Podcast: E7: The Brain Warriors Way

Listen to the episode here: E5:3P1-Three Pillars of Functional Psychiatry - https://apple.co/3MnlQLW

Hey there, it's Dr. Tiffany. Welcome to Integrative Mental Health Therapy with Dr. Tiffany. This is episode 7: The Brain Warrior's Way. You do not have to feel foggy, unfocused, and frustrated. And as we come to the end of ADHD Awareness Month, I thought it was important for the first podcast I record for both public and private channels to be about ADHD. 

If you even barely know me, you know that addressing ADHD symptoms and loving on ADHD minds is just part of my identity and practice. It's important to position oneself as completely neurodivergent, recognizing that divergences mean there are symptoms that ADHDers would be happy not to deal with. I always take a brain-educating position on ADHD, teaching young people and adults about what executive function is, what ADHD really means in your life, how it plays out in relationships, and its impact on work, food relationships, and even substance use.

A lot of my work is about not fixing or curing ADHD. Neurodivergence affirming positioning is really about loving on, accepting, and seeing neurodivergency as just a different brain, a different neurology. Being in the trenches, working on the ground, and talking to people deeply and intimately, I know the reality of ADHD and how it drives my clients crazy. I am here, positioned with the Brain Warriors and my training from functional neurology and the Amen Clinics, to help with the symptoms of ADHD.

Russell Barkley, our grandfather of ADHD research, has done longitudinal 20-year studies showing that ADHDers have a mortality impact of 20 years—they die 20 years earlier than neurotypicals because of ADHD symptoms. So yes, I'm super passionate about ADHD symptoms. 

I have a program currently being offered, the Brain Warrior's Way. Though the program is appropriate for someone with an ADHD individual in their family, someone who struggles with ADHD themselves, or a parent working with their ADHD child, it is also suitable for someone like me who just deals with brain fog and frazzled, frustrated emotions. 

My husband, who has ADHD and has been using the approach from the Amen Clinic since 2016, lives the same way. He used to deal with frazzled, frustrated emotions but has been able to maintain focus through this lifestyle. He works in a very left-brained job in IT and has to focus for long periods. I attribute this lifestyle to the change in his brain, enabling him to sustain attention and know how to sustain it for long periods. 

I am deeply grateful to the Amen Clinic and Dr. Amen specifically for saving my husband's brain as well as my own. If you've watched any of my workshops, please visit docbrownbush.com and go to the workshops page. I share more about my personal journey and how I have been utilizing the Amen Clinic interventions since 2011, getting deeper into it in 2014, and meeting Dr. Amen in 2016. He created a program for licensed clinicians to take their learning to the next level, which was a game-changer for me. I got my brain scanned in 2018, which I believe saved my life by revealing health issues that traditional medicine didn't pick up. 

As we conclude ADHD Awareness Month, I've talked a lot about strategies on social media platforms and email. The Brain Warrior's Way program, my five-week program, includes a customized protocol based on Amen Clinic brain typing and assessments. It includes guidance on how to eat for an unfocused, foggy brain, how to exercise, and what brain-nourishing foods to include. There is a diet for particular brain types, and I center my coaching around the brain types showing up in the program.

There are 16 different brain types, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Meeting a person where they are in their uniqueness and coming up with something that makes sense for them is a beautiful thing. How much sleep do you need? Do you have a wearable that tells you the quality of your sleep? How much hydration do you need based on your current weight, caffeine intake, and medications? If we need to put you on a high-tyrosine, ADHD-focusing supplement, how much water will you need then?

The bonus week of the program focuses on nervous system rewiring, a personal passion of mine. I work with my nervous system, balancing it, teaching clients somatic interventions, polyvagal theory, and mapping their system to climb the ladder to get to ventral vagal where you're in connection and relationship. Blending emotional freedom technique and IFS with mapping and calming the nervous system gives young people the language to understand that not everything is psychological; sometimes it’s their nervous system.

In five weeks, you won't learn everything, but you will have enough to make some changes and see things shift. Your life can change with amino acid therapy, omega fish oil therapy, and the right diet. Many people don't understand how and when they should eat. This program can change your child's behavior in the classroom by helping you figure out what to feed them.

If you don't know where to begin, this is the program for you. If you're interested, the Brain Warrior's Way program is closing registration in about 10 days but will continue to be offered every few months. It’s crucial to get this information out to as many people as possible because it can change lives.

As we conclude ADHD Awareness Month, know that you can be a brain warrior. It’s a mindset game, taking ownership, and defending your brain, mood, and focus. The best decision you can make is to adopt these lifestyle interventions. For those of you who have done this, you know the peace of mind that comes from making difficult, different decisions is worth it.

Please visit my website, look at the workshops, and drop an email with your thoughts. If you're interested in the Brain Warrior's Way, reach out. I'd love to work with you and help you change your life. Until next time, be well.