Man with severe anger issues breaks down in tears after seeing what radiologist found in scans of his brain
Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence which some readers may find distressing.
After years of screaming at his wife, as well as 'pushing her in the face', starting fights and threatening her, a man finally discovered something profound was wrong with his brain.
Eight years into their marriage, Natasha reached breaking point and contacted Dr Phil to help determine exactly what was up with her hot-headed husband, Brenden.
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Despite the abuse, she has stayed with him, while Brenden concedes that his outbursts of anger occur when he gets anxious.
"I'm hoping for some type of outcome for me and my family," he said during his appearance on Dr Phil.
Dr Bradley Jabour, one of the world's leading neuroradiologist, took his brain imaging and explained at the time exactly what he was hoping to find.
He said: "For some reason, this anxiety and fear that just torments you, triggers an anger where you will act out and maybe even hurt other people you love around you. The question for me today is, really, is your brain structurally normal?
"So we have these powerful techniques which can look at the architecture of your brain, but also get an idea of the functioning of your brain. So we're looking for any possible stigmata of brain injury which could be caused by other things other than actual injury.
"Brendan, this next scan will be four minutes tomorrow with Dr Phil. We'll have all the data together, and we'll be able to analyze and provide him with some road map as to what possibly could help."
Then back in the studio, the results were in - and it came as a shock to all parties, including an emotional Brenden.
"I was surprised, you know, in talking to Brenden initially, and he mentioned that he had never had any experience of an impactful head trauma," Jabour told Dr Phil.
"And we see evidence that looks like at some point somewhere, somebody should sit with Brenden and try and find out, when did he get a hit on the head or knocked unconscious, possibly something that maybe he doesn't remember, but it probably did happen, because there's several of these areas of gliosis were scar tissue."
He went on to explain how there are 'seven distinct areas of scarring', and advised Brenden to seek out counselling - at which point he broke down in tears.
Adding: "I'm not sure if you can tie in the anger issues with a particular moment in his life, or has he always been angry, even as a 12, 13, 15-year-old?"
Dr Phil then asked Jabour whether the brain scan was 'abnormal', to which he replied: "Abnormal? Yes."
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence 24 hours a day to the national domestic violence helpline on 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) 24/7. You can find a list of local resources here.
Topics: Domestic Abuse, Film and TV, Mental Health, Life
Joe Yates