The Trauma You Can't Think Away (Because It Lives in Your Body) with Brittany Snow

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: "The Trauma You Can't Think Away (Because It Lives in Your Body)"

Change Your Brain Every Day
Hosts: Dr. Daniel Amen & Tana Amen
Guest: Brittany Snow
Date: April 6, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the intersection of trauma, mental health, and brain science through a deeply personal and practical conversation with actress Brittany Snow. Dr. Amen performs a live brain health consultation, exploring Brittany’s history of anxiety, insomnia, and eating disorders, and sharing tailored strategies for emotional healing, improved sleep, and long-term brain health—especially given her family history of Alzheimer's. The discussion encompasses cutting-edge neuroscience, trauma processing (including EMDR), and actionable, hopeful guidance for anyone struggling with rumination, negative thoughts, or the aftereffects of trauma.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brittany’s Background and Mental Health Journey

• Brittany describes herself as a lifelong “sensitive and anxious” overthinker, with empathy as both a superpower and source of struggle (03:03).
• Child acting, family history of Alzheimer’s, and personal struggles with eating disorders shaped her coping style, leading to sleep issues and efforts to “slow [her] brain down” (00:00, 03:03).
• The looming fear of developing Alzheimer's, due to her father’s diagnosis, is a major motivator for seeking help (03:03).

2. Negative Thoughts, Anxiety, and Control

• Dr. Amen identifies Brittany’s “busy” brain and shows her SPECT brain scan, highlighting overactivity linked to anxiety, rumination, and trauma—but reassures her she “has a beautiful brain” (05:22–06:00, 26:40).
  • Quote: “You actually have a beautiful brain. I'm going to show it to you in a minute.” – Dr. Amen [05:27]
• They discuss Brittany’s use of obsessive behaviors (eating disorder, journaling, calorie counting, etc.) as ways to manage an out-of-control mind—not about food or appearance, but about finding calm (10:18–10:53).
  • Quote: “My eating disorder really stemmed from just getting my brain to stop.” – Brittany Snow [10:18]

3. The Physical Legacy of Trauma

• Dr. Amen explains how unprocessed trauma “stays” in the brain, creating hypervigilance, sleep problems, and anxiety that “can’t be thought away” (27:57–28:56).
• The conversation touches on epigenetics—how chemicals like aspartame (from diet sodas) may fuel generational anxiety (11:33–11:49).

4. Approaching Healing: EMDR, Tracking Triggers, and “Killing” Negative Thoughts

• Dr. Amen recommends EMDR for trauma, guiding Brittany to create a timeline of life events to identify “targets” for therapy, encouraging her to become a “trigger hunter” rather than avoiding pain (06:02–07:32, 29:33).
  • Quote: “We go find them and then blow them up so that they don't have to...We just want to get the past out of the present.” – Dr. Amen [07:06–07:32]
• Discusses Dr. Amen’s “ANT”s (Automatic Negative Thoughts) model—writing down, then “killing” or questioning negative thoughts for more accurate thinking (13:49–14:51).
  • Quote: “Write down 30 of your worst thoughts. And then...to individually kill them.” – Dr. Amen [14:23]
• Suggests specific tools: writing nightmares and giving them new endings to help them dissipate (15:51–16:15).

5. Naming the Negative Voice

• Brittany calls her internal negative dialogue “Frank,” likening it to a loud, obnoxious wedding guest she can’t control at night (18:26–19:09).
  • Quote: “He's like that drunk uncle at the wedding that's just really loud and obnoxious. That's why I named him Frank.” – Brittany Snow [18:52]

6. Personalized Brain Health & Alzheimer's Prevention

• Dr. Amen introduces the “BRIGHT MINDS” protocol—11 risk factors to manage for preventing Alzheimer’s, noting Brittany’s scan shows no early signs (31:22–34:17).
  • Encourages regular exercise, hormone checks (especially progesterone for women 40+), consistent supplement use (omega-3, saffron), and dental health.
• Highlights benefits of supplements like “Happy Saffron” and the need to establish small, daily healthy habits (37:15–37:43).

7. Sleep, Supplements, & Substance Use

• Brittany admits heavy reliance on Ambien, ZzzQuil, or other aids to sleep, which triggers guilt and anxiety (17:00–17:55, 40:19–41:12).
• Dr. Amen stresses the plan is to support her off sedative sleep aids, using behavioral changes instead, and suggests a consultation with his trusted sleep doctor (30:46).
• For reward-driven behavior (e.g., nighttime wine), Dr. Amen suggests finding new healthy rituals, like “brain-healthy hot chocolate” (20:26–20:58).

8. Resilience, Cognitive Bias, and Ownership

• Identifies Brittany’s “negativity bias,” the brain’s tendency to fixate on what’s wrong, and trains her to list “what went well today” at night (22:50–23:53).
• Emphasizes that every day is an opportunity to “win or learn”—and setbacks are part of growth (42:31).

9. Action Plan: Practical Next Steps

• Begin EMDR with Dr. Amen, starting with a detailed timeline and a list of 30 negative thoughts [29:33, 54:13].
• Daily diaphragmatic breathing: inhale 4 seconds, exhale 8 seconds (“triggers the parasympathetic response”) (38:45–39:11).
• Adopt a new rule: “Frank can’t show up at night”—schedule “worry time” earlier in the day (24:29–25:14).
• Track habits, prioritize supplements, hormone checks, exercise, and sleep logs.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the link between control and obsessive behaviors:
  “It was obsessive. It was the obsessive thing that kept me from thinking about anything else for sure. But now that you take that away and I'm like...” – Brittany Snow [11:03]
• On neural resilience despite hardship:
  “You just have a lovely brain. Despite having periods where you’ve been bad to it.” – Dr. Amen [26:52]
• Action over avoidance:
  “Become a trigger hunter...As opposed to avoiding them, we go find them and then blow them up.” – Dr. Amen [07:06–07:32]
• On daily habits:
  “People want big changes, but the brain responds to small, consistent habits.” – Dr. Amen [19:13]
• On progress and setbacks:
  “Every day, you win or you learn, then you stop being attached to the outcome.” – Dr. Amen [42:31]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–03:03: Brittany introduces her anxiety, insomnia, and eating disorder as ways to quiet her mind
• 05:21–07:32: Dr. Amen explains SPECT brain scan and introduces EMDR and life timeline therapy
• 10:18–11:11: Brittany unpacks the roots of her eating disorder, control, and calming obsessive tendencies
• 13:49–14:51: Dr. Amen teaches writing/killing Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs)
• 18:26–19:09: Naming the negative internal monologue “Frank”
• 22:50–23:53: Addressing “negativity bias” and sleep routine strategies
• 26:40–28:56: Review of Brittany’s SPECT scan—findings and implications for trauma/PTSD
• 31:22–34:17: "BRIGHT MINDS" Alzheimer’s prevention discussion
• 38:45–39:11: Guided explanation of diaphragmatic breathing for calming
• 42:31: “Win or learn” approach to setbacks
• 54:13–55:38: Dr. Amen’s vision for rapid, compassionate healing

---

Further Resources & Recommendations

• Books/References:

  • Memory Rescue & Preventing Alzheimer’s by Dr. Amen
  • The End of Mental Illness by Dr. Amen
  • The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
  • Loving What Is by Byron Katie
  • The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman
  • Captain Snout and the Superpower Questions by Dr. Amen

• Apps & Tools:

  • Brain Fit Life 5.0 (tracking, music, hypnosis, breathing exercises)
  • Amen University courses (sleep, brain health)
  • Happy Saffron and supplements at BrainMD

• Recommended Actions for Listeners:

  • Try writing down negative thoughts and using “is it true?” questioning
  • Experiment with diaphragmatic breathing nightly
  • Schedule daily “worry time”—not at bedtime
  • Seek clinical trauma resolution (e.g., EMDR) for persistent anxiety/insomnia

---

Tone & Closing Thoughts

This episode is vulnerable, hopeful, and practical. Brittany's candid self-reflection and Dr. Amen’s affirming, science-based advice reassure listeners that persistent anxiety, negative thoughts, and even long-held trauma can be addressed with compassion, structured interventions, and small, daily changes. The core message: “You are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better.”

---

[End of Summary]

Transcript

[A]

I just can't stop my thoughts. And it's almost like they're so loud and they're coming so fast that taking something that makes me feel like I'm doing something about it does slow the thoughts down. I knew if I was obsessing over something over here, then the ticker tape in my brain was more steady. My eating disorder really stemmed from just getting my brain to stop.

[B]

Brittany Snow is an American actress best

[A]

known as Chloe Beal in the Pitch Perfect franchise.

[B]

Dr. Aman and Brittany discuss how negative thoughts can disrupt your mental health and

[A]

what you can do to fix it.

[B]

Women don't know this. When you turn 40, 10 years before you go into menopause, progesterone starts to drop. Progesterone is sort of like the brain's natural benzo. All of a sudden they can't sleep, they're anxious, they're irritable, they start drinking, taking Xanax and Ambien.

[A]

I think that's also why I'm here with the sleeping. It's not exactly the same feeling in my body, but it is a similar feeling of

[B]

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, every thought, every decision, every success is created by your brain. And the one thing I've learned from looking at over 250,000 brain scans over the last 30 years is that you are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better and I can prove it. This is why I created brain fit life 5.0 to help you assess your brain and then help you optimize it by knowing your brain type and giving you access to the tools you need to have a better brain and a better life. It includes a 30 day happiness challenge, brain and mental health trackers, hypnosis, audios, brain enhancing music, and tools to conquer stress and anxiety. You can feel better, think sharper and live happier. Go to the App store and and download brain fit life 5.0. Today I am here with actress Brittany Snow and I'm so excited to meet you. As I told you, I watched part of Hunting Wise.

[A]

Yeah, it's good that you probably didn't watch the whole thing. It gets kind of crazy at the

[B]

end there and I'm like, stressed. There's a lot of stress with that. But it must have been fun. It was fun to film. So I read your history, I've looked at your scans, I looked at your testing. I sort of have a good idea why you're here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But tell me your goal. What do you want to get out of this?

[A]

Sure. I mean, I think my whole life, I've sort of had a very sensitive and anxious personality ever since I was a kid. I grew up as a child actor, and I think just by nature, I'm sort of an overthinker, which I feel like is a superpower of mine. I'm pretty empathetic towards other people, and I can read the room really well and who people want me to be. But I think it's actually gotten me into a lot of trouble as of late. And now that I am 40, I just turned 40 a couple of days ago, I feel like my head is doing more damage than good. Whereas that used to be sort of something I could manage. I'm not sleeping at all at all anymore. And my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's six years ago, and it's pretty progressed. And I know that the things that I'm taking for sleep and the ways that I'm coping are leading me down a path that is a little scary for me because of what's happened to my dad. So I want to. I want to have the best foot forward of how I can be better and also how I can get more peace in my head.

[B]

So you would be okay if I put you on an Alzheimer's prevention program that also helped your sleep?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And helped your anxiety?

[A]

That would be what I'm here for.

[B]

This is what I'm so excited about. It's. I wrote a book called Memory Rescue.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

After I wrote another one called Preventing Alzheimer's. And then. And it's a short answer, and we'll go through it, is you prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors that lead you to Alzheimer's disease. And then I wrote a book called the End of Mental Illness, because what I realized, they're the same things that help depression, that help anxiety, that help adhd, and I got so excited about that. That's really interesting. This is the program that helps all of those. And spec. The imaging study we did with you actually tells me if you are headed toward Alzheimer's disease decades before you have any symptoms.

[A]

Interesting. Okay.

[B]

You don't.

[A]

Oh, thank God. I could cry. Actually, that's me.

[B]

Yeah. You actually have a beautiful brain. I'm going to show it to you in a minute.

[A]

I'm getting emotional. It's.

[B]

It's busy. It's busy.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

I. I understand why you're suffering.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But there are natural ways to calm it down. And as Hard as you work at acting, because you're obviously really great at it, you have to do that for managing your mind.

[A]

Definitely.

[B]

We're gonna talk about that.

[A]

Okay, I'm ready.

[B]

Have you ever done emdr, a specific psychological treatment for trauma?

[A]

I haven't. And, you know, some therapists that I've gone to have said that they specialized in. In ed, emdr, and I didn't feel like they did that. It was just a lot of talk therapy. I have years and years and years of talk therapy.

[B]

And, you know, one thing to think about is do a timeline where you just said you're gonna. You just turned 30. Right.

[A]

Thank you. 40.

[B]

40. Okay. So eight. Eight pages. Draw a line down the middle of the page on the left side. So 0 to 5, 5 to 10, up to 40 on the left side. What awesome things happen. Because a lot of awesome things have happened for you. Right? And on the right side, what awful things happened. And, you know, that'll take you, like, two hours to do. But if you do it, you have all the targets for emdr, and then you become a trigger hunter. It's like, okay, where are all the triggers? And as opposed to avoiding them, that's what people do, right? Or reacting to them. We go find them and then blow them up so that they don't have to. We just want to get the past out of the present.

[A]

Definitely.

[B]

ADD diagnosis is interesting.

[A]

Definitely.

[B]

Your brain is an add. And the X test you did for me, where you were doing the scan, and every time you saw a letter, you hit the spacebar, except when you saw the letter X. That's one test to diagnose add. Yours was fine.

[A]

Great.

[B]

Was just normal. I'm like, it's childhood trauma.

[A]

Yeah. I think in my early 20s, I was about 23, and I was getting. That was when I started into my recovery with my eating disorder and things. And I actually wrote and directed a movie about this time. If anybody ever cares or has time to know about this.

[B]

But what's the name of it?

[A]

It's called Parach, and it's about my early 20s, and I went to this doctor. This is not necessarily in the movie, but this was in my real life. And bless him, I think he just didn't know exactly what to do with all the symptoms that I was having. And so I was on a lot of antidepressants and Adderall, and I think the combination was not helping. But I do have to look back at that time and think to myself, although it brought me a lot of negative circumstances, I also stopped all the harmful behaviors that I was doing. And I don't know if that was like the antidepressants or the Adderall or what was going on, but, like, whatever that combination was got me to begin my 17 years of recovery that I have now.

[B]

And none of your doctors looked at your brain?

[A]

No, I just filled out a 30

[B]

page sheet, which is insane.

[A]

Yeah, right?

[B]

I mean, psychiatrists are the only medical doctors who never look at the organ they treat.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And they call me crazy, and I'm not crazy.

[A]

I'd rather them look at my brain before just giving me pills. Yeah, that would have been nice.

[B]

And how many young actresses have an eating disorder?

[A]

I don't know. I mean, I hope it's changed a lot because of people being really open with their story. I know for me, in the early aughts, it was definitely not prevalent and you didn't talk about these things at all. And if anything, being really, really thin and almost having eating disorder was very in vogue and there was a stigma around it. And so I would hope that now that's changed and there's less women with eating disorders. But no, there's not. Okay. You know this.

[B]

No,

[A]

that's really sad.

[B]

Yeah. Because if you're being. If your value is in your looks and I've. I've been on sets and look at the food, it's just awful. And it's like, well, how is that consistent with looking healthy?

[A]

I mean, but as you probably know more than anyone, eating disorders for me, and I think for a lot of people, have nothing to do with the way you look or food. It had to do with me feeling like I could manage the emotions that I was having and calm my brain. I knew if I was obsessing over something over here, then the ticker tape in my brain was more steady. And I've said this on other podcasts before, but like, my eating disorder really stemmed from just getting my brain to stop. I just wanted my brain to stop. And if I was.

[B]

When you fasted, did your brain stop?

[A]

I was journaling everything, counting every calorie, going to the gym. I mean, that was my best.

[B]

Gave you something else.

[A]

It was obsessive. It was the obsessive thing that kept me from thinking about anything else for sure. But now that you take that away and I'm like.

[B]

Because I think. I mean, we probably agree, a lot of it is control.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Were you drinking diet soda at the time?

[A]

My gosh, my family loves diet soda. I drank diet soda like my whole childhood I don't, I mean, I don't drink it anymore, thank goodness. But yes, my mom would go to 711 and picking up from school with one of the big Gulps with a Diet Coke.

[B]

So there's a study I posted on it recently where they gave mice aspartame. The sweetener and diet soda made them really anxious and then they gave them Valium and it calmed them down so they gave them a benzo.

[A]

I'm like, interesting.

[B]

But that wasn't the thing that was shocking about the study. The babies who had never had aspartame were anxious and the grandbabies were anxious. And aspartame came into the US market around 1980 and we have seen anxiety disorders skyrocket. And could it be something that you didn't do at all? But it's called epigenetic and epigenetic fallout from a chemical. And there's probably a hundred different chemicals that we've introduced.

[A]

Well, my family definitely had the fair share of the 711 in the circles case.

[B]

So I would kill the aspartame if you haven't. Sounds like I have.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Propranolol helps you.

[A]

It does.

[B]

It's my favorite.

[A]

Oh, good.

[B]

This is my favorite anxiety medicine. Because it's not addictive. You can take it when you need. Prevents the motor expression of anxiety. And so a lot of my musicians take it and performers take it when they need to perform if it makes them very helpful. Anxious. Yeah.

[A]

But I've now gotten to the point where I take it at night because I just can't stop my thoughts. And it's almost like they're so loud and they're coming so fast that maybe it's osmosis, I'm not sure. But taking something that makes me feel like I'm doing something about it does slow the thoughts down a little bit, maybe.

[B]

Have you ever written them down?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I have a journal that I just. I let myself do that worrying for 10 minutes and then I'll shut it away and I'll be like, okay, now I'm going to sleep.

[B]

Has anybody in your therapy taught you to kill them, get rid of them, eliminate them?

[A]

I try to do that when I meditate. I like picture them as like this like puff of air that sort of like goes away.

[B]

I like that. So I call them ants. Automatic negative thoughts. The thoughts that they're automatic, they just come and they infest you and then they stack and then they attack you. But if you. This is the 30 time exercise. Write down 30 of your worst thoughts. And then I'm going to give you a process.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

To individually kill them. And it's not positive thinking, although you could use more of that. It's accurate thinking because I never, I, I'm, I always want to tell myself the truth.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if I went into that thought and flipped it to the opposite but it wasn't true, I'm like, I wouldn't believe it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But I want to always tell myself the truth with a positive spin because negativity is associated with too much cortisol, which shrinks your brain and increases your risk of Alzheimer's disease.

[A]

Oh goodness. Well, can't have that.

[B]

Okay. Sleep, recurrent nightmares, stress related dreams going all the way back to your teens and twenties. Themes of guilt, responsibility, water drowning, an apocalyptic scenario.

[A]

There's always zombies. I can't even watch zombie video or movies or anything like never seen Living Dead or Walker Walk the Dead or what is it? Never seen it. I can't see it because I only have dreams. I think it's probably like weekly where there is some sort of apocalyptic.

[B]

So there's, there's a fun strategy for this.

[A]

I do say I do stay alive a lot of the time and I play dead and I've got like different rooms that I go in. I've got it, I got, got it figured out.

[B]

But well, if you write them down and then because you're also a writer, give it a different ending where you do live, pretty soon that exercise of writing them down and giving them a new ending, they start to dissipate.

[A]

Oh really?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean I'm always living and I'm always okay. It's just the fear of being. It's like, it's a bunch of hiding or like hiding in the dreams. It's the like anxiety of that I, I'm going to be found.

[B]

So that, so dreams usually contain three things. A wish or a fear. So yours are probably fear based. Definitely something from the past and a current event. And if you can figure out those three things.

[A]

Zombies don't in my day to day come around. But I'm sure it's something that has to do with the feeling of not having control of.

[B]

And you can help with that. Sleepwalking when you were a child.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But not snoring or grinding your teeth. Anxiety about sleep.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Was a primary contributor to it, to everything.

[A]

I, I don't want to go to sleep at night because I know, you know other people will go to sleep right away. They hit the pillow. It will take me two to Three hours to go to sleep. And. And it'll take me about an hour and a half if I take something with it.

[B]

But I like ambient. Like, even if you take Ambien, it's still taking you an.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Hour and a half.

[A]

I have to take it like an hour and a half before I'm even thinking about going to sleep. And I don't feel anything. I don't feel like, you know, people are like, oh, you take Ambien, you must do crazy things. I'm like, I could ride a bike. Not going to go in a car, but.

[B]

Did hypnotist make you a tape for sleep?

[A]

I did that for 21 days. Yeah.

[B]

Did it help?

[A]

No. That's why I'm here. Not really. Yeah, I like. I like hypnotism and I do like going to sleep with something, but I almost feel more anxious listening to it because there's this sort of back and forth in my head of like, is it working? Why haven't you fallen asleep yet? This is just prolonging you sleeping. Could you be sleeping now? You probably shouldn't be listening to this. And that goes on for the 20 minutes judgment. It's judging. It's. I'm not doing it right. Why haven't you done this right? You can't fall asleep. Everybody else falls asleep.

[B]

So one thing I want you to do now is I want you to give your mind a name.

[A]

His name is Frank. I've listened to your other podcast about this. His name is Frank. And then when it's like a cute, fun version of me, her name is Frankie. But Frank is up at night talking to me. Yeah, yeah. Frank is very loud at night. I know.

[B]

That is our goal, getting Frank to shut up.

[A]

He's like that drunk uncle at the wedding that's just really loud and obnoxious. That's why I named him Frank. I was like, you know that guy?

[B]

So our. Our goal is to corral Frank.

[A]

He's still there. He's still at the wedding.

[B]

He's still at the wedding.

[A]

He's still there.

[B]

He's still all night.

[A]

He wants to be there all night long.

[B]

People want big changes, but the brain responds to small, consistent habits. What you do every day matters. That's why I focus on daily brain support. Go to brainmd.com and use code podcast20 for 20% off my favorite brain food supplements. So we did this test with you. It's called Total Brain and how you filled out the questions, anxiety, some substance stuff you were worried about.

[A]

I think the substance Stuff is tied to my dopamine eating disorder life where, like, after a long day at work, I'll go home and I'll pour a glass of wine and I won't even drink it. I just want the feeling that I rewarded myself for a long day. And so I like the feeling of good for you, Brit. You get a treat, and then I. And then I don't even drink it.

[B]

Sometimes I wonder if we could come up with something else.

[A]

I know, but chocolate, all these things that are like, the same feeling are bad for you too. So I think, you know, well, every

[B]

night I make myself and my wife brain healthy. Hot chocolate. So. Unsweetened almond milk. Raw cacao. Put it in a blender. Heat. Heat the milk. Put it in a blender a little bit. There's a company I like called Sweet Leaf. They make chocolate stevia.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

It's like 60 calories and it tastes awesome. And I love it and it loves me. And so that's the trick with whatever you drank or e. Do you love it?

[A]

Right.

[B]

Because there's no deprivation in getting well. Otherwise you won't get well. Do you love and does it love you back? And so there's a whole bunch of things to do to reward yourself that doesn't trigger rebound. Frank. Because what happens if you have a glass of wine? They'll sort of shut them up for a while. It'll suppress the neuronal function that's already busy for you, and then it'll rebound. And it'll rebound either later that night or the next day, and you're like, oh, well, I should drink. But what you're doing is you end up chasing the withdrawal.

[A]

Yes. I know these things.

[B]

Social anxiety at risk. You're good at reading faces. Really good.

[A]

Oh, good.

[B]

You're actually not that paranoid. Often people, when they grow up in trauma, they're really good at reading negative, negative faces. You get your feelings hurt, it tends to stick.

[A]

Oh, yeah, definitely. I'm still mad about somebody from two weeks ago.

[B]

Stress and anxious. Yes. Not depressed. Your memory. This is long term memory. Could be better.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Short term memory is fine. Your focus. So another one of these ADD things. I look for spine.

[A]

Oh, yeah? What's that?

[B]

Planning could be better. Flexibility. You like things a certain way. And if they don't go a certain way.

[A]

Oh, a thousand percent. I'm surprised it's even a little bit to the right at all.

[B]

Well, it's here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. The one I'm worried about is the negativity bias. You're Resilient, you're social. But I want to begin to change that.

[A]

What is that?

[B]

That's where your brain goes to what's wrong.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Much faster.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Than what's right. And some simple strategies. Start every day with. Today is going to be a great day. No matter what, push your brain to look for what's right. And how I want you to put yourself to bed is with an exercise I do called what went well today. Where you actually start at the beginning of your day. Like when your eyes open and you go hour by hour looking for what you liked about the day. For most people, they're asleep by noon. I mean, but it's not. Oh, I'm grateful for these three things. It's. I woke up this morning, actually had my blood drawn, so I was up really early, but I worked out and I had my blood drawn, made cappuccino for my wife and. But I go, you'll show up if I stay up until 2:30. Right. It's like I have to meet Brittany and be helpful.

[A]

I. So my therapist that I've been to, and I try to do that. I do that almost every night. I'll do like a grateful list and I'll go through all the things. But how do I get my brain to. It'll always go to something. It's only at night, though. Not during the day. I'm very positive during the day. At night, I think for some reason that's my time to figure it all out. Because I haven't thought about anything during the day because I've been so distracted. So I. I need to fix all of the problems and they all have to be done tonight. And so I'll just.

[B]

Yeah, you have to come up with a new rule.

[A]

Go.

[B]

That Frank can't show up.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And that is destructive because what happens when you sleep is your brain washes itself. And so I would create a worry time. I would create a time to honor the shit happens.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But not at night. We have to figure out how to change the rhythm of your worry. Because Frank showing up then is completely useful, useless for you, and it's harmful.

[A]

I know.

[B]

And so when the thought comes up, oh, I have to do this, I have to do that. It's like I deal with you in the morning and if you can't, then write it out.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And then write out what you can do about it and what you can't do about it. Because I find the act of writing begins to get it out of your head. But. But I'm going To give you a tool that if you seriously engage this tool, it will help you so much.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so I want you to think of what's your worst thought, and then might as well go after the worst one first.

[A]

You want me to tell you now keep it. Okay.

[B]

I'm gonna show your brain, and then we're gonna talk about some other things, but then we're gonna get to the ants.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So I do a study called spect. And SPEC looks at blood flow and activity. It looks at how your brain works, and it basically shows us three things. Good activities, too little or too much. So here we're looking at the outside surface of the brain. This is very important with Alzheimer's disease.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it should be full, even, and symmetrical. So here we're looking underneath the brain, down from the top. So this is the front part, one side, then the other side. So same brain. And I'm going to show you yours. Just like this. Color doesn't matter. Shape, color does matter. Blue is average activity. Red is the top 15%. White is the top 8%.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it should be here. And when we look at your brain, you have a stunningly beautiful brain.

[A]

Thank you. I'm so glad because she's been through so much. It.

[B]

Yeah. You just have a lovely brain. Despite having periods where you've been bad.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To it.

[A]

Oh, yeah. My 20s. I really put her to the test.

[B]

The brain is always working to heal. You just have to put it in a healing environment. And with his stressed. If you've been. If you had add, I'd see holes here. And if you did, I'd like. Do you have add? Let's treat it. But you don't. You have good frontal lobes. Why? You probably are the planner. Right. That's usually not ADD. You were 20 minutes early today.

[A]

I was.

[B]

People with ADD are usually 20 minutes late. They're always apologizing. They're not planning.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I would nix the add.

[A]

That's good. I didn't think so. But you know.

[B]

And you have this pattern.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

It's called the diamond pattern. And it goes with past Trump.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So the trauma sort of came and stayed. The alcohol and the ambient sort of shuts it off, but it doesn't fix it. It doesn't process it. Your cerebellum's fine. This is the area that first dies in Alzheimer's disease. But yours is busy. It's also the chatterbox in your head. So our goal is to settle that, but not too much. This part of your brain's really important. It's called the anterior cingulate gyrus. It's the brain's gear shifter. Allows you to go from thought to thought, move from idea to idea, be flexible, go with the flow. When this is too busy, you see too many errors in yourself or sometimes in others. And my guess is mostly it's directed at you about what's wrong.

[A]

Oh, yes.

[B]

But you have to be careful with this. Our goal is to calm this down. These are an area called your basal ganglia, often associated with anxiety. And your thalamus, part of your limbic brain or your mood center. Just busy. So our goal. And I published a study on police officers who were involved in shootings. They all had PTSD and they couldn't go back to work. After an average of eight sessions, they all went back to work. So that was cool.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

If you take away one recommendation, EMDR will help you. And you just have to be committed to it. Do the timeline, like I said. You know what awesome things happen in this five year period? What awful things happened? Work through the awful ones. It's just freeing.

[A]

I'll take any recommendations of good ones. I'll get that later from you.

[B]

So when you leave on the way home, I want you to go. Dr. Amen thinks I have a great brain.

[A]

I'm going to be thinking about the whole way home. Don't worry.

[B]

But I have Alzheimer's in my family, so I want to do all the things to prevent it. So I want to love my brain. It's a term I have called brain envy. I always say Freud was wrong. Penis envy is not the cause of anybody's problem. The only organ where size matters is your brain. And it basically is avoid things that hurt it and do things that help it. And getting on top of sleep is absolutely critical. And another one of my recommendations, I'm gonna have you sleep my. See my sleep doctor.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

I have a wonderful sleep doctor. His name, Shane Criado. Seeing him is going to be part of the plan. So we're gonna take this serious.

[A]

I would love to because I. I think it is a little odd that I can't fall asleep without something and, and I get very. I mean, if I'm at someone else's house and I didn't bring Ambien or zquil or like a convenience store isn't open, I'm not sleeping and I don't want to live like that anymore. I want to be able to fall asleep.

[B]

Yeah. He's actually got a great course at Amen University. Overcoming Insomnia.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I think. I think the reason you're not sleeping is your brain is hypervigilant from trauma from the past. And our job is to process the trauma. Here's the Alzheimer's prevention plan. You want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it? We have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors. So bright minds is the acronym, and B is for blood flow. Low blood flow is the number one brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer's disease. You don't have it, but you always want to protect your blood flow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is why exercise is important. Weight training is important, especially for women. Not much. Caffeine, nicotine, marijuana.

[A]

I love caffeine.

[B]

But does it love you back?

[A]

Well, I've. I've actually done a very good job with me and caffeine. We have a better relationship now. I have like, five sips, and then I can put her down. I didn't used to be able to put her down, but now I'm like, girl, you don't look.

[B]

We have something peak energy that is made with paraxanthine. So paraxanthine is a caffeine metabolite that doesn't cause anxiety. Oh, that doesn't keep you up.

[A]

That is what I need.

[B]

But gives you this sort of beautiful, pure energy.

[A]

That's what I want. I haven't had any caffeine today.

[B]

For you retirement and age. You're young, but, you know, when you turn 40, a lot of women don't know this. 10 years before you go into menopause, progesterone starts to drop. Have you had your hormones checked?

[A]

I'm actually doing that. In a couple days, I hit 40, and I'm like, I'm gonna get my brain checked. I'm getting my hormones checked. I'm going to all the doctors, so.

[B]

So have them check your Progesterone about day 19 to 21 of your cycle. So that's important. So when they check your hormones go, okay, where am I in my cycle?

[A]

I do feel like that might. Perimenopause makes me feel like I'm losing my mind because I'm. How can I be doing that? I'm 25 years old, but I. I do feel like there's something going on a little bit with my hormones that are just different than they've ever been.

[B]

Well, a lot of women, they're 37, 38, 40, and all of a sudden they can't sleep, they're anxious, they're irritable, and they start drinking. Taking Xanax and ambien And I'm like, yeah, check your progesterone. Because 100 milligrams of progesterone at night may help all of those things. Progesterone, sort of like the brain's natural benzo and check. I think that's really for sure important. Have you had lab work done recently?

[A]

It was in November.

[B]

Can you send it to me? Because I. I want to. And then perhaps I'll order more because I'm looking for all of these risk factors like C reactive protein and omega 3 index. Do you take omega 3 fatty acids?

[A]

I was prescribed. Not prescribed, but I was given it a couple weeks ago. And I. I'm really bad at taking my supplements. I take them like once every couple days, and then I'll forget and I'll take them again. So I have them.

[B]

They won't work if you.

[A]

I know. I've heard that.

[B]

How are you? You have beautiful teeth. Do you floss every day?

[A]

I do very. I'm very tooth teeth obsessed.

[B]

Good.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because that's a brain exercise. If you have gum disease, you then have heart disease. You then have brain disease. So part of the Alzheimer's prevention program. It's good blood flow. With retirement and aging, it's always new learning. And as an actress, you're always learning.

[A]

Right.

[B]

New things, but continue to do. That's why I liked when you wrote and when you produced the show. Always keep your mind working like that. Head trauma. Not much. Your brain is really not a trauma brain.

[A]

That's good.

[B]

Toxins, some mold exposure in the past, but you don't really have a toxic brain. That's good.

[A]

So thank God my years of smoking didn't. Didn't alter.

[B]

PHQ9 is a depression index. It's fine. CGI is. How bad do I feel? One to seven. So you're sick. So feel bad.

[A]

It's funny because I don't. I don't feel bad. But I. I do recognize that my. My brain is constantly doing this sort of tennis match where something will come in my head and then I'll. I'll be like.

[B]

But don't.

[A]

You don't have to think like that. We're gonna think about it this way. And then another negative thought will come in and then the positive thought. But it'll be like that back and forth all day long. Consistently.

[B]

Well, I want to root out all the bad ones. Yeah, I. I'm serious about that. We'll get to that in a minute. Your. A square. Adverse childhood experiences. It's a lot. And that's why EMDR is going to be so helpful. Hope it's on a scale of 0 to 64. And yours is good. And hope just means tomorrow can be better. And I have a role in it. But also I'm going to write healthy. I want you to. To hear that from me.

[A]

That's so nice.

[B]

You have a great brain. We just have to calm it down.

[A]

Right. That is so nice to hear. Because I feel like I really kind of zero in on there being something that's wrong with me just because I ruminate more than other people. And I thought maybe it was because it was unhealthy. So that's nice that there's hope that I can do something about it.

[B]

Yeah. You are awesome. We're going to help you be more awesome. So I want you to send me your labs, including the hormones when you get them. Dr. Criato is our sleep doctor. I'm a huge fan of happy saffron. It. Saffron Zinc curcumin. Head to head against antidepressants shown to be equally effective. And so it should decrease the ant population.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Help you sleep, but you gotta take it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the best effect is gonna be 30 days later.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then EMDR. But I don't want you to go to a therapist. That does it. I want you to do it.

[A]

Yes, I know. Exactly. That's what I want to.

[B]

And maybe you and I can do a couple of sessions. I can sort of show it to you. We can do it on Zoom. Actually prefer doing it on Zoom and at least get you started and see how that feels if you want to do that.

[A]

I do. I would love to. Yes. I need all the EMDR that I can, actually.

[B]

Yeah. And somebody must have taught you diaphragmatic breathing. Do you know how to do that?

[A]

I'm not great at breathing, which is funny because you do it automatically. But I. I. Sometimes when I breathe too deeply, I. I start. My heart starts racing, so I try to. I don't know what that is. I get really anxious about breathing.

[B]

So I want you to do it in a very specific way. Four seconds in, hold it for a second. Eight seconds out, hold it for a second. So take twice as long to breathe out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As you breathe in. And that will trigger the opposite of a sympathetic reaction, will trigger a parasympathetic reaction and calm things down.

[A]

I do the box breathing when I'm trying to go to sleep.

[B]

Yeah. I don't want you to do the box breathing. I want you. There's actually. I have an app. Brain fit life 5.0. We can get you signed up for that for our patients. It's free. There's actually a breathing experience in it. And I would do 418-14-1181. So. And what I'd also do when you're at home is put a book on your belly, and when you breathe in, make the book go up, and when you breathe out, make it go down. So it's called diaphragmatic breathing. Imagine breathing through little tiny holes in your beat, and it can help you so much. And I think every night I would do just five minutes of it, and I would do it every morning. This will be in your package I send you but exercise supplements, new learning, flossing. Serious about prevention. Protect your head.

[A]

How? This is a little off topic, but there's been some things that I've seen online of. Of that sleep aids or. Or Ambien or Lunesta, even Zequil can be a proponent in Alzheimer's and dementia. Or they're just bad for your brain. I mean, how bad?

[B]

Benzos.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And is Benadryl in Zequil?

[A]

Benadryl is in Zequil and Dayquil or Nicole.

[B]

Benadryl increases your risk, but not Ambien.

[A]

You don't want to say yes, because I know Ambien's bad, but I want

[B]

us to do it without the ambient because it's addictive.

[A]

I do as well. I just. I think my head. When I take an Ambien or. Or sequel at night, then I get guilty. I feel guilty that I took it because I'm messing up my brain. So then I feel even worse that I took it. So I guess I've just wanted to quiet that down. That.

[B]

So you've been doing that for a long time. And what did I tell you about your brain?

[A]

That it's perfect.

[B]

No, I didn't say that.

[A]

Okay. No, I'm just kidding.

[B]

Stunning.

[A]

Oh, stunning.

[B]

You have a beautiful brain. It's busy, Right? Right. So that that means it's not perfect.

[A]

Right? Right.

[B]

But it's busy. So obviously you haven't damaged your brain.

[A]

But I'm not going to do it.

[B]

Our goal is to get you off of it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So that your natural self sleep cycle can kick in.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But I'll let you and Dr. Criato figure that out.

[A]

Great.

[B]

I love hypnosis for sleep. On our app, there's actually a hypnosis one for sleep that I do, and I actually published a paper on it. It's very cool.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And when you feel like you're not hypnotized. It's a skill to build. It's generally not. You're controlled by someone else.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So most people are aware. Like, I hypnotized somebody yesterday. They didn't move a muscle for, like, 20 minutes. They were perfectly still. I'm like, was I hypnotized? It's like, try just being perfectly still for 20 minutes.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Yeah. All right. This is very important. When people come to see me, they have good days and bad days, but they're mostly bad. And then you do what I say. You're gonna get better, but nobody just gets better. You're better than not. You're better than not. You're better than not. These are the most important times. So we learn from them. We expect them. We're curious. We're never furious. So if you can just have that mindset of every day, you win or you learn, then you stop being attached to the outcome. And it's like, where am I in my cycle? Did I take my supplements? What did I have to eat? How am I getting along? Am I in withdrawal? Because I had a drink the night before and now I'm anxious. I want you to begin to sort of put those things together.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Four or five months from now, you're gonna have good days and bad days. They're just not going to be like these. Now the more you do the work, the faster that happens.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Oh, there they are.

[B]

So these are ants.

[A]

Adorable.

[B]

There's nine different types. Which ones do you think you have? So all or nothing is things are all good or all bad? Like, oh, we have the best relationship ever. You suck.

[A]

If only I'll be happier when I definitely have. And fortune telling. I definitely have. And mind reading. Those are the three.

[B]

Maybe this one drives anxiety.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This one drives trouble. And this makes you feel bad because you're out of the moment.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Do you ever read the Power of Now?

[A]

I was just going to reread that, actually. I was just thinking that the other

[B]

day when I get unhappy. I read that and Loving what Is. Have you ever read Loving what Is?

[A]

I've heard about it.

[B]

It's so good. I'm gonna actually teach it to you because I teach it better than Byron. Katie does. I love her. We spoke together and I explained it in, like, five minutes and took her two hours. So.

[A]

Great. I was looking for another book to read, too. I'll read those, too.

[B]

And she has another. She has a number of really great books. I need your love. Is that true? About relationships. But it's basically about questioning your thoughts.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So here are the five questions. And this is. Did you think of the worst thought you have?

[A]

I mean, should it be that I can't sleep? The thought that I, I mean, now that I, I believe it, that I'm, I, I can't sleep. I can't sleep.

[B]

That

[A]

I, I. Yeah, yeah, I can't sleep.

[B]

It's absolutely true. With 100% certainty all the time. You can't sleep.

[A]

I think probably as a human I can, yes.

[B]

Well, I read you get six and a half to eight hours of sleep at night.

[A]

So yes, once I'm knocked out, I sleep. Yes, I can.

[B]

So maybe the thought is I can't sleep without help.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Because that's a very anxious thought.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So is it true? I, and remember, the goal is not positive thinking.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I just, I just want you to be honest with yourself.

[A]

I think it's, it's true that I can't sleep. Is it absolutely true? Like if I stayed up for two days and I was so tired and someone put a bed there, Yes, I could sleep.

[B]

Okay. How does the thought make you feel?

[A]

Anxious.

[B]

And how does it make you act?

[A]

Tired? Anxious.

[B]

And you take something and I take something and the outcome of having that

[A]

thought, I think it's a perpetual self fulfilling prophecy because I'm starting to believe that that thought is true. So then I.

[B]

And if you didn't have the thought?

[A]

I would sleep and I would feel confident and I'd feel like my body is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

[B]

And the outcome of believing you could sleep.

[A]

Peace.

[B]

So the opposite is I can sleep. Do you have any evidence that you can sleep?

[A]

I slept when I was a kid. I know I can sleep. I know that I did.

[B]

When did it start?

[A]

Probably when I was a teenager. I think that's when I started. I think it was kind of tied with the eating disorder stuff.

[B]

Any traumas around those time? Around that time?

[A]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

So if I get the traumas out of my head, odds are I'm going to sleep.

[A]

Right. I think that's the feeling. Like I'm going to, I'm gonna not be awake for something that I, that happened or something.

[B]

And that's true. You are not going to be awake when some things happen.

[A]

Right. Which I don't like that feeling, I think. Yeah.

[B]

No, I want you to love that feeling. Otherwise you're in charge of the whole world.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

So silly. It's crazy. Yes, I Don't want to be awake for everything. That would be bizarre. I know that logically, yeah. I need to work this out.

[B]

There's so much good work to do.

[A]

There's so much work to do. You're like, I can't wait.

[B]

You to do is stop letting Frank run things. And when you get a thought in your head, just flip it. But what I really want you to do is I want you to write out 30 of your worst thoughts, and I want you to take them through that process. Not quickly. This is. And if you read Loving what is. She calls it four questions and a turnaround. I'm like, it's five questions. But I got it from her. I love her. I just find this. The most effective thing I teach patients is discipline your mind. Like you have discipline at work, that you're serious. You show up prepared, you show up on time. It's. I want you to discipline your mind. For too long, this thing has been out of control.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And for me as a therapist, I don't want to just listen to how your week was. I want to teach you skills. So. And I think this is basic training. We should teach all second graders. I actually have a book called Captain Snout and the Superpower Questions.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Is it true? Is it absolutely true?

[A]

I love that they need to know that. I mean, I should have known that. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. It's part of my work with the White House Faith office. We're working on a national brain health revolution where we're developing pre K through college brain health curriculum, teaching kids to love and care for their brain.

[A]

That's so important. That's great.

[B]

I'm very excited about it. Questions?

[A]

I. I guess I'm sure I had some. But that's good to know that I. About the. The Alzheimer's and. And everything. And if I continue on with this, like, way that of doing things, I mean, even tonight I've had the thought, do I just try to go to sleep tonight, or do I keep on going the path that I've been going on? I mean, how soon is this going to change things for me in terms of my sleep? Should I keep taking the things that I'm taking? Should I be doing this at the same time?

[B]

Let's have you talk to Dr. Criato.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we'll try to do that, like in the next week.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Or so. I think. Yeah, I think let's. I want you to start doing these other things, but I want it. You have sort of a soft landing into health and not try, you know, Maybe we'll try it on the weekend. I mean, I would really like it if you didn't drink for a while because I'm.

[A]

It is my birthday.

[B]

I'm sorry.

[A]

It's my birthday weekend this weekend. So I will be drinking this weekend. But after that I will. It's my, my 40th birthday party this weekend. But after that. You only turned 40 once.

[B]

You only turned 40 once. And I almost don't remember it. In fact, I don't remember it. And so what I would do to start, get me your labs. Get an appointment with Dr. Criado, start PMS relief and happy Saffron. Yeah. Let's see if we can get the trauma. Let's see if we can get Frank to move out. I know. Spend more time with Frankie.

[A]

Yeah, Frankie's cute. She's fun. She's having a good time this weekend.

[B]

Another fun book to read that I think you'll really like is called the Alter Ego Effect. It's by Todd Herman. I use it with a lot of my athletes, but also high performers. It's how can you step in to someone you create as opposed to Frank that terrorizes you. Yeah, right. You're in a scream movie. Is how can you create your alter ego, but in a way you love. It's a. It's a really good book.

[A]

Thank you so much. This has been very illuminating and very nice.

[B]

So let's set up a time, you and me. I'll show you EMDR and. But I want you ahead of time. 30 bad thoughts and the timeline, and the timeline's super simple. Every five years, awesome things that happened, awful things that happened. And it helps people feel better quickly. That's why I like it. When I was. I'm also a child psychiatrist and I do in my child psychiatry program at the end, my supervisor, who's a very famous child psychiatrist, he loved me and he said, Dr. Amen is a wonderful doctor. It's going to help a lot of people. But he has one major flaw. He wants people to get better fast.

[A]

I think that's a nice thing.

[B]

And I'm like, I don't want you suffering.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Your brain is your most valuable asset. It controls everything from your focus and memory to your mood and energy. That's why I created BrainMD to give you science backed supplements that support your brain so you can feel and perform your best every day. If you haven't tried them yet, go to brainmd.com and use the code podcast. 20 for 20% off. Because when your brain works better, you work better. What's the fastest way we can get a U haul for Frank and, like, take him and the baggage? So you're in the present, not in the future with fear. Right. And for me, I compare everything to death. I'm like, that's not a big problem compared to death.

[A]

I mean, honestly, I thought that coming in here, I was like, honestly, if I. If I don't have brain cancer, everything else is great. Like, I really did say, like, things are really good as long as you didn't find something like that. So this is a good. This is a good day you have.

[B]

Yeah. You're gonna get better.