Exercises By Dr. Amen That Can Guide You And Your Child To Take The Most Effective Actions Against D
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Exercises By Dr. Amen That Can Guide You And Your Child To Take The Most Effective Actions Against Depression
As a parent, raising mentally strong children may not be easy, especially if your child is feeling depressed. The alarm goes off, and you find yourself asking, “How can I help my child suffering with depression symptoms?”
Seeking medical help is a great option, but knowing who to seek help from can significantly impact your child’s health and well-being. At Amen Clinics, Dr. Amen uses clinical assessments and Brain SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) imaging to uncover the root cause of many unresolved issues.
Psychiatry has traditionally been an organless field, resulting in incomplete approaches to diagnosing mental health symptoms. At Amen Clinics, deep clinical assessments and Brain SPECT imaging aim to uncover the root cause of many unresolved issues. Benefits For Clinicians Amen Clinics
“In our published outcome study, we found that 79% of patients who came to ACI left with a different diagnosis and treatment plan than when they came in.”
Understanding available medical care options equips you with the best solutions to improve your child’s chances of overcoming depression.
Instead of relying solely on prescription medications, a holistic approach to healing depression may yield better results. For instance, in Germany in 1996, physicians prescribed St. John’s Wort extract eight times more frequently than Prozac for depression treatment.
Dr. Amen has provided a couple of exercises in his free resource ebook on anxiety and depression that may be helpful to you and your child when tackling depression and anxiety. Here is a simple technique that will alleviate feelings of anxiety: (not a single symptom but rather a cluster of symptoms often coupled with depression) https://www.amenclinics.com/ebook/anxiety-and-depression-types/?gf_protect_submission=1
3 Tips for Managing the Symptoms of Pure Anxiety:
Focusing on Your Breath: Spend a few minutes focusing on your breath to settle your nerves. Practice the “3 + 6 X 10” breathing technique:
Inhale for 3 seconds through your nose.
Hold for 1 second.
Exhale for 6 seconds (twice as long as the inhale).
Hold for 1 second.
Repeat 10 times. This takes less than 2 minutes.
Challenge Negative Thoughts: Learn to identify and challenge ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) that contribute to worry, stress, nervousness, and depression.
Use Mental Imagery: Imagine warm things like holding a cup of tea, a puppy, or running your hands under warm water to induce relaxation.
Providing your child with direction and purpose is a powerful way to alleviate feelings of helplessness and low-self esteem often causing depression symptoms. The following exercise will provide a concrete guide to identify their goals and set them on a path of knowing rather than guessing how to live their lives. In Raising Mentally Strong Kids by Dr. Amen and Dr. Fay an outline to clearly defined goals is provided: Raising Mentally Strong Kids – Book .
One Page Miracle for Kids:
What do I want for my life?
What can I do to make it happen?
RELATIONSHIPS
Parents:
Friends:
SCHOOL/WORK
School:
Teachers:
Work/Chores:
MYSELF
Physical:
Emotional:
Mental:
Spiritual:
Spend some time thinking about what you want for yourself as a parent and for your child as they grow into adulthood. Use this information to create your own One Page Miracle.
Finding the most natural way for your child to enjoy neurochemical benefits is of utmost priority. This next exercise by Dr. Amen can help your child get rid of unhealthy thought processes that may be bogging their mood down. Daily mental hygiene is a requirement for mental strength, and if you let automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) infest your mind, they can fuel anxiousness, doubt, depression, and inconsistent growth.
The acronym ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) crossed Dr. Amen’s mind one day after coming home and dealing with an infestation of actual ants in his kitchen. He was having a tough day at work and made a connection with his patients and the ants. “ANTs,” he realized, “are invading my patients’ minds and stealing their happiness.” With the next simple exercise, your child can experience a healthy thought process that can heal much of the blues.
Here’s the ANT Eliminator Form:
ANT:
ANT Type:
Is it true?
Is it 100 percent true?
How do I feel when I believe this thought?
How do I feel without the thought?
Opposite: Could it be true or truer than the original thought?
New thought on which to meditate:
By having his patients do this exercise 100 times, Dr. Amen provides his patients with a new pattern of learning. This will help eliminate undisciplined thinking so you and your child can develop better mental hygiene. Routines form through a process called long-term potentiation, “…which is when neurons that fire together wire together to create automatic habits” (Raising Mentally Strong Kids, Dr. Amen).
Taking the time to investigate 100 ANTs that may be affecting your child’s thought process will break the old negative thinking habits and develop more rational thinking patterns.
Childhood depression requires a multifaceted approach that prioritizes understanding, holistic treatment, and effective exercises. Dr. Amen’s work at Amen Clinics demonstrates the importance of a comprehensive diagnosis and personalized treatment plans that can significantly alter the course of a child’s mental health journey.
His emphasis on using non-invasive, holistic methods, like breath-focused exercises, alongside cognitive strategies to combat automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), provides parents and children with practical tools to navigate the complexities of depression. By integrating these exercises into daily routines and setting clear, achievable goals, families can foster resilience, mental strength, and a healthier path forward for their children.
This approach not only empowers parents to support their children effectively but also equips children with the skills to manage and overcome their depressive symptoms, leading to a brighter, more hopeful future.
Works Cited: Murray, Michael T., and Joseph E. Pizzorno. Zi Ran Yi Xue Bai Ke = Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Third Edition. Yi Zhong Xin You Xian Gong Si, 2019.
