Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: If I had a hammer... Review: I really liked "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life" and therefore expected to like this book, too. Amen's advances in brain scans promise significant insight into mental disorders. Unfortunately, in this book, he reminds me of the proverbial fellow who has just gotten a shiny new hammer and suddenly sees nails everywhere. In his view, it seems, nearly every possible mental disorder really is a form of ADD. This contradicts the usual psychiatric protocols for differential diagnosis: ADD is generally defined as an attention-directing and impulse-control disorder that does NOT involve delusions, depression, bipolar, and other problems known to have attention-deficiency and/or impulse control components. Thus this book seems likely to confuse the diagnostic issues. I still expect Daniel Amen to produce a great book on ADD one of these days, based on the brain scan research. I regret to say, however, this isn't it.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great introduction to ADD physiology and therapies Review: First of all, this book recommends a broad range of therapies for ADD, including medication. Many people distrust medication for this purpose, so be forewarned. Regardless your perspective, this book is packed with ideas and medical case studies regarding the various behaviors we call 'ADD' (Attention Deficit Disorder). I think Dr. Amen's books do more to promote understanding of brain dynamics than any other author writing, today. Most readers will find the many brain-scans fascinating. These describe the relationship between localized brain activity and behaviors. For example, he shows how 'outward hyper-activity' is related to localized brain 'under-activity'. The hyper-active behavior is a way for the 'body' to stimulate the brain into 'normal' levels of activity. At first this seems confusing, but it makes sense. This a great resource book for ADD. In fact, it seems written for the family doctor as much as the general public. It describes the brain physiology of ADD, breaking the general syndrome into distinct groups. It offers a testing procedure for classifying the kind of ADD and specific advise: diet, counselling and medication for each classification. There is a whole chapter on Dr. Amen's thoughts on specific medications. Dr. Amen is not without controversy. Many doctors feel his work is still experimental and wish he would keep his work private until his interpretations and recommendations are better studied. He spends the first portion of the book describing his struggles with the medical establishment. I for one and very glad he has made the book available. I was put off at first by the book's title. 'ADD' is not something that can be healed. Healing implies the existence of a wound and that analogy doesn't work. After reading it and finding myself going back to it on several occassions for reference purposes, I've decided to ignore the title. It's a good book.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Better than average starter book on ADD Review: I call this a good starter, because Dr. Amen's earlier 'Change Your Brain, Change Your Life' presents a more integrated, brain based assessment of how brains work. Maybe that was too specialized. 'Healing ADD' omits the integrated picture and goes straight to the classic list of childhood behavioral problems. In 'Healing ADD', we get an elaborated standard behavioral classification scheme: classic ADD, Inattentive ADD, Overfocused ADD, Temporal Lobe ADD, Limbic ADD and 'ring of fire' ADD. Dr. Amen provides a questionnaire for deducing which class you or someone may fall into and brain descriptions for why they happen. It's that simple. There must be millions of parents out there willing to pay a fortune to 'heal' whatever is going on inside their child's head, and this book aims at that market. Maybe this is a case of liking the first in the series too much. If you haven't read 'Change your Brain', nor much about ADD, this might be the perfect book for you. Dr. Amen is a good story teller, it is a fun book to read. The second half of the book includes a variety of suggestions for getting along with school age ADDer. For example, getting mad at your ADD child every morning because they won't get out of bed is bad for both you and your child. Pages 243 to 252 cover 'medications.' For each kind of ADD, Dr. Amen lists the generally prescribed medications with a short 'personalized' commentary. For example, he describes 'Adderall' as "My personal favorite. I start with Adderall because it lasts longer and is gentler as it wears off. Also, the tablets are double-scored. This makes it easy to quarter them and fine-tune the dose.'" As a frazzled parent of an ADD child, these little hints may look like treasures. On the other hand, as one who has watched a horrible, medication induced rash cover 90% of my youngest son's body for almost a week, don't forget these medications can be dangerous. Most people who read this book will probably want a SPECT image of themselves and/or child. Why not?, it looks pretty interesting. As best I can tell, these are still hard to get. As a proactive parent, I was never able to even find out how much they cost. I was surprised to find Dr. Amen saying near the end of the book that he wasn't doing as many scans as he had in the past. Apparently his database includes enough examples. On the last two pages, Dr. Amen recommends two websites: www.brain.com and www.brainplace.com. The second of the two seems to be Dr. Amen's and includes a lot of brain details. It looks pretty interesting. I'm a bit put off by the title. ADD isn't a bacteria that can be eradicated, or a bone that has been broken. It is a diagnosis of behavioral aspects of personality produced by brain structure and chemistry. There is nothing to 'heal'. As Dr. Amen's earlier book, 'Change Your Brain, Change Your Life' says, there is plenty of room for change. I suspect few ADDers would agree there is something to be healed.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A Very Useful Book for Medical Practitioners and ADD Folks Review: "Healing ADD" is a very similar book to Dr. Amen's earlier work "Change your Brain, Change your Life." Both books use brain scans as a method of diagnosis. Dr. Amen is careful to point out that "ADD" is actually quite rare and unusual, and that is has become a kind of popular "fad" self-diagnosis for ordinary forgetfulness and absentminded behaviour. Dr. Amen shows how people who are diagnosed as "ADD" or "ADHD" actually may have very different organic causes for these behaviours. Since different parts of the brain are affected to create one of these six outcomes (all of which are lumped together as "ADD"), different methods of treatment are required to make an "ADD" person operate more effectively. Dr. Amen's latest book deals not only with case studies and explaining how each of the six "ADD" forms manifest themselves in the brain, but he offers strategies to compensate. His suggested method of interaction is holistic: exercise, drugs, behaviour modification, and diet. This book deals mostly with adults. Most other material on ADD is catered to youth, even though ADD is a permanent condition. In the back of the book is a listing of specialists who offer the brain scanning method of diagnosis used by Dr. Amen. My only criticisms of the book are that too much material is duplicated from "Change your Brain, Change your Life," and I dislike the title. ADD is not an "illness" needing to be healed. It is simply a type of brain that works differently from the majority of folks, with both plusses and minuses. I found this an interesting and useful book. I have read much on the subject and liked this book best of all.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: FINALLY SOMEONE KNOWS! Review: I cannot explain the relief of finally seeing our daughters afliction and pain explained in black and white. It sadens me to know the medical profession turned their backs on her at an early age. Her near disaster (attempted suicide) could have been avoided. After struggling for 17 years she's got real help. WAKE UP ALL U STIFFS IN THE MED WORLD! Thanks Doc Amen.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Outstanding - The brain scans are remarkably informative. Review: This book is a must for anyone with ADD or with a spouse or child that has ADD.(aka ADHD) You will learn exactly what's going on in the brain, although perhaps not why. ADD is not just a fad, or just a lack of trying. Dr. Amen's research makes that crystal clear with SPECT brain scans of people with and without ADD. He also shows scans of patients with ADD while trying to concentrate, and relaxed. The differences are remarkable and telling.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A Great Find for Desperate Parents! Review: We were failures as parents! After sending our disorganized, underachieving (yet high grades!), belligerent daughter off to college and insisting that she continue counseling, her new therapist discovered that she has ADD! We weren't bad parents! This book showed us that our daughter's behavior was normal for an ADD person, and that while we made mistakes in reacting to her behavior, ours was normal parental behavior! The different types made us think Dr. Amen had been peeking in our windows! Dr. Amen suggests how to encourage ADD adults to continue therapy. I'm ordering a second copy in hopes my daughter will read it and be encouraged! She's on the verge of making a real mess of her life with credit cards, job hopping, and inability to follow a plan to finish college. If she does, this book has let me understand that it isn't because of poor parenting on our part, and helps keep me from rescuing her!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Convincing "brain maps" Review: If you have any interest in ADD, I strongly recommend reading this book. My summary of this book's messages: - ADD is crippling. - ADD is highly circumstantial. - ADD is often worsened by many societal factors. - ADD can be helped. All these years, I joined the camp that thinks, "People with ADD should just try harder." After seeing the scientific findings ("brain maps") in this book, I am convinced that ADD is crippling. ADD could place an affected person at a disadvantage in our society. It can be hard for a person, very ADD or not ADD at all, to see what is so crippling about ADD. If you are skeptical, try reading this book. And, this book is easy to read. Just like everything else, ADD could be used as a perfect excuse for "poor behaviors." Nevertheless, by broadening our knowledge in subjects such as ADD, we could help people around us better (including ourselves). Note: I just thought of an analogy. Have you seen a student, bright or not so bright, panicked in an exam and turned blank? Mentally crippled under that particular circumstance, that student wouldn't be able to produce anything unless and until he managed to break away from that panic. ADD is like that. And the key is: if we could just help that student reduce his panic frequency, for instance, we would have probably helped him improve the quality of his life. Related URL: http://www.brainplace.com.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Some new light on ADD! Review: At last! Some real guidance through the difficulties of identifying, let alone trying to correct ADD. I'm the director of a nutritional therapy clinic. We have sent several people with ADD (as well as with brain injury and stroke) to Dr. Amen's clinics. Until now, though, I never understood why his medication protocols typically worked so well. His book makes it clear, using fascinating "before and after" SPECT "photos" of the ADD brains treated, that there are several distinct kinds of ADD. It goes on to explain the special treatments suitable for each. Dr. Amen also devotes several chapters to some effective, non-drug options. Like his first great book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, this one is full of inspiring case histories, and is so readable that you can't put it down.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: No nonsense lifesaver combines high tech with common sense! Review: I am a 43-year-old male who has suffered since birth with many of the difficulties so lucidly described and illustrated by Dr. Amen in this book. The good doctor gives us real people and real life situations that I can easily relate to. I see nearly every distressing aspect of my life and myself in here including all of the different attention weaknesses, irritability, moodiness, rage, tormenting thoughts, spaciness, and suicidal depression that have variably haunted me from birth through the present. I also see so many of the needless guilt, shame, failures, and disappointments. There are profuse 3-D images of how the parts of all of these different brains like mine are over and under-working to produce these often frightening and disturbing symptoms and also how they look when effectively medicated and/or treated. This book gives me the courage I need to stop blaming my parents and myself for my condition and suffering. In reading Dr. Amen's book, I feel the encouragement to stay on the medication that works for my unique neurophysiology. I also find a great deal of motivation to explore non-medical approaches, including dietary and behavioral remedies as well. I find in this book a wealth of technical knowledge balanced with an abundance of commonsense. The author never takes himself too seriously or makes exaggerated or overly optimistic claims. The tone is as hopeful as it is helpful.
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