Taking Antidepressants (SSRIs): Pros & Cons

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Change Your Brain Every Day

Episode Title: Taking Antidepressants (SSRIs): Pros & Cons
Date: May 15, 2026
Hosts: Dr. Daniel Amen & Tana Amen

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the pros and cons of taking antidepressants, particularly SSRIs, exploring why depression rates continue to rise globally despite increased medication use. Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen challenge listeners to consider holistic approaches for brain and mental health alongside or before medication, discuss the individual variation in treatment response, share personal experiences, and answer listener questions about brain health, medication, and lifestyle changes. Their tone is candid, data-driven, and empowering, aiming to arm listeners as Brain Warriors against depression and misinformation.

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Main Discussion Themes & Highlights

1. The State of Depression & Antidepressant Usage

• Depression is the Most Significant Illness Worldwide:
  “Depression is the number one illness, so not just mental illness. It is the number one most expensive illness worldwide and seems to be increasing despite the fact that the use of antidepressants has skyrocketed.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (00:17)
• Antidepressant prescriptions (SSRIs) have quadrupled since 1987 (the introduction of Prozac), yet global depression rates are still climbing.

2. Natural Approaches vs. Medication

• Head-to-Head Studies:
  • Omega-3 vs. Prozac: New Zealand study – Omega-3 (EPA) was more effective than Prozac (57% vs. 51% effective); combined use had even higher efficacy. (02:48)
  • Exercise vs. Zoloft: Exercise as effective as Zoloft at 12 weeks and superior at 10 months. (03:20)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Equally effective as antidepressants.
• Suggestion: Always consider natural interventions (nutrition, exercise, therapy) alongside or prior to medication.

3. The Complex Reality of SSRIs

• Difficulties with SSRIs:
  • Can block all emotions, not just negative ones.
    “Yes they can help with depression, but they tend to block all emotion, right? And so you are less depressed, but you’re also less happy. You’re also less joyful and no one tells you that part.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (04:22)
  • Side Effects: Sexual dysfunction is common (difficulty with orgasm, decreased libido).
  • Long-term Impact: Changes brain chemistry, making withdrawal challenging.
  • Insurance Consequences: SSRI use can impact insurability, affecting eligibility for various types of insurance. (05:00)

4. Personal Accounts & The Importance of Individualization

• Tana’s Experience:
  After thyroid cancer and resulting depression, Tana was prescribed Prozac but found it numbed all her emotions and increased impulsivity.
  “I just feel sort of nothing. But what’s worse is I’m very impulsive. Like, I’m making crazy decisions...I don’t recognize this person.” – Tana Amen (17:26)
  • Increased dose worsened side effects; she ultimately tapered off on her own (not recommended).
  • Insight: Medications can drastically alter personality, especially if they don’t match brain type or underlying causes.
• Brain Typing: Dr. Amen explains frontal lobe hypoactivity matters—SSRIs can worsen symptoms in people with already “sleepy” frontal lobes (i.e., from head trauma). (19:13)

5. SSRIs Are Not One-Size-Fits-All

• SSRIs prescribed based on symptoms, not underlying biology, is problematic. “Tens of millions of people are taking antidepressants that are almost always prescribed without any biological information.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (15:51)
• There are “miracle stories,” but also significant disparities in individual response and negative outcomes.

6. Depression: A “Symptom Cluster,” Not a Single Diagnosis

• “Depression is a symptom cluster. It’s not a diagnosis by itself, and we should always be searching for the cause.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (10:45)
• Medical (physiological) causes to screen for: vitamin D deficiency, thyroid issues, low iron, low cholesterol, medication side effects (e.g., birth control pills).

7. The Ripple Effect: Medication, Free Will, and Behavior

• Medications altering the brain can influence personality, decision-making, and free will.
• Discussed tragic cases where undiagnosed brain injury or illnesses led to misdiagnosis and improper SSRI use, at times with dire consequences.

8. The Power of Education and Advocacy

• Don’t blindly accept prescriber recommendations; be your own health advocate, seek information, and evaluate non-medicinal interventions. “We don’t want you just trusting someone, like I did, because they have credentials...You also want to be your own advocate, because that’s what got me into trouble.” – Tana Amen (23:28)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On SSRIs numbing all emotion:
  “Yes they can help with depression, but they tend to block all emotion, right? … you are less depressed, but you’re also less happy.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (04:22)
• On the wrong antidepressant:
  “Being put on the wrong antidepressant can be a disaster. And I learned that the hard way.” – Tana Amen (08:39)
• On advocating for medical root causes:
  “Have you had their blood work done? … Exercise, nutrition, their assessment, assessing their blood work. So empower them with this information before you just go out and put them on an antidepressant.” – Tana Amen (06:16)
• On clinicians as minor deities:
  “M.D. stands for minor deity.” – Dr. Daniel Amen (23:51)

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | 00:17 | Depression stats; medication use vs. outcome | | 02:48 | Natural remedies vs. antidepressants | | 04:22 | SSRIs decrease all emotions, not just negative ones | | 05:00 | SSRIs & impacts on insurability | | 06:16 | Key assessments before prescribing antidepressants | | 10:45 | Depression as a symptom cluster, not a single illness | | 15:51 | SSRIs prescribed without biological information | | 17:26 | Tana’s personal story: emotional numbing & impulsivity | | 19:13 | Matching medication to individual brain type | | 23:28 | Importance of patient advocacy and education |

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Brief Q&A & Listener Topics (Selected)

• Exercise & Depression: Resistance training, aerobic exercise, and movement as mainstays for brain health and mood improvement. (42:22)
• Switching to Non-Toxic Products: Using apps like Think Dirty for personal care and home products; specific recommendations for natural products. (36:30, 43:36)
• Travel and Clean Eating: Apply the “95/5 rule”; be flexible yet prepared with snacks and restaurant requests to eat clean on the road. (47:54)
• Medication and Cognitive Side Effects: Discussed risks of benzodiazepines and anticholinergics (e.g., increased dementia risk). (25:13)
• Listener Qs about Intermittent Fasting and Recovery Post-Surgery: Start conservatively, focus on light exercise, check with physicians when on medication. (46:07)

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Final Takeaways

• Depression is a complex symptom cluster with myriad underlying causes; individualized, root-cause-driven treatment is critical.
• SSRIs (antidepressants) can help, but often at the cost of emotional flattening and side effects, and without patient education about long-term implications.
• Always assess and address biological factors (e.g., thyroid, nutrient status) and try natural interventions (exercise, nutrition, supplements) before or alongside medication.
• Be an informed advocate in your own or your child’s mental health journey; side effects to personality, decision-making, and even insurability are real.
• The “Brain Warrior” approach: Use all available tools, starting with lifestyle, to foster brain health and resilience.

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For more insights or to join the conversation, visit brainwarriorswaypodcast.com or follow the Amens on social media.

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Transcript

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

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. This is going to be depression week and things you can do and maybe some things you shouldn't do. Depression is the number one illness, so not just mental illness. It is the number one most expensive illness worldwide and seems to be increasing despite the fact that the use of antidepressants has skyrocketed. It's quadrupled since 1987 when Prozac was first released. So there seems to be a bit of a the disconnection between the medications can just solve everything. But you have a review. We haven't read a review in a while.

[Tana Amen]

This says I really appreciate this podcast on brain health. Years ago I was misdiagnosed as bipolar and it seems like ever since then I'm trying hard through a healthy lifestyle to live optimally. This is a great, short but thorough podcast and you always walk away with at least one tip for the day to be mentally or physically healthy. I wish insurance covered brain scans because it would be awfully useful for everybody to see why we are the way we are. From Ocean Bliss 770 don't don't. Doesn't insurance cover more now?

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Well, we actually did a study of the patients who came to Amen clinics and of the people that submitted it to insurance, 60% of them got more

[Tana Amen]

than we than people think.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

That imaging is just so important. But thank you for the review. And if you leave a [e-mail] we'll actually enter you into a raffle to win a signed copy of one of Tanner's cookbooks. We also want you you know what's the one thing you're going to learn from this podcast? Post it on any of your social media sites and hashtag brainwarriorsway podcast. Yep.

[Tana Amen]

So yeah, let's talk about depression. I'm really curious as someone who suffered from depression and we see people every day, thousands of them a month that are suffering. There's so many questions and over the next week, let's throughout this week, let's talk about depression. The causes, what you can do, but also what's the connection between depression and anxiety? How do antidepressants change your personality and is it a good idea or a bad idea? So let's talk about a few things.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Well, I had a girl last night I was seeing who was struggling with depression and she said the school counselor told her about antidepressants and And I said, well I said let's talk about it. And head to head. Omega 3 fatty acids versus Prozac. In a study from New Zealand, omega 3 fatty acids were actually more effective. Um, Prozac was effective 51% of the time. The Omega 3 fatty acid EPA was affected, effective 57% of the time. And then when they were used together they were actually, it had a higher level. So also head to head against exercise, walking like you're late four times a week. Head to head against Zoloft, another good antidepressant. They were equally effective at 12 weeks and at 10 months exercise beat the socks off Zoloft head to head against cognitive behavior therapy against antidepressants found to be equally effective. So we always talk about not believing every stupid thing you think. And then I told the girl and she's 15, I'm like, antidepressants, they don't tell you once you start them, they're sort of hard to stop because they change your brain to need them. And yes they can help with depression, but they tend to block all emotion, Right? And so you are less depressed, but you're also less happy. You're also less joyful and no one

[Tana Amen]

tells you that part.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

The serotonin, antidepressants, Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro, ptsd, Luvox, all interfere with sexual function. So they make it harder to have an orgasm, which is a little weird talking about it with, with a teenager. But if she's sexually active, it's very important to know, and I do it because I'm not opposed to antidepressants and I use them when appropriate. But I always want to do the natural things first or at least give my patients the options of doing the natural things first. And one of the things nobody ever tells you when they prescribe an antidepressant or an anti anxiety medicine or a medicine for ADD or whatever, that they affect your insurability, that they affect your ability to get health insurance, life insurance, a pilot's license, but long term care insurance, disability insurance, and if there's a non medicine way to do it, isn't it smart to at least try that first?

[Tana Amen]

So if I had a 15 year old, I have a 16 year old actually that came to me and said she was depressed, I would be very open, number one, this is what I would do. Knowing what we know and what we do, I'd be very open to listening and I wouldn't shut her down, I would just want to hear what she, what's going on with Her.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

But the last thing you should say is you have nothing to be depressed about.

[Tana Amen]

Right, but. And the last thing I would want is a school counselor who may not have all the information telling her what she should do. It's good she goes to the school counselor and talks to her. But giving her advice on things she may not know about. I would want to be in the know more than that. I would want to know what to tell my child. So in brainwire's way, we talked about mastery. One of the questions I would have for. For my child or that I would have in my own head and that I would have for you. If your child is depressed. Have you had their blood work done? Because you just talked about omega 3 fatty acids. They should be on fish oil if, if they need that. If their vitamin D is low, if they are on birth control, they're likely to have depression. That increases their risk dramatically because it drops their vitamin B. Vitamin. Their vitamin B, which you can supplement. It also decreases their serotonin, but you can increase that with exercise. So mastery would teach them about what you just talked about. Exercise, nutrition, their assessment, assessing their blood work. So empower them with this information before you just go out and put them on an antidepressant at that age especially. And again, we're not anti. Anti antidepressants. It's just that they do change your brain. They're hard to get off of. And in the next episode, I want to talk about how they change personality.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And you know, I'm really happy you brought up all the medical causes of depression and the end of mental illness, which I would just dearly love for you to pre order. It's not going to be out till March, but it's done. It's great, and I think you'll really love it. I argue that depression really shouldn't be a diagnosis. It's not any. An illness is a cluster of symptoms that have a gazillion different causes. And having low serotonin is only one and probably one in five or one in seven.

[Tana Amen]

Why did you have to get the low serotonin? Is it birth control pills? See, just giving someone an antidepressant is like putting a band aid over a bullet hole. If you don't actually figure out what's

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

going on so you don't know. And as you experience low thyroid is a major cause. Low iron is another cause.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah, that was like Lazarus effect for me just getting on iron.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And one of her tests showed really low cholesterol, which is another cause. People get upset about high cholesterol when low cholesterol can be a problem.

[Tana Amen]

Well, and being put on the wrong antidepressant can be a disaster. And I learned that the hard way.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Do you want to share?

[Tana Amen]

Yeah, why don't we share that in the next one? When we talk about personality, but being put on the wrong antidepressant when someone is. Well, especially back when I was put on it and they didn't know as much about them and they were just like, oh, it helps with depression. But they weren't taking into account what type of brain you have or if you have ADD or if you have whatever, if you're more anxious brain or a more sleepy brain, they just put you on an antidepressant. And we read horror stories about people on Prozac and on different antidepressants because for some people it was a miracle cure. But not for everyone. Right? It just wasn't that way for everyone.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

It's very common after people have had a head injury. And I wrote a column in the local newspaper where I lived in Northern California, the Daily Republic, for years, probably a decade. I wrote a column every week and I wrote a column on the connection between head trauma and suicide. And I got a call late one night from a mother who was hysterical. And so I actually stayed late to see her. And she said her 16 year old son, who was normal and sweet and just, you know, one of her closest the people in her life, and he got into a bike accident where his front tire hit a curb and he flipped over onto his forehead. And she said after that he didn't do well in school, he was really irritable. He's very sort of angry and depressed. And at the age of 19, he shot and killed himself. And she said, do you think the head injury had anything to do? Because she was really blaming herself. And it's so common. And so what happens, people have head injuries, they get sad, they get disinhibited, they get mad, they have dark thoughts. And then they go to the pediatrician or the family practice doctor to the psychiatrist who. This kid meets the DSM 5 criteria for major depression. There's eight criteria. He has seven of them. And so he meets the criteria. And the first thing all people do is they put people on SSRIs. And what do SSRIs do? They drop activity in the brain. They're inhibitory, so they lower activity. But what happens when you start with low activity and someone puts you on something that lowers it further? Is it actually disinhibits? You and you're more likely to act in ways that you normally wouldn't act and sometimes can do some really awful things as is that happened in that case. So the takeaway I want people to have is depression is a symptom cluster. It's not a diagnosis by itself, and we should always be searching for the cause.

[Tana Amen]

And one question I have is if you are suffering from depression or you have a child who's suffering from depression, have you taken them in for a full assessment? I don't mean just someone questioning them. I mean, have you gotten their blood work done? Has someone actually dug deep to figure out what the cause behind the depression could be from a physiological, biological standpoint? We talk a lot about the brain, but when we check someone out, we look at the brain. But we also look at all of these other things. It's all important. So please post one thing you've learned. Tag us and you can go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com leave a question or a comment or review. You can also go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review. And if you do, go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com, there are instructions on how to leave a review and a question. And if you leave a question, you will be entered into a raffle to win my cookbook, Brain Warriors Way Cookbook,

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

that you sign for them.

[Tana Amen]

I will sign it.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Stay with us. Your Brain Matters. Amen Clinics helps people with brain scans and targeted treatment across 11 cities. Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, DC, Miami, New York, Seattle, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Orange County, California and San Francisco. Learn more at amenclinics.com welcome back.

[Tana Amen]

We are talking about depression and antidepressants this week. Before we get started, we would like to know one thing you've learned. If you want to post it at the end of the podcast, tag us. Go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com, you can leave us a question or review. We love to read your questions, but we want to know one thing you've learned or one question you have. So make sure you post that.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So speaking of reviews, love hearing great information about how to keep our brains healthy. Learning so much. And we'll be checking the podcast and we'll be checking the products I use to see how they rate. I'm now equipped to find out with the app Think Dirty. My concern is will I be able to find products that do what I really like or not? That Review is from Jem60 j e m m 60 awesome and we will

[Tana Amen]

answer that question in Our question and answer section. Jem, thanks. So when I met you, one of the interesting things. When I got my brain scanned two weeks after I met you, you were showing me my brain. You showed me where it was hurt, and I. And you asked me when I had a brain injury, and I didn't recall having one, but you were basically showing me where it was hurt, which made my frontal lobes a little sleepy. Made one of my frontal lobes, like, pretty sleepy, where you could see where it was hit. And you said, you know, I told you when I went through depression after my thyroid cancer, and you said, well, I hope they didn't put you on Prozac. And I literally. My jaw hit the table because. And I went, why? And you said, because it would be a terrible drug for you with a sleepy brain with sleepy frontal lobes. It would be the wrong drug for you. And I was like, that just explained an entire year of my life that I would rather, like, erase. So let's talk about when someone is put on the wrong antidepressant or any antidepressant, really, how it changes personality. Maybe it changes it for the good if it's the right thing, but maybe not. If it's the wrong drug, why does change?

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And if millions and millions of people are taking them. 23% of women between the ages of 20 and 60 are taking antidepressant medication. Just think about that. I mean, think about this is. Tens of millions of people are taking antidepressants that are almost always prescribed without any biological information.

[Tana Amen]

Right.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

That sounds crazy to me.

[Tana Amen]

And, yeah, it makes me angry. Okay. As the person who. As the person who was putting on,

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

you could probably hear a little bit more about what was going on.

[Tana Amen]

Well, so I'm actually writing a book right now about that time in my life, and it's hard to get through certain parts of it, and this is one of those parts. And it. It made me sort of angry, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to do this podcast, because after I had thyroid cancer, we've actually said this so many times, but for those of you who haven't heard, I had thyroid cancer, and I went through a really deep depression from being off my thyroid medication for a long time, which no one told me was gonna happen. So I was going through this depression, went to my doctor, he told me I should see a psychiatrist. And I was in a dark enough place that that was the second time that doctor told me to see a psychiatrist. Actually, that was the first time. The other time was the second time. So I Went and saw a psychiatrist because I was really dark. I was having really dark thoughts about wanting to be dead. And so it wasn't good. And so I went to the psychiatrist, and he put me on Prozac. Actually, to be fair, I knew I wanted to be on Prozac. I had read something about it. I was super depressed. I saw this book, and it gave me hope. So I walked in. All I wanted was him to give me a prescription. I didn't want his opinion. I didn't want to talk about anything for three years. I. I just wanted to.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Because you had no emotional trauma in your past.

[Tana Amen]

None. And I didn't like psychiatrists, and I just wanted. I just wanted drugs, okay? So I wanted to. I wanted Prozac, and I thought that was going to be the answer. But so. So in his defense, I did do that. Now he let me do that, and he shouldn't have. But I quickly went back to him and said, something's not right. Something is not right. And he said, are you depressed? And I said, no, I'm not depressed, actually, at all. I'm not anything. I don't feel sad. I don't feel happy. I don't feel depressed. I don't feel joy. I just feel sort of nothing. But what's worse is I'm very impulsive. Like, I'm making crazy decisions, and I'm. And I'm not anxious. I used to be very anxious, and I would think things through and I would fight with myself before making decisions. And now I just do it. I don't care.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And we often say some anxiety is good.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah. It was not good for me to not have anxiety at that phase of my life. So it was. It was not. It was. I ended up in Costa Rica on a dare. Okay. It was just a crazy, crazy time. So I told him, I'm like, I'm not behaving like myself. I don't recognize this person. He said, but you're not depressed. And maybe the problem is that. Not maybe. He said, the problem is you need to give it longer. And I actually think you need a higher dose. I argued with him, but he convinced me that I needed a higher dose. Sent me on my way, doubled my dose. My behavior got crazier. And I finally went back and I went, this is insane. I can't. Like, I'm not being myself. I'm going to get myself into trouble. This is crazy. And he told me I needed to give it more time. At which point I just took myself off of it. Never called him Again, now, I do not recommend, especially if you're on a high dose of any medication or going off of it and doing what I did and flushing it, you need to get off of it safely, go to a different doctor, have them take you off of it safely. But as I'm writing this book, I'm realizing there's a lot that goes on when you take these drugs. They don't just change your brain. Maybe it's because they change your brain, they change your personality.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Well, what's the organ of personality? It's your brain, right?

[Tana Amen]

And you explained to me when you said, I hope they didn't put you on Prozac, I literally was so angry at that moment because it really did change my life at the time. And the reason you said that was because Prozac, while it increases serotonin, decreases frontal lobe function. And my frontal lobe had been hurt in an accident.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So if your frontal lobes work too hard and, you know, clinically, we can tell that you're worried, you are rigid, you hold grudges. If things don't go your way, you get upset, you're argumentative and oppositional. And Prozac or Lexapro or Zoloft or medications like that can be helpful, but, you know, they have so many side effects. Why wouldn't we do the natural things? Increase serotonin, which, oh, by the way, you had been doing since you were a teenager. Exercise, which is exercising, that, you know, that was just something so important to you. Other people do it by being addicted to sugar, because sugar does it. The problem is it makes you fat and unhappy and diabetic and all sorts of problems. Right? So we're fans of exercise. We're definitely not fans of sugar. Or at BrainMD, we make serotonin mood support with five HTP and saffron, because saffron has been found head to head in over a dozen studies to be shown to be equally effective to antidepressants, but with virtually no side effects. In fact, it's pro sexual, it's pro memory, it helps with pms. So. So there just. There are other ways to do it. But it goes back to the question of, well, why are you depressed? Is it in your case, thyroid and actually some unresolved emotional problem?

[Tana Amen]

Nope, not me. I'm fine.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Right. And then the GI problems that you had, I mean, people just don't think about that. If your gut's not right, your brain is not right.

[Tana Amen]

I remember getting so mad at you and I'm like, this is why I'm not Dating a psychiatrist because you start going down this list of reasons. I'm like, oh, my God, he's trying to fix me.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Like I fixed you for me.

[Tana Amen]

Oh, that's so funny.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So if. If you're on medicine and it's really helping you, then I would just go to church and light candles and be grateful for that. Right. The brain is an organ, like the heart is an organ. The brain can have problems. If you need medicine for diabetes or heart disease or hypertension, take it. But when. When it comes to the brain, I just want to make sure people are doing everything they can to support their health. And I would say this, if you had heart disease too, you want to do everything you can to support your health. And then perhaps if you need medication, do it in the context of the brain warriors way mindset.

[Tana Amen]

Right. And if you aren't sure, like, I really think you need to go to someone who really understands what kind of changes can occur when you take certain antidepressants. Because like I said, it can change your personality. And the problem I have with that is if it changes your personality and you do something that you never normally would have done, whose fault is it at that point? Yeah. You have responsibility in it. But it's a little weird right now. We open this can of worms.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Oh, right.

[Tana Amen]

We open a can of worms.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I think about free will.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah. Which I don't like talking about.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

More complicated.

[Tana Amen]

I don't like talking about it because I tend to, like, really be into free will. But when I start to really understand our work, I know my free will was altered. I know it was.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And free will really is frontal lobe function.

[Tana Amen]

Right.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And if your frontal lobes were hurt in the rollover motor vehicle accident, and then someone put you on a medicine to lower frontal lobe function further, and. And then you do something that's not with your moral code.

[Tana Amen]

And it was someone I trusted to

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

say you're bad when the fact is it's more complicated.

[Tana Amen]

And one of the reasons we want to educate you, we want you educated, is because we don't want you judging, just trusting someone, like I did, because they have credentials or a lot of education. Yes, you want to go to someone who's well trained, but you also want to be your own advocate, because that's what got me into trouble. And when I tried to say no, I was struggling with, well, he's the one who's the doctor. Shouldn't I be listening?

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Yes.

[Tana Amen]

No, I will never do that again.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Stands for minor deity.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah. He's not my daddy. Not Going to do that again.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

But there's this new study on Ashwagandha that lowers stress and improves sleep. And interesting. We actually have Ashwagandha in our Focus and energy product and Focus and Energy. People think, oh, it's like a caffeine drink. It's like, no, it's got no caffeine, no sugar. It's got Ashwagandha, rhodiola, ginseng, green tea and choline. And the reason that Ashwagandha is there is it lowers stress but helps you focus at the same time. This study was actually done in India. A total of 60 participants randomly divided into two groups, the Ashwagandha group and the placebo group. And what they found in the Ashwagandha group, significant improvement in in sleep and anxiety and stress scores. And it was the same dose that we actually have in focus and energy.

[Tana Amen]

That's so interesting. So focus and energy, but gives you focus energy, but helps you sleep, Helps

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

you sleep and decreases your anxiety and stress.

[Tana Amen]

That's wild. Well, this one freaked me out. So this study that came from the University of Wash. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Back up. Yeah. Can we start over? All right. Well, this one freaked me out. This study talks about two types of drugs you may want to avoid for the sake of your brain. Benzodiazepines and anticholinergics. Well, benzos were obvious for a long

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

time and we've talked about it. So benzos are medications like Xanax or the generic is alprazolam, Ativan, Valium. And I stopped prescribing them because there was research that came out that showed there was a higher incidence of dementia. Just what this study is showing. And I didn't like how they looked on scans.

[Tana Amen]

Right. But the one that really freaked me out was the anticholinergics because we'll talk about why in a second. But this is from the University of Washington. They studied 3,500 people and they took people 65 and over and over a 10 year period, looked at all the drugs they had taken during that time during the study, 800 of them developed dementia. What they found was benzodiazepines and anticholinergics were involved and they could increase your risk of dementia by 54%. So anticholinergics, let's talk about what those are because they've been touted as sort of the safe sleeping pill. Right? So Benadryl, the Advil pm. Right. They've got anticholinergics in them to help you get sleepy. We used to give it in the hospital when we didn't want to give sleeping pills. And so whenever I'd be under, like if we traveled to a different time zone and I had to be up early to be on TV with you or something, I would take Advil PM because I thought, oh, well, that's safe. I don't, I rarely take it, but I would take it now and then. And then what happened is after surgery, I started not sleeping as well after I had anesthesia and wasn't doing as well. And when you travel, when you would come home, you tend to snore the night after you get back. I have no idea why, but when he travels, he's on planes. He snores when you get back. And so when he would snore, I would get up and take Benadryl.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So you're saying I was ruining your brain?

[Tana Amen]

Yes.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Is it my fault?

[Tana Amen]

Yeah. Well, now that I know, I'm not gonna let you ruin my brain. So we'll figure out another solution. But my point being the anticholinergics that I thought were fairly safe for sleep are not safe for sleep. So now I'm going back to my very natural ways, which I've got a whole criteria of ways that I sleep, but. So I've got a whole list of things I do with my thyroid condition. But. But that is not a safe way to sleep. And it increases your risk of dementia by 54%. Are you kidding me? Now that's for regular use, but when I saw my scan and saw that it was sleepier than usual between the anesthesia, I'm pretty sure the anticholinergics didn't help. So. Yeah.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Wow.

[Tana Amen]

Scary.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Well, this is an article that'll just make you cry. Nine year old arsonists charged with first degree murder and mobile home fire that killed five relatives, including three toddlers. As mother insists he's not a monster and just made a mistake. So the mother of a nine year old boy from Illinois who has been charged with murder in connection to a deadly arson fire that killed most of his immediate family has spoken out for the first time saying that the child suffers from mental illness and is not a monster. Katrina Allwood appeared on CBS this Morning two days after her sole surviving child, Kyle was charged with five counts of first degree murder. He'd been identified as having mental health challenges. Did you know that it is 11 years between the time a child first has their symptoms? It's 11 years between that time and the time they're actually diagnosed and get

[Tana Amen]

help but he was diagnosed.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Mother said everyone is looking at him as if he's some kind of monster and people make this mistake all the time. It's a horrible tragedy, no question.

[Tana Amen]

But, but, but he was diagnosed. Was he being treated?

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I don't know. The article doesn't say that. But to bring criminal charges is just a bit insane. Now you have to understand it. You have to protect other people around him. Yeah, this is a tricky one. Understand and protect him. And you know, my passion story is about my 9 year old nephew who attacked a little girl on the baseball field for no reason and he had a cyst the size of a golf ball occupying the space of his left temporal lobe. Or Jared, a story that we talk about who I just saw a lot, who had rages as a young person and had been put on multiple medications that only made the rages or worse, had a pattern in his brain called the ring of fire, that when you look at people who do bad things, not always, but often they have a troubled brain that if known could be fixed.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah, see, I would want to know more about the diagnosed mental illness on this one. That's that we talked about the can of worms, about how drugs can change your personality in our previous podcast this week and this is the Slippery slide.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Well actually the mom said on TV that the boy had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and adhd. So he was probably hearing voices, delusional.

[Tana Amen]

Then we have a responsibility too.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Mood swings. And of course I'm sure no one looked at his brain to know because anytime you get those diagnoses, especially at nine nation, at nine years old, something's severely wrong with that child's brain. And you know, the current day prescriptions are this medicine, that medicine without. That's what I'm really trying to under to understand.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah, scary. Okay, so more than 250 million children and teenagers will be obese by 2030. That's really scary. Even in China, which they've never really had an obesity issue in the past, is expected to have 61.9 million obese 5 to 19 year olds. This is just crazy. This is 34.5 million more than India, which is second place at 27.4. The US is third with 16.9 million youth. The UK comes in 36 with 1.3. And this is expected to completely overwhelm. This pandemic will overwhelm health services. With many countries being unable to cope with the demand of diabetes drugs and weight loss surgery. The increase shows a critical failure of government to respect and Protect. I want to read that again. This increase shows a critical failure of government to respect and protect our children's rights to good health. But I wanna go further than that. They won't even do the basic things like labeling food properly. That's what irritates me. Don't label things as health food that aren't health food and label them correctly about what the risks are, at least. At the very least, educate people. Don't just allow them to sell vape pens and foods and things like that that you know are terrible for you.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

It's a war.

[Tana Amen]

It's a war.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I mean, that's. That's why we talk about why we do the Brain Warriors Way podcast when that number of children will be obese.

[Tana Amen]

It makes me wonder if the agenda is to keep people sick, fat and depressed so you just have more control. It's bizarre. I know it's a conspiracy theory, but it's my theory.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I think it's ignorance.

[Tana Amen]

Well, I do too, but.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Okay. From jama. There's an association of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with teenage birth among girls and women in Sweden. So teenage, so what makes sense. So people go, why is ADD or ADHD increasing in the population? If you take 100 years, an ADD family will have five generations and more children per generation. They're more important where a non ADD family will only have four generations. And so they're getting pregnant. So on average, women have their first baby at the age of 26. But on average, if a girl has ADD or ADHD, she has her first baby at the age of 20 because of the impulsivity, there's a whole other generation involved, goes along with it. And so that all by itself. So an ADD girl is likely to get pregnant earlier and have more babies where a non ADD girl or woman is going to have her babies later and fewer of them. And when they were treated with medication, they had decreased pregnancy.

[Tana Amen]

That makes sense.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So because the medication actually helped them be less impulsive, I just thought that was.

[Tana Amen]

Well, if you look at the difference between, like, I've got two friends, one clearly has ADD from hell and one does not. You know, the one planned out her family and went, can I. How many kids can I afford? When can I afford to start? You know, the other one was like, what difference does that make? Like, you'll figure it out and just started popping out babies. It's very different how they think.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

On busy clinic days or long writing sessions, I take peak energy for clean, steady focus. No crash. It just won a 20, 25 nextie award, beating over 500 supplements. Get [e-mail] use code PI podcast20 for 20% off. Welcome back. In this episode, we're going to answer your questions. And earlier in the week, we promised Gem60 we're going to answer his or her question.

[Tana Amen]

Right.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I don't know what gem60 is, but before we do, Lee, think about what's the one thing you're going to learn during this podcast? And then post it on any of your social media sites. And don't forget to leave us a review, a comment, or a question. And when you do, we'll enter you into a raffle to win the Brain Warriors Way Cookbook.

[Tana Amen]

Okay, this is a good question.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Do you want to answer this one?

[Tana Amen]

I do. We'll both answer it. But let me start. So I've been on a mission. I have been posting on my Instagram a lot and we did a podcast about natural products. I'm on this mission to start to replace everything I can that's toxic with the app Think Dirty. And I was shocked at how many things. Yeah. So you can actually run your hands through my hair now. Cause I don't have any hairspray.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

She stopped using so much hairspray, or none. Her hair is prettier. Well, I don't know if it's softer.

[Tana Amen]

It's in my face.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

No, it's prettier because you do this for me and I say it's prettier.

[Tana Amen]

Thank you. It's in my face, but it's okay because it's not toxic anymore. So it's good. He likes it better. And I guess that's what really matters. So I've been.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

That's what really matters.

[Tana Amen]

It's what really matters. So I'm trying really hard to replace everything. And I agree, Jim, that it was difficult at first. So when I started this journey, you know what, eight years ago, the products weren't as good. It was really hard. Especially things like makeup and sunscreen and hairspray. And they were not good. They were hard. They were hard to switch. Now there are so many great products. So several of my brands that I love for body products and face and makeup are things like 100% pure. Luxe is really good for makeup. Ilia is really good. There's some really great makeups and products out there now for household products, ecos is awesome. 7th generation is awesome. And they actually make products that work. So to answer your question, yes, they work now. Do they always work the same? So to be honest, there are times where if we're filming and we're filming something really important, I need HD makeup. Okay. Then I actually do need something that looks different than the natural stuff that doesn't really look the same. Right? Well, you think it looks the same. The same, but it doesn't look the same. It doesn't look the same. So. So during those times that I have

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

to use, doesn't she look awesome? For those of you that are watching,

[Tana Amen]

what are they going to say? First of all, they can't say anything.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

They can write it in. Yeah, she looks awesome.

[Tana Amen]

Okay. So anyways, the point being this. What I decided to do was go as like, I haven't found a way around hair dye because I'm not ready to go gray yet. But I did find a less toxic version that has no ammonia in it. So I found less toxic versions of things. And so what I do.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

That's what you always say, compared to

[Tana Amen]

what, compared to what? And so what I do is during the week, when I'm not filming, when I'm not in front of people, I really wear almost nothing. So I've gone to this place, which I never thought I could do, but I'm doing no makeup. Almost like maybe some blush, you know, and lip gloss or lip balm. That way, when I do. On the rare occasion that I do, I'm not doing it very often. I'm not overburdening my body with all these toxins. I just don't do it very often anymore.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So you're making. You're being nice to your liver, Right?

[Tana Amen]

And so I'm doing like a 95. 5 rule now.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Liver. Just like we should be, like a whole campaign.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Be nice to you.

[Tana Amen]

What did it ever do to you other than help you? So just like we do with food 955. I'm doing that with product now. There you go.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So I use Kiss My Face shaving cream. I've used Barbasol ever since I was 14 until I got Think Dirty, the app. And it was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm like, no, I'm not going to put something on my face every day that hurts me. And now I'm like, only shaving every other day. But Kiss My Face is rated, like, A2 and it lasts longer.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So it's actually cheaper because, you know, the lie is, oh, I can't do that. It's so expensive. And, you know what the lie really is, is you're not that smart because you're not going to, like, actually take Time, focus. Find things you love that love you back.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah, it takes a little time. So if we help you with the time part, like Babos makes a really. Babos, Babos, whatever makes a great sunscreen. That's a zero. That's really hard to find. Sunscreens are hard to get that are non toxic. That one's a zero. So that's really great.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

All right, more questions. After hearing Tana describe her experience with brain fog following anesthesia, my question is, does sedation for surgery affect the brain as much as general anesthesia? This year I've had two total knee replacements, both done with a block administered through my spine and IV sedation. It's 10 weeks after the second surgery and I'm still rehabbing three times a week, but tire easily. What are your recommendations for optimal brain health following these surgeries? P.S. i have learned so much through your podcasts and books. Thank you for making them available. From Carol. I think you had did the exact right thing is by doing the block and the IV sedation versus general anesthesia.

[Tana Amen]

Because general anesthesia, you actually aren't breathing for yourself. You're on a machine. It's a very different thing. So I'm assuming it's probably not great for you, but probably not as bad as general anesthesia, right?

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Not as bad. That would be the thing I would do.

[Tana Amen]

But I want to answer her question about why she tires easily. People underestimate the healing necessary after something like a knee surgery. Because your knee is small. Right. So they don't really think about it. It's bone and it requires a lot of healing and it takes a long time to heal and it does make you tire easily. So that's not abnormal. Just FYI.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

You want to read the next one?

[Tana Amen]

You guys are terrific. Thank you.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Thank you.

[Tana Amen]

You're full of so much good information and everybody should be a brain warrior. I'm writing to you to ask a question. I took the brain health assessment and it said for me to work out to lift weights twice a week. I didn't know which muscle groups to work or like which days. So thank you and God bless. Okay, so I'm assuming the question here is the brain assessment said for him to work out, lift weights twice a week, and doesn't know which muscle groups to work.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Yeah. So I would do upper body one day, lower body the next day, or

[Tana Amen]

you can do circuit training both days so we're less focused on if you're gonna be a bodybuilder, then find someone who's gonna help you do the perfect workout to build which muscles on what days. No, we're focused on your brain health. We want you to be overall healthy and that means move your body. Just get up and move and do exercise a couple times a week. And if you're gonna do we want you to work, we want you to more than two days a week. But if you're going to do weights two days a week, you can either do upper body one day, lower body the other day, or do circuit training and do the whole body both days, twice a week.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

So do something for your chest, something for your upper back, do your abs, something for your lower back, your arms, your triceps, the front of your legs, the back of your legs.

[Tana Amen]

And I have a whole basic workout in Omni diet. If you're not sure where to start, I have an entire basic workout to get you started in Omni diet. I also post on my instagram on

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

tanaaiman.com is there there's workout stuff.

[Tana Amen]

There's a lot of workouts for free

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

on Brain Fit Life, which we're really

[Tana Amen]

excited, but it will get you started. Don't get so hung up on what to do. Just start doing it.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Next question. I recently joined your podcast and have listened to several of them in the last couple of days. I'm trying to decrease the toxicity in household. My problem is finding personal products. The guys in my house will like body wash, shampoo, deodorant. What products do you like and use? Dr. Women. So Alafia for one. I mean, you know, I don't have a lot of hair so shampoo is gone. But Alafia makes this great body wash. Not terribly expensive. I get it on Amazon. I like how it smells. They have a couple of different and

[Tana Amen]

I've got a couple of ideas for my teenage son.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

It's all about the smell. Thanks so much for your help and I love the podcast from Dang.

[Tana Amen]

Okay.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

From Dina.

[Tana Amen]

So I think a lot of men would love the one you use because it really doesn't have a lot of smell. It just smells very light. Mint. But if your son loves fragrant, likes the smell of things, if that matters to him, then one that I found that I love, besides 100% pure, they've got a amazing ones. They have a lime one and a eucalyptus one that's fantastic. But purtanica, I found Purtanica that has rosemary mint and lavender and rosemary mint and vanilla. One of those. Anyways, it's super clean smelling light. It's not girly and so it's just clean and that one's a zero on think dirty. For deodorant, Biosense is my favorite. It's because there's other ones that are a zero, but they don't work as well. Biosense actually works. You can get that at Sephora, actually. So Biosense is amazing. It works really well and I think it's a zero too. So those are my favorites for shampoo, puritanica or 100% pure.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Why don't you read this one?

[Tana Amen]

I've been watching your podcast for the last three to four months and bought the book Brain Warriors Way and I'm grateful that I found you. Your information has been so helpful and I'm ready to change. Awesome. How do you feel about intermittent fasting? Oh, I just did. I just did a thing on a video on my Instagram on that. I take blood pressure medication morning and night and I'm not sure if intermittent fasting is safe. I do feel much more fatigued since going on the medication. I have a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, recently diagnosed. My mother had it and at 63, it's a lot to comprehend and navigate my health. What do you suggest to help me lose weight safely? Thank you for enlightening all of us. I love this question. There's so many things.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

The brainwashers way is just perfect for you.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And you might want to start intermittent fasting with 12 hours rather than 16 hours and just see how you feel and see if you can go to 13 or 14 hours. I try to do intermittent fasting actually most days.

[Tana Amen]

Yeah.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And so if I finished eating last night at 7 and I didn't have anything to eat until 9 o' clock this morning, so that's 14 hours. And I try to do that routinely. And the beautiful thing it does is it just cuts down nighttime eating, which is what puts fat on people's bodies.

[Tana Amen]

Right. And I want to address the heart medication because I actually was on heart medication at one point. It does make you feel pretty yucky at first. Now they say that most of the time you'll adjust to it and you won't feel as awful. If you continue to feel that bad, go talk to your doctor because most of the time there are other medications they can use. They can switch you to something else that's equally effective. If that one's you're not agreeing with you. Now, that's not always true, but sometimes that's true. So make sure you do that. And one thing that's gonna help you is light exercise. You wanna keep the Blood flowing, right? It's gonna help you feel better.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

One more question. On a recent road trip, we watched several of your YouTube videos where you recommended on the sugar epidemic. Knowing that you and Tana often travel, I was wondering how you guys eat clean on trips away from home. We packed some things that we took with us, but struggled to always find healthy options for meals. What are your solutions for clean eating when you are away from home or traveling? Thanks again for all you both are doing. You've changed the way we think from Melanie.

[Tana Amen]

So, Melanie, I think, first of all, thank you for that. You're going to learn. First of all, we're 95.5. We don't do it. I want people to hear this. We eat super clean 95% of the time once in a while. If you're out somewhere, I mean, there was one time we literally got stuck in the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing. I remember we got McDonald's because it was the first time I had McDonald's in, like, 10 years. And I felt like it was going to make me sick, but there was literally nothing else. And so it's not like it never happens, but it's so rare. Okay, so the 95.5rule applies. The second thing is we do try to be prepared. So we travel with bars. We travel with, like, I like truth bars. I haven't found a bar that I'm completely in love with yet. So I'm actually gonna try to make one. But I travel with protein powder and bars. Cause if you have protein powder, you just dump it in some water, travel with nuts. But you're gonna find that as you do this, what's gonna happen? The biggest obstacle to finding healthy food on the road is your mindset. There's healthy food all around you, or at least healthier. So we say, compared to what? Healthier options. Even at McDonald's, you can get scrambled eggs.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

I'm not sure when you go to a restaurant that you go, oh, I like this salad, but dressing on the side. No cranberries, no croutons or fried onions. I mean, you'll know. What's the healthy thing? If you're a brain warrior and just be assertive in a kind way. And most restaurants, because they want you to come back, are going to do what you ask them to do. So it just takes forethought. And in the Brain Warriors Way Cookbook, Tana actually has lots of tips for snacks. All right, we have to stop. But this has been a great week.

[Tana Amen]

It has.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

And I adore you.

[Tana Amen]

And I adore you.

[Dr. Daniel Amen]

Thank you for being my partners, Sam.