Dr. Daniel Amen on the #1 Foundation to Raising Mentally Strong Kids

Chris was six when he was diagnosed with ADHD — hyperactive, impulsive, and prone to conflict. Medication made him worse. By eight, after attacking a boy at school, he was hospitalized, and a new doctor started him on an antidepressant that also made him worse. He was in weekly therapy for two years, and every week the therapist told his mother that if she dealt with her own childhood issues, Chris wouldn’t have a problem. Dr. Amen, who met Chris the night he was re-admitted to the hospital, asks the question this story turns on: what if the therapists were wrong? What if they were missing a brain in trouble?

Dr. Amen explains that his clinics use SPECT imaging to examine patterns of blood flow and activity as part of their approach to assessment and treatment. Dr. Amen says Chris’s SPECT scan showed patterns he interpreted as low activity in the left temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. Based on that interpretation, he used a treatment approach that included supplements, dietary changes, and conversations about brain health; he reports that Chris improved substantially within weeks. Years later, he introduced Dr. Amen to five friends at his old high school. Dr. Amen’s point isn’t that parenting or therapy don’t matter; it’s that when a child is struggling, brain health deserves to be checked first, before shame settles on anyone.

From there, Dr. Amen lays out three brain-health strategies simple enough for young kids to grasp: love your brain, avoid what hurts it, and build regular brain-healthy habits. The “avoid” list includes head injuries, poor sleep, poor-quality food, and toxins like nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana — but also a less obvious one: digital addiction and excessive screen time. Dr. Amen argues that excessive screen use and digital addiction can negatively affect the brain’s reward systems, citing figures that 95% of young people use at least one social media platform and more than a third use it almost constantly. He cites figures suggesting that young people who spend more than three hours a day on social media have about twice the risk of anxiety and depression, while average use is around three and a half hours daily.

The habits side is refreshingly ordinary: a higher-protein, healthy-fat diet, coordination exercises like tennis or dance that stimulate the cerebellum, and consistent sleep. Dr. Amen says he recommends multivitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and probiotics to his patients, and describes saffron as another supplement he personally uses and gives his children, citing research he believes supports benefits for mood, memory, and focus. To make brain health a natural, ongoing conversation rather than a lecture, Dr. Amen describes “Chloe’s Game,” which he’s played with his daughter since she was two: he names something — avocados, blueberries, hitting a soccer ball with your head — and she gives it a thumbs up or thumbs down for brain health.

What makes this talk useful for parents isn’t just the science — it’s the reframe. A struggling child is not automatically evidence of a failing parent. The broader takeaway for parents is to consider everyday foundations such as sleep, nutrition, movement, substance avoidance, and healthy technology habits while seeking appropriate professional evaluation when a child is genuinely struggling.