Rating: 
Summary: Using this at work
Review: After choosing this book, for information on ADD, I found the discussion on ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) a useful application I use at work to deal with employee climate, and relationship building.After leading a discussion about ANTs at work to a Brown Bag group of employees at lunch, the employees wanted this information shared with all the employees in the division because of the opportunity to change negative behavior at work. Bravo,to Dr. Amen for taking a complex subject and making it easy to understand.
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Summary: Comprehensive Resources for Understanding Your Brain
Review: Amazon referred me to Dr. Amen's work as I was seeking resources for a colleague whose parent may be in early stages of Alzheimer's. Dr. Amen's work is amazing, bringing psychotherapy to a new level of science as practitioners may now see the organ they are treating and prescribe more accurately. For a sample of Dr. Amen's work in neuropsychiatry, visit his homepage, www.brainplace.com As 2005 begins, the website offers an 18 minute video overview (Windows Media Player required).
Multimedia is especially helpful since it engages more comprehensively and introduces information accessible to those who spend an hour trying to read a page or two. For more resources, go to www.mindworkspress.com which offers DVDs on ADD, Anxiety and Depression, Drug & Alcohol Abuse (Which Brain Do You Want?), New Skills for Frazzled Parents, and Alzheimer's. The DVD version of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life presents an overview of the principles and displays before-and-after scans from his clinics (as of this writing there are four). There are books written on ADD an Intimacy, books for children, teens, and siblings. "Change Your Brain..." is the first step in understanding and optimizing your brain, "the hardware of your soul."
Rating:
Summary: Change Your Brain--HAVE A BETTER LIFE!
Review: Another excellent book by Dr. Amen, which is so fascinating about how the brain works and how with the newest diagnostic tools, it can be "tweaked" so our lives can be the best they can be. Very interesting read. Dr. Amen was a welcomed guest on my Internet radio program, Coping with Caregiving. Jacqueline Marcell, Author, Elder Rage
Rating:
Summary: Change Your Brain--HAVE A BETTER LIFE!
Review: Another excellent book by Dr. Amen, which is so fascinating about how the brain works and how with the newest diagnostic tools, it can be "tweaked" so our lives can be the best they can be. Very interesting read. Dr. Amen was a welcomed guest on my Internet radio program, Coping with Caregiving. Jacqueline Marcell, Author, Elder Rage
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough.
Review: Author talks about himself a lot. Always seems to mention himself whenever possible. This is a very detailed book and interesting. Not to underrate this book for it's content, it does propose many interesting methods and also is rather insightful. It is definitely refreshing to read information that has scientific research to back it up. Overall an interesting book, but the ego sits out there for someone to touch and congratulate.
Rating: 
Summary: Chicken Soup for the Brain
Review: Based on his experience with functional brain imaging, Dr Amen has come up with a model of the relationship between behavior and brain structure. The model is a partition of the brain into five regions, and a mapping of most (if not all) psychological problems onto over- or underactivity in one of these regions. By surgery or medication that targets the afflicted parts, the problems can be cured. He presents some compelling anecdotal evidence that brain physiology causes behavioral problems. But then anecdotal evidence usually is compelling.
Dr Amen has written another "breakthrough" book on curing Attention Deficit Disorder, one about spiritual growth, and another about dealing with relationship problems. One might wonder whether the doctor is spreading his expertise somewhat thin, but these fields are in fact connected in that medication can correct all sorts of misbehavior. The book actually does present an example of marriage counseling by medication. But when it relates chemistry to how close or distant we feel from God, it feels like we're leaving the solid ground of science and being launched into the astral plane.
On closer reflection, many anecdotes given in evidence of the model can be extremely tenuous. Is it really true that grief over the death of a loved one boils down to a "deep limbic loss" of touch, voice, and smell? Isn't it likely that something less bodily might play a role in our feelings of loss? And if the limbic system is equally affected by voice and appetite, wouldn't we feel the same deep limbic grieving over the loss of some particular food? With each brain part responsible for so many behavioral problems, doesn't fixing one cause others?
I wonder if we actually learn something by blaming behavior on some particular part of the brain, or if we are just taking well-recognized problems and relabeling them. There would be a point to all this if it led to new understanding or therapy. In fact, after doing much work to demonstrate the power of functional brain imaging to diagnose behavioral problems, the doctor goes out of his way to dissuade people from using the technique. In fact, many of the therapies that he does recommend appear quite conventional (cognitive behavioral therapy, diet, exercise).
The book isn't really as married to the model as it purports. Although the framework is structured around this brain partition, the meat of the book consists mostly of stories that bear no relationship to it, and branch out into new theories that are not given any other theoretical basis. Are we still pulling out the old hackney that Mozart is good for you? I've heard it makes your plants grow.
The tendency to view psychopathology in terms of a simplistic unidirectional chemical causality shows when the author unambiguously states that depression is caused by a neurotransmitter deficit. But this is either false or completely irrelevant. When somebody becomes depressed over the death of a loved one, the external event quite obviously must have something to do with this.
I'm not saying that there is no connection between brain and behavior. But the book appears to completely disallow the possibility that rather than being slaves to uncontrollable chemical imbalances, brain chemistry could itself at least partially be a reflection of our behavior. Perhaps the psychological-physiological dichotomy is a false one and both are aspects of the same thing, like the wave-particle duality of matter.
The book does have some useful things to say about the various medications that are in use. The anecdotes if anything are interesting, as are the brain scan images (those of addicts in particular are downright scary).
If the book purports to have a scientific basis, it would have benefited from a much more extensive set of references to support some of its claims. Psychology is a tough nut to crack, and there is still a tremendous amount of research ongoing to understand how our brain works. In the meantime, the field is open for anybody with a pet theory to claim they have the answers.
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Summary: Change your brain change your life
Review: Dr Amen's findings, of how the brain functions, is a 'must read' for everyone, but particularly for people living with troubled loved ones. Check out chapter 13: The Dark Side. It will clarify many misconceptions on why some people's behavior is out of bounds, and how they are led to commit strange and/or violent acts no matter how old they are. Biological factors are indeed a major part of the problem faced by troubled minds.Psychological and social factors are certainly there, but the abnormalities within the brain system, whether decreased activitities, increased activities or both at the same time in a portion of the brain, definitely lead the troubled mind to commit tragical and devastating acts. The lack of a chemical substance: 'Serotin' plays a definite role. Medical advice is given by Dr.Amen and detailed definitions of each medical solution is discussed. This book is an eye opener.Read it more than once.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding contribution to self-help
Review: Dr. Amen's book integrates our knowledge of brain topography, brain biochemistry, nutrition, psychology, psychiatry and genetics to write a very readable and rewarding book which will resonate with most people's life experiences. Dr. Amen has been able to synthesize what we are learning in various fields and to write about it in a most accessible way. As a psychotherapist, I am recommending it to several of my clients.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic insight into dysfunctional behavior
Review: Dr. Amen's work is cutting edge and formulates the future of psychiatry. After years of experience with personal and joint therapy, and after many pshychological "self-help" books, I was delighted to find Dr. Amen's research which has produced information that transcends contemporary knowledge and therapy practicies to date. After reading this work, one is enabled to understand the mechanics and better appreciate common dysfunctions, whether in ones self, parents, his children or spouse. These insights result in a paradigm shift in empathy, understanding and forgiveness toward our fellow man. He has written the book from a layman's point of view which makes all the medical research and data presented very easy to understand. He uses stories and case studies throughout the book to facilitate comprehension. This is one of those books you will want to share with your loved ones. What a joy to read and exciting to see the medical community has finally connected the brain with behavior. Kudos to Dr. Amen for his work, courage and commitment.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic insight into dysfunctional behavior
Review: Dr. Amen's work is cutting edge and formulates the future of psychiatry. After years of experience with personal and joint therapy, and after many pshychological "self-help" books, I was delighted to find Dr. Amen's research which has produced information that transcends contemporary knowledge and therapy practicies to date. After reading this work, one is enabled to understand the mechanics and better appreciate common dysfunctions, whether in ones self, parents, his children or spouse. These insights result in a paradigm shift in empathy, understanding and forgiveness toward our fellow man. He has written the book from a layman's point of view which makes all the medical research and data presented very easy to understand. He uses stories and case studies throughout the book to facilitate comprehension. This is one of those books you will want to share with your loved ones. What a joy to read and exciting to see the medical community has finally connected the brain with behavior. Kudos to Dr. Amen for his work, courage and commitment.
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