How to End Mental Illness with Dr. Daniel Amen

Dr. Daniel Amen believes we can end mental illness. The world-renowned psychologist and author has been a life-long warrior in advocating the use of brain imaging to study mental illness. His pioneering work has helped progress scientific understanding of the crossover between physiology and psychology, and he shares some of those insights today.

Change your brain change your life

On today's Braincare Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen shares the personal story that accelerated his investigation into brain imaging and mental health. We discuss the impacts of brain trauma, toxic substances, and nutrients on our mental health, and why loving our brains could lead to the end of mental illness.

Brain injuries are a major cause of suicide, depression, panic disorder, incarceration and homelessness. Damage the brain and you damage someone's life undiagnosed.

Mental illness and misdiagnosis

Dr. Daniel Amen is a staunch promoter of diagnosis with proper physical evaluation, a practice he believes is still lacking in mental health assessments. He shares his thoughts on the current state of diagnoses, and where he hopes practitioners will focus their efforts.

If you take a map of the United States and look at the highest incidence of schizophrenia and then overlay a map of the highest incidents of Lyme disease, they're almost identical. Now, it doesn't mean everybody who has schizophrenia has Lyme disease, but they should probably be tested for it.

Podcast Episode Takeaways

In this second episode with Dr. Daniel Amen we will cover:

• The extraordinary links between brain injury and homelessness

• What's the risk of moderate alcohol use?

• Mental health misdiagnosis

• The 11 preventable or treatable mental health risk factors

• How diabetes, obesity and hormone disorders impact our brains

• Can nutrients improve your brain health?

Listen here .

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Curious to hear more about how to tackle mental challenges? Check out our previous episode with Dr. Daniel Amen on Overcoming Anxiety, Trauma and Grief.