34 especially in the front third of their brain, often significantly or seriously lower than other people. And 91% of people have concussion. have damage to their frontal lobes. What is the best way to set boundaries for kids who keep getting out of their beds at night? You know, I wrote a book called Time for Bed, Sleepy Head, because my three-year-old, who I was completely bonded to, just kept getting out of bed.

Starting point is 00:12:06 And one night I got really stern with her, and it made me feel so bad. I did a hypnotic bedtime story with her, and put her to sleep every night. In fact, she wanted me to tell her, that story for years. I think it's important that families have rules. And a rule I like is do it mom and dad say the first time. And if they don't, there's a consequence to that. Now, it's always rational and reasonable. But it's like, no, you need to stay in bed. And what age are we to?

Starting point is 00:12:47 talking about. Oh, I'm sure at that age, you're looking at four or five, six years old is probably who they're thinking of. Yeah. So it's like, look, you really need to do this or there are there going to be consequences tomorrow. Have you ever seen in brain scans negative effects on the brain done by spanking as a child? Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of spanking because, you know, any physical aggression decreases the bond you have with a child. There are too many potential side effects of it. I'm a fan of time out. I'm a fan of natural consequences.

Starting point is 00:13:33 I'm not a fan of spanking. If you have kids, they're probably only eating like, I don't know, three foods on repeat. I mean, at least for some people, I was that kid, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, fries. And look, I get it. But now I'm an adult. and I'm doing the shopping, and I would want to give my future kids options that are actually made

Starting point is 00:13:54 with real ingredients without sacrificing the fun. That's why I'm obsessed with Jesse and Ben's fries. So these are seed oil-free, frozen fries made with just non-GMO, russ of potatoes, grass-fed beef tallow, and sea salt. That is it. No mystery oils, no industrial sludge. No 19-ingredients science project like fast food fries, just crispy, salty, delicious fries that your kids are going to devour, and you will too. You're going to feel so good about serving this. And if you've got a sweet potato lover in the house, I love sweet potato fries, personally. They just launched a sweet potato fry cooked in beef tallow that will rock your world. My friend's kids literally fought over the last one on the tray.

Starting point is 00:14:31 Plus, if beef tallow isn't your jam, they also have avocado oil fries too for plant-based cooking. And the best part is they're now at every Sprouts farmer's market nationwide and select Whole Foods location. So if you want to see if it's at your local Whole Foods or Sprouts, go to jessie and bends. Use the locator to see if it's at a store near you. That's jessie and bends.com. You know how everybody says, well, just wait till you hit 30. Everything slows down. Yeah, well, I don't subscribe to that. I'm doing everything I can to stay sharp, strong, and energized. And that's where Jevity comes in. Their whole system is built around anti-aging from the inside out. That starts with blood work. So they're going to send a phlebotomist to your

Starting point is 00:15:09 house. They're going to test over 90 biomarkers and build a personalized plan for you with custom supplements, peptides, whatever you need. I am thriving, like the best I've ever been. Their plans are tailored and based on real science, your body, not generic wellness advice. And the best part is, it all shows up at your door with support from a personal care team through the Jevity app. For $129 a month, it is the smartest health decision you will ever make. If you go to gogevity.com, use code Alex, you will be able to skip the waitlist and get 20% off your first month. That's Gogevity.com, code Alex for 20% off. Aging well isn't luck, it's strategy. Where else can you have a blast and deepen your faith in values? The Young Women's Leadership Summit is the answer.

Starting point is 00:15:55 This is the biggest conservative women's event in the country. It's in Dallas, Texas, June 13th through 15th. It is the ultimate girls weekend. You're going to laugh, you're going to cry, you're going to leave inspired by leaders like Erica Kirk, Hilda Labrata Gore, Riley Gaines, Brett Cooper, myself, and many more to be announced. Truth is powerful, and this summit proves it. Head to YWLS-2020.com and use code Alex for 25% off. Grab your girls. This one's unforgettable. How can a mother who has to work be more intentional with the time that she does have with her kids to avoid attachment issues? There's an exercise in my book. I have a new book out called Raising Mentally Strong Kids. And one of my favorite exercises is special time. 20 minutes a day.

Starting point is 00:16:46 do something with your child that your child wants to do. And during that time, no commands, no questions, no directions. It's just time to be together. And it's like gold. That it's not a lot of time, but it's consistent time on a regular basis that helps solidify the bond between you and the child. And if during that time you practice what I call active listening, where you don't talk a lot, you just basically listen and repeat back what they say to you, the bond becomes stronger.

Starting point is 00:17:29 And, you know, with 90% of moms working outside the home, they often feel so guilty, they end up doing way too much for their kids. And this way, it's like, look, I have time every day, your time. And it doesn't have to be a lot, but being consistent is magical. Why should the rate at which the United States perform C-sections greatly alarm us? The C-sections do not allow the baby to go through the birth canal. And that means the baby's microbiome, the 100 trillion bugs in the baby's gut is not going to get populated in the most healthy way,

Starting point is 00:18:19 which is going through birth naturally. So in my mind, that's one of the biggest rare, not to mention the surgery for the mom. How can you decipher hyperactivity in a child from just kids being kids? So 30% of three-year-olds are hyperactivity. Only about five to 10% of four-year-olds are hyperactive. So sometimes being hyperactive is just a developmental delay. Sometimes it's the food they eat. I'm so happy that RFK Jr. just banned Reddye number 40.

Starting point is 00:19:01 If you have a hyperactive child, the first thing to go is what am I feeding that child? And if you take away some of the ultra-process foods, you just can't believe the number of kids whose behavior gets better. Plus, your behavior gets better if you stop eating them. And so I think that's the first thing. And I don't think ADHD should be diagnosed before four, unless it's really by a child psychiatrist who's an expert. Are we unintentionally training kids to be emotionally fragile by over-protecting them from stress?

Starting point is 00:19:48 Absolutely. If you do too much for a child, you build your self-esteem by stealing theirs. That self-esteem comes from your ability to solve problems, from your ability to contribute. If you're always doing things for them, they're not developing a sense of competence and competence feed self-esteem. You know who Jonathan Haid is, right? I do. He's kind of started this independence challenge. And he's been encouraging parents, you know, let your child, five, six, seven years old, whatever, something that you think emotionally they're capable of doing, do it on their own.

Starting point is 00:20:33 So going into a restaurant or a small bakery, getting something. ordering it coming outside to you by themselves, things like that. And this has really divided parents on the internet. Half of them are up in arms. If I saw a child go into Chick-Fleigh by themselves to buy a smoothie, even if his mom was outside, I would call CPS. And then you have the parents that are like, I love this idea. I'm going to encourage my kid at the ball game to walk to the concession stand by himself and come back to me and kind of learn how to do something on his own. Where do you fall in this camp? I love that. Let's help them be a competent. But while they're walking to the concession stand, make sure you have your eyes on them.

Starting point is 00:21:12 So that somebody doesn't grab the kid, right? You always have to have enough anxiety. You don't give them free rein. But the more they can do on their own, the more competent they're going to be. Doing too much for child is bad for the child. Can a child's diet in the first five years predict their mental health at 25? Your diet at any age is going to predict your future. I mean, just look at corn dogs. They have 29 ingredients, and most of them you wouldn't recognize as food. And it used to be when I was growing up, maybe you'd go out to eat twice a month.

Starting point is 00:22:00 And now people go out to eat twice a day or more. And so the food in fast food is just loaded with poisons. And I think we have to be so thoughtful that I think one of the reasons we have more autoimmune disorders is people reading more Taco Bell in places like that. What do the brain scans show of those children exposed to chronic screen time? So less activity in the dopamine. centers of the brain. So the pleasure centers in the brain become less responsive over time. If you hit them over and over and over with video games and phones and iPads, you just wear them out. And it's sort of like we've thrilled their pleasure centers to death.

Starting point is 00:22:59 And we should be very worried about it. And I sort of figured it out in 1987. My son was in sixth grade and getting great grades. And then Atari came out with the first video games. And I saw they just stole his attention. And then we started fighting about it. And I'm like, no, no, no, we're not fighting about it. And the video games left the house.

Starting point is 00:23:29 said, when are they coming back? I said, I don't think they're ever coming back. And I have seen this since then accelerate to these incredible 3D video games the kids get clearly addicted to. So, addicted to their phones, addicted to these video games. And then you wonder why this dramatic increase in ADHD and the use of redol and an adderall, which for the right people, they're miraculous medications, but not when it's environmentally induced ADD. Well, these kids, some of them are so addictive. They're peeing in, you know, like water bottles and stuff so they don't have to get up from their gaming seat. I've talked to Dr. Nicholas Cardaris about this before, and his specialty is video game addiction in children, and he said that that was an epidemic. He noticed they

Starting point is 00:24:22 all had Gatorade bottles and stuff filled with pee because they're so addicted. They can't even take two minutes to have a bathroom break. Yeah, no, if I'm the parent, we're not having that in our house. There is not anything good about that developmentally for their brains. And then we have to wonder what AI is going to do to their brain. I mean, it's not going away. So we have to, you know, figure out how to use it, but I'm very worried because we're unleashing this technology, video games, cell phones, without any long-term neuroscience study. And Australia banned social media for kids under 16. I love that. It's taking what we know in neuroscience that exposure to social media is harmful for children and teenagers and turning it into public policy. California,

Starting point is 00:25:26 you cannot start public high school before 8.30 in the morning. And I love them because it's taking what we know in neuroscience and turning it into public policy. What does neuroscience tell us about the ideal start time for elementary school kids? So it's probably the same. It's probably 8.30 or 9 o'clock. Because, and it's why I've been a fan for a long time of homeschool. Because the one thing, the one huge benefit of home school is not everybody has to get up at 6 o'clock. And, you know, mom can sleep later.

Starting point is 00:26:07 Dad can sleep later. The kids can sleep later. And sleep is probably the single most mental health strategy. because when you get good sleep, your brain cleans and washes itself. And if you don't sleep, it turns off 700 health-promoting genes. Do you think in America we focus too much on milestones when it comes to kids under seven years old as opposed to championing play and what that does for brain development? Probably.

Starting point is 00:26:40 You know, I worry that people go, I have to get them into the best preschool. because if they don't, then they won't get into the right college. And prestige is a French word that means deceit. I'm a huge fan of community colleges, because I don't think it's a good idea to send an 18-year-old who has an underdeveloped brain, right? The brain isn't finished until you're about 25. So take an 18-year-old brain, put it with a bunch of other underdeveloped brain,

Starting point is 00:27:14 of brains and fraternities or sororities where alcohol and free sex are rampant. And I just think that's a dumb idea. And so I'm a huge fan, especially with vulnerable kids, keeping them close to home. And I think community colleges are completely underrated. They often have better teachers, smaller class size, give people a foundation at a fifth of the cost. And parents can supervise them. Does going through a traumatic breakup damage the brain? Well, you know, I think it depends on what you do with the breakup. Breakups are hard. They're hard on the brain.

Starting point is 00:27:58 Humans are meant to attach. And so when you fall in love with somebody, they live in every sort of fun place in your brain. And then for whatever reason, often it's a brain health reason, you break up and then that is one of the most vulnerable mental health times ever. Because the amount of depression and suicide go way up if it was a breakup that you didn't want. And, you know, that's why on the news, it's not unusual to see murder suicides around breakups. What happens is your emotional brain flares because it can't find the person you're attached to, and that makes you more vulnerable to depression. So be very careful with who you sleep with. How does pornography rewire the male brain and what sorts of negative behavior patterns can it create later in life if you see it too soon?

Starting point is 00:29:04 Well, there are a lot of eight and nine-year-olds that are having access to pornography, and that will. decrease the development of their frontal lobes. It's almost like they're using drugs early. It's going to dump dopamine. When you dump dopamine, you wear out the pleasure centers in the brain, which means it's going to take more and more for you to feel anything at all. And then you're going to have these very unrealistic expectations when, you know, you get into your own relationships.

Starting point is 00:29:42 Early pornography is going to go to early sex. Early sex puts you at risk for all sorts of bad things from teenage pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases to anxious attachments. And then you're not going to know what's normal, what's right. And there's very little good sex education in the world. You ever feel like your food is controlling you? Grocery prices skyrocket.

Starting point is 00:30:15 The fridge is always empty, and suddenly you're stressed over every meal. My solution, a harvest-right freeze dryer, aka my ticket to food freedom. So now when I cook something I love, like, I don't know, my favorite chili or a big batch of curry, I just freeze-dry and store it, and it's there for me whenever. No scrambling, no preservatives, no stress. You can even do this with scrambled eggs. You can pack freeze-dried snacks for road trips and last-minute lunches. It's like creating a personal food bank.

Starting point is 00:30:41 that only stocks your favorite dishes. And the food stays good for up to 25 years. Seriously. Forget feeling reactive about food. Take back control and prep on your terms. Visit harvestright.com. That's harvestright.com. Food freedom starts now.

Starting point is 00:30:55 Let's talk about movie snacks. You walk in with good intentions. The next thing you know, your elbow deep in a greasy bucket of popcorn that tastes like plastic and gives you a stomach ache before the previews are even over. I started bringing masa chips to the movies

Starting point is 00:31:09 and this is my favorite little life hack. Also, anybody who thinks it's weird to go to the movies by yourself, kiss my behind. I love going to the movies by myself. Love it. When there's a good movie out, which doesn't happen often, and now I'm getting a tangent and wasting my ad time. Sorry, Masa. But Masa chips are not just any chips.

Starting point is 00:31:26 Mossa is seed oil-free and made the way chips used to be made. Back when people cooked with beef tallow, not industrial waste, they used three ingredients, organic niximalized corn, grass-fed and finished beef tallow, and Redmond C-Salt. That's it. No citric acid. No natural flavors, no fake vitamins glued on in a lab.

Starting point is 00:31:42 And let's talk taste. Masa is bold, it's crunchy, it's dirty, and real. Not fake, flavored, or coated in orange mystery dust. They're made by two real humids, the olive oil queen and the really tan man, who literally started this because they knew that they could make a better snack without seed oils or chemicals. So now they're changing the whole chip game out of a tiny operation in New Jersey. I love that. I've tried every flavor.

Starting point is 00:32:04 I can confidently say they're worth it. If you want your snack game to feel a little more ancestral and a lot more delicious, head to Masa Chips.com. Use code real Alex Clark for 20% off your first order. That's Masa Chips.com code real Alex Clark for 20% off your first order. Why is it that one person in the relationship might be more prone to conflict than the other? I wrote a book called Healing ADD, and there's a chapter in it called The Games ADD people play. And the first game they play is let's have a problem because they have lower frontal lobe function. And it's completely unconscious.

Starting point is 00:32:44 They don't choose it at all. But they pick on other people. They just like poke at them just to get them mad. And you see it with little ADD kids. If he has a bad morning at home, like mom yells a lot, he has a good day at school because she was worth 10 milligrams of riddling. They have a good morning at home. He has a bad day at school because he didn't sort of get his conflict fix. I've seen it a lot in relationships where they play this game of let's have a promo because that is stimulating to them. And in a way, it's sort of medication for them.

Starting point is 00:33:27 And I always tell the people who are married to people have ADD, if they hand you the rope, just don't pick it up. be really thoughtful in how you respond. And then encourage them to get evaluated and treated. What does that mean get evaluated and treated? Like go see a doctor to see, do you really have this? And if you do, get help for it. But you can have conflict from low activity in your frontal lobes. So let's have a problem.

Starting point is 00:33:58 Or if you have high activity in a part of the frontal lobes called the anterior singular gyris. That's the brain's gear shifter. It allows you to go from thought to thought, move from idea to idea, be flexible, go with the flow. And when that part of your brain works too hard, if things don't go your way, you get upset. You tend to be argumentative, oppositional, and you hate surprises. And so you find yourself often in a fight with them. because you didn't know what was in their head, you didn't act the way they wanted you to act, and all of a sudden they're mad at you. And so it can happen from too low activity, impulsivity, conflict-driven behavior, or too high activity, rigid thinking. Things don't go

Starting point is 00:34:52 the way they expect. They get upset. And on the surface, it appears selfish. But it's not selfish. It's rigid. And so in my house, if you date one of my children for more than four months, I scan you because I want to know what kind of partner you're going to be. And if your brain could use help, I'm like, okay, let's help your brain work better. What can you tell on somebody's brain scan about the type of partner they'll be? Well, so if you came and I scanned you and you had really low. frontal lobes, then your impulse control is not going to be great. So decision making won't be what you hope it will be. If your frontal lobes work too hard, then it's like you're going to

Starting point is 00:35:48 want things your way. And just knowing that is so helpful. We never look at the organ that makes us happy in ourselves or other people. I mean, wouldn't you want to know and then wouldn't you want it to be as good as it could be? See, everybody hates the term mental illness. Nobody wants one. You call somebody mental. It shames you. But everybody wants a better brain. Call the brain. It elevates you. And I'm working to create a national brain health initiative to get rid of the mental illness, call these things what they really are brain health issues, and then work to have a brain healthy society because with a brain healthy society, that's how we tackle this mental health epidemic. So if somebody wants to get a brain scan, because they're just curious,

Starting point is 00:36:50 you know, I wonder what I am. What do they do? Ask their doctor, I want to get an elective MRI or something? We do a study called SPECT that looks at blood flow and activity. It looks at looks at how your brain works. And it basically tells us three things. Good activity, too little or too much in every area of your brain. And then we target treatment to better balance your brain. So we do a study called spec. There are other studies, not an MRI, not helpful. Quantitative EEG, either spec, pad. Quantitative EEG would be. be the most useful. Is it possible to fall in love with somebody whose brain is incompatible with yours? All the time. I mean, divorce courts are filled. Right? And attorneys make a whole bunch of money

Starting point is 00:37:44 off of them. You know, when you fall in love, you're looking at how the person looks, how they sound, how they smell, how they feel. And it's very rare. You're actually thinking, is this going to be a good long-term partner for me? Do I feel good around this person? Do they understand me? Do we have fun together? They're looking for their toes to tingle when that's a sign it's probably going to be difficult in your relationship.

Starting point is 00:38:20 Do some people pick the wrong partner simply be? because of unresolved brain trauma? Yes. And they pick it because of unresolved emotional trauma. Just thinking of this person that I'm very fond of whose brother was a drug addict and she couldn't save him. And so she ended up picking someone else who was a drug addict and tried to save him in large part because she was trying to fill a hole in her own soul.

Starting point is 00:38:51 Do you see resentment on brain scans? No, but I see grudge holding. I would be guilty. I would light up on that. People get their feelings hurt and they just can't let it go. That's usually too much activity in the front part of their brain. What does it mean to chronically catastrophes? And how does that impact the brain? It's very bad for your brain.

Starting point is 00:39:14 I just published a study on negativity bias. Does your brain tend to go to what's wrong? or do you tend to see what's right? And if your brain constantly goes to the negative, it is associated with decreased activity in large parts of your frontal lobes. And I do positivity-biased training with my patients because chronic negativity, chronic catastrophizing,

Starting point is 00:39:45 just put you at great risk for anxiety disorders and mental health challenges. Is it possible to train your body to stop having panic attacks? Absolutely. I think it's one of the easiest things to do whenever you have a panic attack. Number one, don't leave. Because if you leave the situation you're in like it's party or you're at the grocery store, that situation will now start to control you.

Starting point is 00:40:11 And your world will ultimately get smaller and smaller. There's this condition we treat called agoraphobia, where you just end up being afraid. to leave your house. And so don't leave. The second thing is breathe. Because when you have a panic attack, your breathing become shallow and fast. And so we teach our patients diaphragmatic breathing, which basically means breathing from your belly. And pretty women hate this because they're always holding their bellies in. But it's when you breathe in, stick your belly out. And when you breathe out, stick it in and breathe in this pattern, four seconds in, big breath, eight seconds out.

Starting point is 00:40:57 So take twice as long to breathe out as you breathe in. And if you just do that six, eight times, sends a relaxation signal to your brain to calm down. Very powerful. And then write down what thought. you're having. I call it killing the ants, the automatic negative thoughts that steal your happiness. And it's often catastrophic thoughts that drive the panic attack. And so write them down, correct them. I call it killing the ants and talk about that in all my books. And then if you're still anxious, do not take Xanax or Valium or Clonopin. It's the worst thing you can do. Wait, why?

Starting point is 00:41:54 Once you start that, you're not going to stop it. Very important. They're addictive and they increase your risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. So be really clear. Benzos are not great medication. because they hurt people. Radicalize us on why we need to stop drinking alcohol. Well, the American Cancer Society said you shouldn't drink

Starting point is 00:42:25 because it increases your risk of seven different types of cancer. Alcohol is not a health food. Alcohol is a disinfectant. We already talked about the microbiome where you have 100 trillion bugs in your gut. You do not want to be drinking a disinfectant. Plus, there's not a week that has gone by in my 45 years as a psychiatrist where alcohol hasn't devastated someone's life.

Starting point is 00:42:55 It caused them to have an affair, an accident. They said something that their wife still thinks about 10 years later. It's like, I just don't get it. It's like, well, how can you have any fun? And it's like, well, who has more fun? The person with the healthy brain or the person with the unhealthy brain? It's like, well, I'm more fun. It's like, well, you're more fun.

Starting point is 00:43:17 But as soon as you stop drinking and you hang out with people who are drinking, I can guarantee you those people are not more fun. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. Can OCD be reversed? Yes. And sometimes OCD is the result of an infection. There's something called Panda Syndrome's pediatric, autoimmune, neurop, disorders associated with strep infections.

Starting point is 00:43:43 that sometimes OCD causes antibodies that go attack your heart valves. That's why you have to treat strep infections so you don't get rheumatic fever. But they also go and attack a part of your brain called the basal vanglion can trigger OCD. Do you have concerns with people who cannot fall asleep unless they're listening to a movie or a podcast in headphones? You know, it's not generally the right thing to do. in that you'll continue to listen and that will be disruptive to your brain. But many people have ADD need noise on to shut up their own brain so they can go to sleep. And so they might sleep with the TV on or a fan.

Starting point is 00:44:34 And it just irritates their partner to know it. Okay, so my coworker recently hosted a couple of overnight guests. And she's the type who likes to go all out and leave a little welcome surprise for them in the guest room. Now, I know a lot of people just leave bottled water or some grottola bars, but she's a little extra in the best way. So she left Paleo Valley beef sticks in their room for a snack after hearing about them on Koltropothecary. You know those times when you wake up and you're starving, but you don't want to raid the fridge? That's where Paleo Valley beefs come in. They're made with 100% grass-fed beef, no hormones, no antibiotics,

Starting point is 00:45:07 and absolutely no weird preservatives. And the best part is they're naturally fermented, which means you get gut-friendly probiotics with every bite. And these aren't your average gas station jerky sticks. They're packed with high quality protein. They taste way better, and they're totally free from seed oils, pesticides, and chemicals. When my friends' guests woke up, they had the perfect healthy snack waiting for them whenever they needed it, and they loved it. So if you want to step up your snack game, head to paleovalley.com slash Alex, use code Alex for 15% off. That's paleovalley.com slash Alex with code Alex for 15% off your first purchase. Your guests deserve better snacks. A while back, I was that person who thought natural skincare was a

Starting point is 00:45:46 joke. Like, uh, I would like something that actually works, please. I'm not interested in, you know, rubbing tubawamba leaves and camel spit on my face because it's natural. But then, thank God, I found primally pure and everything changed. This stuff works. And it's not because they're just slapping labels on it that say natural, like it's some magic bullet. No. Do I look like I would use something that doesn't work? I don't know the time, honey. You should look at my schedule. Primally pure's ingredients come from actual ancestral wisdom. And the secret weapon is beef tallow. It's packed with fatty acids that are actually super similar to the oils in our own skin. But it isn't just like a tub of beef towel because I will not use that.

Starting point is 00:46:22 Okay? This is non-comitogenic. It's not clogging my pores. It's mixed with other natural, healthy ingredients that actually work and heal skin. I mean, this is luxury skin care, okay? It's nourishing your skin in a way that all those other products just can't, especially the beef tallow crap people are making in their kitchens. I am talking real actual results.

Starting point is 00:46:42 And trust me, I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't working. I've tried everything under the sun, okay? I cannot recommend the almond and vanilla body wash from Primely Pure enough. Their bergamot and eucalyptus scent is a great non-toxic alternative for men. If you're thinking about switching to cleaner non-toxic skin care, check out the thousands of five-star reviews on PrimelyPure.com. The plumping serum, I've gotten all my friends on it. We are all believers. Once you're ready to make some simple swaps, use code Alex Clark at Primallypure.com.

Starting point is 00:47:09 You'll get 15% off. That's Primelypure.com code Alex Clark, and you will get 15% off your first order. What is science saying about ways to reverse early onset dementia? You want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it. You have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors that steal your mind. So the new medications that are like $27,000 a year are not nearly as effective as exercise, getting your blood sugar healthy, getting sleep habits. me treated. I have an acronym for those 11 risk factors. Ultimately, get your body as healthy as it can be in your memory will be better. And am I wrong in that eggs play a big part? I'm a huge fan

Starting point is 00:48:05 of eggs. A huge fan because we have no carbohydrates that help stabilize your blood sugar. They're loaded with healthy fat and eating things with cholesterol does not give you high cholesterol. Right. Yeah. And that's what real brain food is, right? The high cholesterol foods. High fat foods.

Starting point is 00:48:28 People who had a fat-based diet, so think salmon, avocados, healthy oils, nuts and seeds, eggs, had 42% less risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. People who had a protein-based diet. So think of a caveman diet. 21% less risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. But people who had a simple carbohydrate-based diet, so think the standard American diet, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice, sugar, had a 400% increased risk.

Starting point is 00:49:06 Oh, my gosh. If you're overweight and have high blood sugar, that's the royal road to losing your mind. So you're saying Alzheimer's is almost completely diet induced. No, I wouldn't go that far. But diet is a huge influence on it. Just quickly, bright minds, so blood flow. So if you have high blood pressure, any form of heart disease, if you're sedentary,

Starting point is 00:49:39 if you use alcohol, marijuana and nicotine, much caffeine, have low blood flow. All of those things are preventable. R is retirement and aging. Do you continue to learn new things throughout life? So what we're doing today is I'm sharing knowledge or learning knowledge. That's absolutely great for your brain. And it's great for mine because I'm giving away what I learn, which is purposeful. I is inflammation.

Starting point is 00:50:12 And inflammation, yes, can come from your, diet, but it can also come from toxic exposure. G is genetics. Genes really do matter, but genes are not a death sentence. What they should be is a wake-up call. So, for example, I adopted my two nieces because their mom and dad were both drug addicts who had mental health issues, and I caught the older one vaping when she was 16. grounded her for six months. And I'm like, no, you need to be on an alcohol prevention program,

Starting point is 00:50:52 alcohol and drug prevention program every day of your life. And now she's a pre-med student at UCLA. I'm so proud of her. H's had trauma, major cause of dementia that people never think about. T is toxins, drugs, alcohol, but also general anesthesia is toxic to the brain. Kids who have general anesthesia have a higher instance of ADD and learning disabilities. Adults with general anesthesia have a higher incidence of dementia. The M is mental health issues like a high ant population, negativity bias, or something called adverse childhood experiences. How many bad things happen to you on a scale of zero to 10 growing up?

Starting point is 00:51:39 It's clearly bad for your brain. The second eye is immunity and infections. I think infectious diseases like COVID and Lyme are major causes of dementia and psychiatric illnesses. And as neurohormone disorders, as your hormones drop, you just age faster. D is diabetes. We talked about high blood sugar and being overweight in us asleep. And so keep your brain healthy or rescue it. You have to prevent or treat those.

Starting point is 00:52:13 risk factors. Is it possible to treat epilepsy in children? Of course. And, you know, I have a granddaughter with epilepsy, and she responded beautifully to the ketogenic diet. So what's that? It's a diet that is basically very low, carbohydrates and very high fat. And it's been found to decrease seizure frequency by more than 50% in children. So if you have a seizure disorder, you should really be paying attention to what you eat and the frequency of the seizures you have. If you have a behavior disorder, which is dysregulation of the brain, seizures are dysregulation of the brain, you should really be paying attention to what you eat. There's a new book out by Harvard psychiatrist, Brain Energy.

Starting point is 00:53:15 And he opens the book with a story of a person who has schizophrenia, who's psychotic, on a ketogenic diet became much more balanced, better than with medication. If you could do one thing every day for the rest of your life to protect your brain, what would it be? Ask this one question. Whatever I'm going to do today. Is it good for my brain or bad for it? And if I can answer that one question with information and love, love of myself, love of my family, love of the reason God put me on earth, I'm just going to stay healthy for as long as I can. What do you think most therapists are getting completely wrong about anxiety and depression?

Starting point is 00:53:59 They think it's a serotonin deficiency, and it's not. It's many different things. They reach for medication when they should reach first for looking at the brain, understanding it, and then working to get the physical functioning of the brain healthy. Why do some people do everything right? You know, they're sleeping well, they're eating right, they're exercising, and then they still feel mentally stuck? Well, because they don't know what is actually going on with their brain. they might be doing everything right, but living in a mold-filled home.

Starting point is 00:54:39 I don't know if you know Dave Asprey. He started bulletproof. Dave and I've been friends a long time. He came and got his brain scanned about 15 years ago, and it was moth-eaten. It was terrible. Moth-eaten brain? Yeah, it was terrible. And it turned out he was being exposed to mold.

Starting point is 00:54:56 And when he got the mold out, his brain got healthy. And then he dedicated his whole career to helping people. biohack their brain and their body. I'm so proud of him. And I think if you're stuck, it could be one of those 11 risk factors that is not being properly addressed. You have been doctor and therapist for some of the biggest stars in the world, from Miley Cyrus to Justin Bieber. Which celebrity left the biggest impact on you and why? Well, it's almost like choosing favors. between your children. But, you know, I often tell Milio is a complete failure for eight years and a wild success for six. And so, you know, last year she got the Grammy for Flowers,

Starting point is 00:55:48 which is a song about self-love. She just could teach what I teach. She gets it, gives it away, lives it. I'm so proud. What did you notice on Justin Bieber's brain scan? I'm just so curious. Well, we talked about it in his documentary seasons. He was actually diagnosed with Ramsey Hunt and bipolar disorder. I didn't think he had it to our discussion earlier. And it turned out he had Lyme disease. And his brain was really low in activity when I first saw him. And eight months later, it was dramatically better. What kinds of things were you guys doing that increased it so much? Hyperbaric oxygen was one of the main strategies. He actually slept in his chamber. Whoa. That's something I often recommend. But he was very serious. And I haven't talked to him for a couple of years.

Starting point is 00:56:53 So I don't know what's going on with him now. But I know hyperbaric oxygen was helpful. The IV therapy he did was helpful. Eating really healthy was helpful. If you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, and that could be physically, emotionally, or spiritually, what would it be? This is good for your brain or bad for it. I'm serious about creating a national brain health initiative

Starting point is 00:57:21 where we teach children, adults, firefighters to love their brain. And just every day go, is this good for my brain or bad for it? We're doing a big firefighter initiative for firefighters who are involved in the L.A. fires. I mean, I don't know if you know, but it's a brain-damaging job.

Starting point is 00:57:45 I was literally right when you first said firefighter, I thought, oh, I feel for the firefighters that were working in L.A. during these fires. I mean, I have so many concerns about not only the first responders that had to deal with that, the people living there in general, I just feel like it's truly probably so toxic and too toxic to live and rebuild for a long time, even going on those beaches and all of the stuff mixed in the sand. I have so many concerns about that whole area for people. But the firefighters, that is such a underappreciation.

Starting point is 00:58:21 a job that they literally destroy their brains and their bodies just for other people. It's tremendous. They have a 40% increased risk of that's just not okay. And it's because of the physical trauma, the toxic exposure and the emotional trauma. Every day they go to work is someone's worst day of their life. And so if you live that day after day after day, it takes an emotional toll on you. You're a 12-time New York Times bestseller. Is that right? 12 at this point. If somebody has never read any of your books yet and they're really interested in your parenting or relationship advice, what books should they start with?

Starting point is 00:59:12 So the end of raising mentally strong kids for parenting. but for people who've never read any of my work, change your brain every day, is 366 short essays of the most important things I've ever said in any of my books. Oh, easy. I wrote sort of my greatest hits book. Yep. I don't think it's like the Beatles White album, but it's sort of. And that way it honors our ADD society. people learn in two to three minute chunks.

Starting point is 00:59:51 And there's a little exercise at the end of each day to just teach people to love and care for their brains. Where can people follow you on social media? Instagram doc underscore Amen or on TikTok, Doc Amon. They can learn about our clinics at Amonclinics.com. Dr. Amon, thank you for coming on Culture Apothecary. Alex, what a joy to talk to you. Were you surprised by Dr. Amon's

Starting point is 01:00:20 take on Cry It Out and Daycare and Attachment, I definitely was. I'd love to hear your thoughts and read them in the cute servitous Facebook group. You could also say what you thought in a five-star review. Tell others why they should listen to Culture Apothecary and what episode you think that they should start with. We're on a mission to Heelistic Culture twice a week. That's Mondays and Thursdays, 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern, where a brand new guest comes on. Shares their remedy to do just that. Make sure you also subscribe to Real Alex Clark on YouTube. I post not only my interviews They're in a beautifully multi-camera shot format, but also vlogs and other extra content. The shows on Instagram at Culture Apothecary.

Starting point is 01:00:58 And I'm on Instagram at Real Alex Clark. I'm Alex Clark, and this is Culture Apothecary.

Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - Does Cry It Out Damage A Child's Brain? | Dr. Daniel G. Amen, MD

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