I’m reviewing Concussion, Will Smith’s latest movie. I’m disappointed.
I get the fact that Dr. Bennet Omalu is a hard working, dedicated pathologist. I get that he wants to help. What I don’t get is the way conventional medicine studies disease and likes naming it instead of looking for solutions.
Maybe Dr. Omalu had to go through what he did in order to bring the problem into the light of day.
I know Will Smith loves football. He’s a fine actor and I enjoy his films. His 2013 movie with his son, Jaden, called “After Earth” is a favourite. Many critics hated it because they didn’t understand the lesson in it: that fear isn’t real. If you can conquer fear, then you can do anything.
Dr. Omalu is a compassionate man which is why he has such an unusual way of doing things. Even dead, he treats his “patients” with love and respect. However making a connection with ONLY football with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a mistake.
Well, observing what suffering these athletes were going through, I continue to be dumbfounded that conventional medicine just don’t get it! Dr. Omalu says that the disease is invisible. But it is NOT. The suffering and the change in behaviour are all signs of a brain and life in disarray. The way researchers work, it’s like three blind men trying to figure out an elephant. They’re each touching a different part of the elephant and making assumptions about it and they’re all wrong!
First of all, I want to make it clear. The current Return-To-Play protocol makes a lot of sense. But what’s missing is the blindness around the elephant in the room. Second, there must be a proper investigation of the problem with lots of time allocated by the doctor to arrive at a correct diagnosis.
You see, concussion is not the diagnosis. That’s only the physical observation.
Third, then you need a way to get out of the fog of a brain injury to get to the clarity of brain health. You get this with our FLOW process. More later.
What should they be looking at?
There’s this wonderful wealth of knowledge gained by research in neuroscience, neuropsychology and neuroplasticity. But it’s not being applied. The whole point is to find a solution to give people the results they want – to be well again. Not to name another disease. As things stand in modern medicine, so many suffer and they’re scared. Enough is enough!
The brain is an emotional organ. Our thoughts and emotions affect it. The research shows this. Every thought is neutral until you apply an emotion to it. If the emotion is fear, then it will do negative things to the brain.
As soon as the emotion becomes stressful, the brain gets flooded with stress hormones and neurotransmitters. It’s not bad if it happens once in a while. What’s bad is chronic stress. In the case of CTE, there’s a lot of damage to the brain. It’s shrunken and in disarray. Similar things occur in Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
But my point is this: knowing what Will Smith knows about fear, it’s ironic to do a film about CTE and NOT see the cause and effect of fear (stress) on our bodies and our brains. Wouldn’t it be better to look for solutions before it happens? I don’t mean quitting the sport. That’s avoidance, not prevention. There is a difference.
The key is to understand why the brain deteriorates and then how to rebuild it. Wouldn’t it be more useful to teach people how to overcome stress? That’s where my FLOW process comes in. FLOW stands for Freedom, Learning, Optimism and Wisdom. Wisdom comes from self-knowledge. In other words you have to acknowledge the things that you love and that you hate about yourself. For the latter, you must then do something about it. Because if you don’t, you generate stress. And stress floods the body with stress hormones and neurotransmitters.
That’s okay once in a while. In fact, that’s normal. But if stress or prolonged negative thoughts and feelings predominate your mood, you are headed for trouble. That’s because stress shrinks the brain. So the onset of CTE is not invisible. It is the noticeable change in mood, behaviour and character. The turmoil felt internally is the turmoil shown externally.
Dr. Omalu in the movie was correct when he asked why Mike Webster went mad. The answer however is incorrect. A simple one-to-one correlation is incorrect.
Something can be done.
We use a process that was created inside a clinical practice. It was developed after several years and seeing positive and quick results. We can stop the deterioration of the brain (and body) because of what we know about how thoughts and emotions can change the brain, for good and for bad.
I understand why there’s so much panic around concussions. Because there is no treatment in conventional medicine. I understand how deeply important that there actually is a treatment. So I’ve written a new book called Heal Your Concussion: How to Quickly and Effectively Get Back in the Game. It describes the FLOW process in detail and then how to use it.
Your concussion and PCS are TEMPORARY!
The new book will be available January 7, 2016 on Amazon. Watch for the announcement.
Skeptical about the do-nothing approach for your concussion? Disillusioned and abandoned by your doctors because you’ve got Post-Concussion Syndrome? Apply here for Dr. Joanny’s help. We’ll review your information and send you your next steps.
Dr. Joanny Liu, TCMD, RAc, P.Eng. Dr Joanny Liu “Best Selling Author and founder of Extraordinary Sports Medicine, where we help athletes reverse injury, get back in the game they love and improve their quality of life.” Best selling book at: Heal Your Concussion: How to Quickly and Effectively Get Back in the Game Remember, we’ve got two books about healing concussions in Amazon: Knock OUT Concussions, Heal Your Concussion: 21 Days to Brain Health, and Dr. Joanny’s new book, Heal Your Concussion: How to Quickly and Effectively Get Back in the Game is NOW live on Amazon!
