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Summary: Understanding & Optimizing ADD Brain/Life
Review: Amazon referred me to Dr. Amen's amazing work, 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 (database of over 3,000 abstracts on SPECT scan research) 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 90-minute 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 and Intimacy, books for children, teens, and siblings. ADD was Dr. Amen's first expertise before he discovered the effectiveness of SPECT scans, so this area of research benefits immensely.
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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.
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Summary: fascinating and validating
Review: Dr. Daniel Amen describes several sets of ADD symptoms, illustrating them with images of abnormal brain activity in those who suffer from the symptoms. While I'm not convinced that his six types are all really primarily ADD, or that they are the only types of ADD, still, this book provides fascinating insight into the physical basis for psychiatric difficulties. Dr. Amen's case studies are fascinating and quite compelling, and he shows both great tenderness for his clients and great insight into the needs and difficulties of people with ADD. This book is extremely valuable for debunking the myth that ADD is not a real disability. Dr. Amen's use of brain imaging technology demonstrates the ways that some people's brains work differently and ineffectively. It's not just laziness--when people with ADD try to concentrate, the part of our brain that controls concentration just shuts down. It's genuinely a physical disability. Although I can "feel" this, to see it verified in black-and-white was extremely validating. While Amen's treatments might be experimental, his diagnostic methods do not seem so. It is not "experimental" to use brain imaging technology to identify where the brain is working properly and not working enough. This has been done for many years. And it's not true that Amen's work is completely "out there"--his work was reviewed by research physicians in two departments (nuclear medicine and neurology, I think) at UCLA and found to be "good medicine" and worthwhile. Comparisons made in other reviews to procedures completely unsupported by any scientific evidence are really in themselves unsupportable. I am not a doctor and can't recommend whether the treatments outlined in this book should be implemented. I can say that people with ADD, and those around them who doubt the reality of their difficulties, will learn a lot from looking at the brain images in this book and understanding the connections between the brain's impaired functioning and the associated symptoms. Reading this book almost makes me feel that "normal" psychiatry is working in the dark without tools... Dr Amen might or might not have made as much progress in the field as this book appears to demonstrate, but nonetheless I think he must be on the right track. I wonder whether it will one day seem to us that trying to guess what's wrong with someone's brain without looking at it, is as strange as trying to diagnose strep throat over the phone.
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Summary: hargray
Review: Dr.Amen's research has brought us to a new understanding and hope for children with ADD. Every parent who reads this book realizes what their options and alternatives are to healing and overcomming this condition. After experiencing much ignorance on this subject I am very grateful to those medical pioneers having the courage to practice good medicine.
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Summary: Thought provoking book
Review: Healing ADD is an intriguing, thought provoking book that leads someone - like me, who fits the characteristics of ADD - to have a better perspective on the topic. I've always been a terribly slow reader; it takes me around 5 minutes to read one page in a book - even if the material is very interesting to me. Unfortunately the school system stopped trying to work with the problem after elementary school, and instead threw me into "LD" classes.
However, I practice the art of skepticism; therefore, I decided to write an e-mail to Stephen Barrett, M.D (aka founder of Quackwatch). Here was his response: "If his SPECT notions had a genuine basis, every doctor would be using the test. ADD is not a fraud. Some teachers and parents over-diagnose it, but psychiatrists rarely do that. Nor is there evidence that Ritalin is over-prescribed as its critics contend."
If Dr. Amen is reading this critique, he might want to take Dr. Barrett's comment to heart, and try to make this more mainstream. For all we know, Dr. Amen might actually have something that could literally change - dare I say improve - the field of psychology.
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Summary: Healing ADD-an excellent book by Dr Amen
Review: I don't believe the so-called review of this book by a psychiatrist. How many psychiatrists write like that? Not capitalizing "I" for instance, I just don't buy that reviewer! This is an excellent book! I am a pharmacist with 2 out of my 3 children having ADHD. The different descriptions of children with ADHD and the brain scans that are in this book are an excellent help in understanding ADHD. ADHD is very real, with a dopamine connection (not enough of it making it to the receptor) and it is as real as someone needing glasses or a hearing aid, etc. People are doing a great disservice to their children if they don't treat this very real medical condition. You wouldn't deny your child glasses if needed, well please don't deny them the proper medication to help them study and do well in school and home. This book really helps the understanding of this condition, and Dr. Amen is very respected in this field.
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Summary: I don't trust this guy
Review: I have no doubt that Dr. Amen has a lot of experience with SPECT scans, and ADD. I worry that his conclusions haven't been reproduced or confirmed indepedently outside his laboratory, which makes me highly skeptical of his results, and generalizations. Therefore, as the SPECT identifications are the selling point of his book, I can't recommend it. The title, should also give anyone who has studied ADD pause, as ADD isn't really something that can be "healed", although it can be substantially mitigated. It strikes me as very a "huckster" or "snake oil salesmen" kind of title. In a world with so many charlatans and unethical companies trying to fool people or exaggerate claims to make a buck, it is disturbing to see a medical doctor disregard the reproducibility demanded by the scientific method. The general advice given in the book is good, but by no means unique or exceptional, by comparison. I would recommend Driven to Distraction to those who are looking for more scientifically sound information and advice regarding ADD, and it's treatment.
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Summary: Quite Useful
Review: I was diagnosed with ADD about six months ago. By now, I have checked out more than twenty books on the subject from local libraries. As others have mentioned Amen's main idea is that using SPECT imaging, he can tell what areas of the brain are having problems and based on his own experience, he recommends different Drugs, supplements and therapies including coaching, EEG neuro-feedback and alike depending on the particular area. My main problem initially with the book was that reading the behavioral symptoms noted for his "discovered" six sub-categories of ADHD, it seemed like I had five of them! This was a bit hoaky to me. It also seemed that Dr Amen had never bothered publish ANY of his research. Reading posts on the web I found more people who had gotten "possible" four or five sub-categories by taking his online test. Reading the book carefully a few months later, I realized that he indeed admits that many people may have combinations of these subtypes. As far as publishing the work, I can see how many people like Amen may be totally frustrated trying to fund and execute their double-blind tests and push their ideas thru the academic reviewers. Old school academia will not let totally different ideas thru and that is why the research is usually stuck: They stick too much to the literature. I have experience this myself and my field is physics! The book, aside from this main theory, contains much useful information on various alternative approaches and strategies. After trying every Adderal, Ritalin, Dexedrine, Cylert, Celexa (SSRI) and Welbutrin, I have decided to try EEG biofeedback training at home (see phil bate's website for EEG machine rentals) and later visiting Amen's satellite clinic in New Port Beach. A few thousand dollars, even as an experiment would be nothing compared to all the pain and suffering I endure for seven years that it took me to get my doctorate at Caltech. My psychiatrist, although open to Amen and EEG nuero-feedback, referred me to Professor Walid Shakim at UCLA, "THE" local scientist on ADHD. He charges over $1500 for the diagnosis only. I spoke with him on the phone (I introduce myself as Dr "last name" on my messages). As a researcher myself, I found him WAY too old school and anti-anything-non-stimulant. He rejected SPECT or EEG as anything useful. I find Dr Amen much more open in comparison if less academic and say artistic. I have spoken to a psychologist who had had great experience with Amen's clinic for her family member and know one psychiatrist in the area who has ADHD and is a big follower of Dr Amen. As I always say, a few big reliable data points near home are worth much more than a thousand by some god-knows-who's data. I have seen too many researchers in physics confirming somebody's junk data over and over. Contrary to the accepted belief, fads, trends and mass herding is as common in academia as it is in the normal population. IMHO. If Amen's does not work, at least I have tried it and will write about it. I'll try other approaches will do the same thing.
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Summary: Family Life Saver!!!
Review: My PHYSICIAN gave me his own copy to read the chapter on traumatic brain injury and I read the whole book. I decided "ADD" was the "problem" with our rebellious teenager (diagnosis by psychogist). Two spect scans and several other tests later (Dr. Kohn, McClearly, Illinois)they located the problem causing my language problems due to the TBI plus found a problem due to an 11 yr old accident that "typical" MRI couldn't find reasons for my migraines. They diagnosed both my son and I with ADHD. There was absolutely NO brain activity in the prefrontal cortex during concentration . . . this explained why he would become angry the more we demanded he sit longer and work on his homework. I have heard Dr. Amen speak and now own probably 90% of all of his books/tapes/DVDs. Now that I am aware of brain Spect Scans I do notice that the mainstream medical people are becoming more aware of them and interested in doing them or PET scans (similiar); I have even seen them on a couple of TV shows; also on CNN specials. He also talks about brain chemistry, alcoholism families and how ADD is inherited which makes sense when you start to study how brain chemistry works. He is REAL! This book is an EXCELLENT book for ADD and TBI.
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Summary: A gold mine of information
Review: This book is the most comprehensive source of information on ADD available. The basis of the treatment techniques, SPECT scans, is also revolutionary in its approach and nearly self-evident. This approach of examining both patients' histories and SPECT scans at the same time is obviously an effective means of targeting not only the specific type of ADD (Dr. Amen has categorized 6 types) but also recognizing other disorders that may cause confusion about the ultimate diagnosis. His work is the tip of the iceberg in diagnosing and finding successful treatments for ADD, anxiety, depression, violent behaivors, Alzeheimer's, obsessive disorders, manic disorders, head-injury related disorders, substance abuse disorders, dementia, and many other brain-related disorders. It is loaded with information. Many professionals would do well to not only ready but study the information. This book can be considered a companion to "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."
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