Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Revised and Expanded): The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems Paperback – November 3, 2015

Dr. Amen has written a very readable, almost-500 pages long, book explaining his research and methodologies for helping ordinary people with brain related health issues. By training he is an MD with a specialty in psychiatry. However, he makes it very clear that, in most cases, historically psychiatrists have been prescribing medication often based on pure guess-work up till now.He has developed a novel approach to scanning a patient's brain to determine which particular areas appear to be receiving either too much input, or too little.Currently he has five clinics across America (Costa Mesa, Ca, Brisbane, Ca, Bellevue, Was, Reston, Va and Atlanta, GA). With over twenty years of using his approach to guide teams of medical doctors, psychiatrists and nutritionists they have thousands of brain scans illustrating almost all types of challenging brain-related issues.Dr. Amen has also collaborated with Faith groups, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, to create The Daniel Plan to use Faith, Food, Fitness and Friends to help the world get healthier, in collaboration with well-known health advocate, Dr. Mark Hyman (p. xv).His brain scan, SPECT, is a nuclear medicine study that looks at blood flow and activity of areas in the brain. It will also show whether a person has had injuries from accidents or sports.The methodology and the treatments that have evolved have helped an increasing number of people, among them parents with children who suffer from learning disorders related to ADD/ADHD, children who have had head injuries and subsequent notable changes in behavior, couples who have been brought to the brink of divorce due to behavior and perception struggles, and people with severe depression challenges (p. 23).Dr. Amen cautions that, as in all cutting edge research, not all scientists agree with his findings, but notes that their evolving treatments are based on more than two decades of clinical data and observations. He states that a follow-up study with patients suffering from a combination of ADD, depression, anxiety and addiction, 84% reported that they functioned better after the Amen treatment (p.43).From an Education Profession perspective of watching an increasing number of our students appearing with attention-deficits disorders and autism spectrum issues most educational professionals would probably agree that, for many such parents, a consult and a brain scan might be preferable to watching their child face a life with diminishing skills and joy.For an increasing number of elderly people who are facing diminishing lives due to escalating incidents of Alzheimer brain incapacity, a consult and a brain scan might be worth an ounce of prevention.For people with a life history of taking responsibility for their own health, a consult and a brain scan may also become as useful as an annual heart and blood pressure exam.Dr. Amen and his teams have developed a well balanced paradigm and treatment protocol that includes both traditional medication as well as health based remedies such as 5-HTP, inositol, green tea, rhodiola, L-tyrosine, DHEA, SAMe, vitamin D, GABA, B6, magnesium, huperzine A, acetyl-L-carnitine, vinpocentine, and ginko biloba for issues related to addiction, depression, cravings, impulsivity and learning disabilities (p.292).The book was made endearing to readers by the inclusion of many case-narratives; it's not an intimidating 500-page medical research paper. The book may become a comforting go-to encyclopedic reference tool that is further extended by back-up website materials for many struggling parents, individuals and couples who have failed to find practical medical help for themselves, their family or their children.

Excellent resource! Very practical and inspirational information. And for the people who say that this is a giant infomercial, they're missing the gist of it. The idea is that there are things you can do to improve your life. You can start now. You could improve your sleep, and start to exercise. You can put better foods into your body. You can improve your moods. Taking better care of yourself will improve your relationships. The idea behind the book is that you can take control of your neurological health, improve current conditions, and prevent future neurological issues. There is science to back this up. In doing so, you'll likely improve your health, your longevity, the quality of your life. You don't have to buy Dr. A's supplements. Fish oil and phosphotidyl choline and B vitamins and such are all available from a variety of sources.I have used this book with a young client. He's very bright. As he enters middle school, he has gobbled up this book like you wouldn't believe! This book is empowering him to make smarter choices about what he eats, how he engages with others, what he does when he has negative thoughts. I appreciate that there are resources like this to empower not only adults, but also young people. People need to know that they can make lasting and significant changes to their health! There is such a push for pharmaceutical remedies. But your health is in ***your own hands.*** This book has the science, experience, and research to prove it. Thank you, Dr. Amen and colleagues!

Good Book to Begin Understand of Your Thinking and Feeling

Reading this book felt like panning for gold during the gold rush. I would like to preface that I am not a psychology expert, but I am a psychology nerd and I enjoyed this book.I was immediately hooked by Daniel Amen’s life-changing proclaimations about his SPECT research, however I soon came to realize he’d refer me back to his other online material that required more monetary investment. Like what many other readers have mentioned, Dr. Amen heavily advertises his other resources throughout his book. Being the curious person that I am, I looked up how much a scan would cost ($3,500 and their clinic does not accept insurance). Fighting back the urge to get a scan, you can still utilize this book. I think the book offers various nuggets of knowledge, but you have to look for it in the river of text. I gained great understanding of the brain—prefrontal cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, anterior cingulate cortex, temporal lobe—and how deficiencies in these areas may affect your brain. He also suggests remedies to these issues in an organized and concise method plan that Dr. Amen created. He offers both medicinal and natural ways to aid under or over performing areas in the brain, which I find extremely helpful since I believe in a more holistic approach.I’d say 20% of the book is comprised of educational content, 50% of patient testimonies/stories, 25% SPECT imaging explainations and the last 5% to self glorification.