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" played than at rest. Both cocaine and Ritalin work in the basal ganglia. Side note: the reason cocaine is highly addictive and prescription stimulants like Ritalin tend not to be is related to how each drug is metabolized. Cocaine has a powerful, immediate effect that stimulates an enormous release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The pleasure this brings rapidly fades, leaving the desire for more. Ritalin, and other stimulants like Adderall, on the other hand, work more slowly, inducing no high or pleasure in most people and the effects stay around for a longer time. Similarly, video games bring pleasure and focus by increasing dopamine release. The problem with them is that the more dopamine is released, the less neurotransmitter is available later on to do schoolwork, homework, chores, and so on. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD
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" In the last thirty years our diet has changed dramatically. These days, children eat a diet high in simple carbohydrates (sugar, white bread, white-flour food products), poor in protein and healthy fat, and positively deficient in vegetables. Think about the great American breakfast. Morning time is often rushed especially when both parents work outside the home, and there is less time to fix a nutritious breakfast. Kids eat Pop-Tarts, sugar cereals, donuts, frozen waffles, pancakes, or muffins. Gone are the days of sausage and eggs (protein), and sugar is in. Try to find bread in the store without sugar or forms of sugar (corn syrup, high-fructose syrup, etc.). In my local supermarket, only one out of about thirty brands of bread available—a dark Russian rye bread—is made without any sugar. Your diet provides the fuel "
― Daniel G. Amen , Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD
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" DL PRESCRIPTION 6: RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL CONTACT The deep limbic system not only is involved in emotional bonding, it is also involved in physical bonding. Actual physical touching is essential to good health. It would probably surprise some people to know that there are couples who can go for ten years and longer without touching each other. I have seen them in my practice, and they invariably show such deep limbic system problems as irritability and depression. It is only after I help them correct their nontouching behavior that their depressive symptoms improve. Physical connection is also a critical element in the parent-infant bonding process. The caressing, kissing, sweet words, and eye contact from the mother and father give the baby the pleasure, love, trust, and security it needs to develop "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" petting.” This powerful finding has been rediscovered over and over, most recently in the early 1990s in Romania, where thousands of warehoused infants went without touch for sometimes years at a time. PET studies (similar to SPECT studies) of a number of these deprived infants have shown marked overall decreased activity across the whole brain. Bonding is a two-way street. A naturally unresponsive baby may inadvertently receive less love from its parents. The mother and father, misreading their baby’s naturally reserved behavior, may feel hurt and rejected and therefore less encouraged to lavish care and affection on their child. A classic example of this problem is illustrated by autistic children. Psychiatrists used to label the mothers of autistic children “cold” they believed the mother’s lack of responsiveness caused the autism. In recent times, however, it has been shown in numerous research studies that autism is biological and preceded any "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" something differently, I wouldn’t be in the predicament I’m in. It’s your fault, and I’m not responsible.” Whenever you blame someone else for the problems in your life, you become powerless to change anything. The “blame game” hurts your personal sense of power. Stay away from blaming thoughts. You have to take personal responsibility for your problems before you can hope to change them. Summary of ANT Species 1. “Always/never” thinking: thinking in words like always, never, no one, everyone, every time, everything 2. Focusing on the negative: seeing only the bad in a situation 3. Fortune-telling: predicting the worst "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" possible outcome to a situation 4. Mind reading: believing that you know what others are thinking, even though they haven’t told you 5. Thinking with your feelings: believing negative feelings without ever questioning them 6. Guilt beating: thinking in words like should, must, ought, or have to 7. Labeling: attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else 8. Personalizing: investing innocuous events with personal meaning 9. Blaming: blaming someone else for your own problems DL PRESCRIPTION 2: KILL THE ANTS/ FEED YOUR ANTEATER "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" To boost serotonin levels for the Persistent Brain Type—or at least level them out—I recommend the following. 1. Increase the intake of tryptophan. This amino acid found in foods such as turkey, chicken, fish, carrots, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, sweet potatoes, and garbanzo beans helps drive tryptophan into the brain, where serotonin is made. "
― Daniel G. Amen , You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type