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Life-changing book. A must read!Drew’s Reviews

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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

by Daniel G. Amen M.D. (Author)

5,268 ratings

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this completely revised and updated edition, neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen includes effective "brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life.

“Perfection in combining leading-edge brain science technology with a proven, user-friendly, definitive, and actionable road map to safeguard and enhance brain health and functionality.”—David Perlmutter, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain

In Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, renowned neuropsychiatrist Daniel Amen, M.D., includes new, cutting-edge research gleaned from more than 100,000 SPECT brain scans over the last quarter century and scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures work in your brain. Dr. Amen’s “brain prescriptions” will help you:

• To quell anxiety and panic: Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil
• To fight depression: Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) and use supplements targeted to your brain type
• To curb anger: Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
• To boost memory: Learn the specific steps and habits to decrease your risk for Alzheimer’s disease that can help you today
• To conquer impulsiveness and learn to focus: Develop total focus with the One-Page Miracle
• To stop obsessive worrying: Follow the “get unstuck” writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises

You’re not stuck with the brain you’re born with.

From the Publisher

Explore effective “brain prescriptions” that can help heal your brain and change your life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With a cutting-edge, easy-to-apply plan, Dr. Daniel Amen proves you needn't succumb to depression, anger, and other negative emotions. This must-read book provides the key to heal your brain and transform your life."—JJ Virgin, Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert, Author of the NYT bestsellers: The Virgin Diet & Sugar Impact Diet

“This is the definitive manual for taking care of your brain, so it can take care of you. Prevent one of the most important hidden agers of your body.”—Sara Gottfried MD, Harvard Trained Physician and NYT bestselling author of The Hormone Cure

“Change Your Brain, Change Your Life is your manual for fully optimizing your brain. Dr. Amen and I partner with Pastor Rick Warren in creating The Daniel Plan that has helped tens of thousands of people get well by using habits that optimize decision making and brain function. His newly revised book gives readers a powerfully practical exploration into the organ that makes you who you are.”—Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the Cleveland Center for Functional Medicine and the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Blood Sugar Solution.

”I consider Daniel Amen to be the most innovative psychiatrist in America. His message is simple, yet profound: you can’t have a healthy life without a healthy brain. His dietary and lifestyle strategies to maintain brain health are based on the world’s most comprehensive library of brain imaging technology that allows one to observe the impact of his recommendations. If you want a more fulfilled life, this book is a must read.”—Barry Sears, Ph.D., Author of The Zone

“After 110,000 brain scans Dr. Daniel Amen is the ultimate expert on how to change your brain so that you can change your life for the better. The discovery of his wisdom and insights will make your life and brain health infinitely better.”—Mark Victor Hansen, New York Times bestselling author, Co-Creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and The Miracles In You series

“No one knows more about the connection between your brain, your body, and your life than Daniel Amen. This new, updated edition of his classic book is even better than the original, and it belongs in every health library. Highly recommended!”—Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS aka “The Nutrition Myth Buster”, author of The Great Cholesterol Myth and Smart Fat: Eat More Fat, Lose More Weight, Get Healthy Now

"Revolutionary. Dr. Amen shows how your brain can become your worst enemy, and how with the proper treatment, your best friend."—Martin Stein, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry, George Washington University

"Opens the door to assessment and interventions that can change your life."—Robert D. Hunt, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Vanderbilt School of Medicine

"Dr. Daniel Amen's book represents an expert solution not only for better treating brain illness but more importantly for creating a lasting state of brain wellness."—Cyrus Raji, MD, PhD, UCLA Medical Center, Department of Radiology

"This book is a goldmine of practical and easy-to-follow instructions on how you can you can feel sharper, happier, and more in control. Dr. Amen has condensed his 35 years of experience in treating patients with attention deficit disorder, depression, anxiety, OCD, and addiction into a practical program you can follow on your own."—Majid Fotuhi, MD, PhD, Medical Director, NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center

About the Author

Daniel G. Amen, MD, is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain imaging expert who heads the world-renowned Amen Clinics. The Washington Post called Dr. Amen the most popular psychiatrist in America, and Sharecare named him the web's #1 most influential expert and advocate on mental health. He is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a nine-time New York Times bestselling author, including Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Magnificent Mind at Any Age, and Change Your Brain, Change Your Body. He is also an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the star of several very popular public television specials.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

12 Principles to Change Your Brain and Your Life

At Amen Clinics we have twelve core principles that provide the foundation for our work with patients suffering from a range of issues as well as those looking to optimize their brains. They are incredibly simple, but don’t let that fool you. They are also extremely powerful and will change everything in your life if you read, understand, and apply them.

1.Your brain is involved in everything you do and everything you are, including how you think, how you feel, how you act, and how well you get along with other people. Your brain is the organ behind your intelligence, character, personality, and every single decision you make. This is not a new idea. In about 400 BC, Hippocrates wrote, “And men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy, laughter, and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, despondency, and tears. And by this, in a special manner, we acquire wisdom and knowledge, and see and hear, and know what is foul and what is fair, what is bad and what is good, what is sweet, and what is unsavory . . . And by the same organ we become mad and delirious, where fears and terrors assail us . . . All these things we endure from the brain, when it is not healthy . . . In these ways I am of the opinion that the brain exercises the greatest power in the man. This is the interpreter to us of those things which emanate from the air, when the brain happens to be in a sound state.” (18)

It is your brain that decides whether you should get married and if you get divorced. It is your brain that manages your money and helps you be successful at work. And it is your brain that pushes you away from the table, telling you that you have had enough (or that gives you permission to have the third bowl of ice cream). Yet most people never really think about their brains, which is a huge mistake, because success in anything you do starts with a healthy brain.

2.When your brain works right, you work right. But when your brain is troubled, you are much more likely to have trouble in your life. With a healthy brain you are happier, physically healthier (because you make better decisions), wealthier (also because you make better decisions), and more successful in everything you do. When your brain is unhealthy, for whatever reason (brain injuries, drug abuse, obesity, sleep apnea, mold toxicity, etc.), you are sadder, sicker, poorer, and less successful. In all the books about success on the shelf at your local bookstore, virtually none of them talk about optimizing the physical health of your brain. Based on our work with tens of thousands of people, we believe it is always the first place to start.

Image 1:1

If you really understand principle number 2 it can be disturbing, because it directly challenges the notion of free will. Most people think of free will as black or white: you have it or you don’t. Our imaging work has taught me that free will is a gray concept. Some of us have great overall brain function and likely have a very high percentage of free will; while others, often through no fault of their own, such as having been in a car accident, have less healthy brains, leading to less free will and more troubled lives.

3.Your brain is the most amazing, energy-hungry organ in the universe. It is estimated that your brain has one hundred billion cells, with each one connected to other cells by up to ten thousand individual connections. It has also been estimated that you have more connections in your brain than there are stars in the universe. Let’s put this in binge- watching television terms: it’s been estimated that the brain has the storage capacity of three million hours of TV shows (19).

Even though your brain is only about 2 percent of your body’s weight (about three pounds), it uses 20 to 30 percent of the calories you consume and 20 percent of your body’s blood flow. Take a moment to consider that. Your brain is the most metabolically expensive real estate in your body. This is important to understand, because any form of oxygen deprivation state, from a scary event like a near-drowning episode to the seemingly commonplace, like having sleep apnea, can damage your brain.

4.Your brain is the consistency of soft butter and housed in a really hard skull with multiple sharp bony ridges, making it easily injured. Think of something that falls in between Jell-O and egg whites on the softness spectrum—that’s your brain. For extra credit, visit this link to watch a video of a newly autopsied brain, so you can see how soft it really is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jHxyP-nUhUY. Now imagine it encased in a really hard skull with many sharp bony ridges (see Image 1:2). Jarring motions and head injuries can cause the brain to slam into the hard interior of the skull, causing brain injuries that can ruin lives.

Soft brain + hard skull with sharp ridges = trouble

Image 1:2: Inside the Skull

Notice the sharp bony ridges.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a major cause of psychiatric illness and few people know this, because most psychiatrists never look at the brain. TBI has been linked to homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, ADD/ADHD, learning problems, school failure, murder, suicide, domestic violence, job failure, and incarceration. In a study I did at Sierra Tucson, a psychiatric hospital in Arizona, 44 percent of new admissions had a significant history of brain injury. In another study of homeless people in Toronto, 58 percent of the men and 42 percent of the women had had a significant brain injury before becoming homeless.

At the time of this writing, more than three hundred thousand veterans have sustained a TBI since 2000 (8); the effects of such injuries can follow people for the rest of their lives, indicating that it’s likely those veterans and society will feel the consequences for many decades to come.

Two million new TBIs occur each year as a result of falls, accidents, and concussions. We have to do a much better job of preventing TBIs and repairing the brain once they occur. When President Barack Obama and LeBron James, both huge sports fans, said they would not let their children play tackle football, it was a sign that awareness about the effects of TBI are starting to become part of our cultural fabric.

5.Many things hurt the brain. Obviously, drugs, too much alcohol, infections, environmental toxins, and traumatic head injuries are bad for your brain. But research also tells us that obesity (20); sleep apnea (21); hypertension (22, 23), and even high normal blood pressure levels; diabetes (24, 25), prediabetes, and even high normal blood sugar levels; many medications, such as benzodiazepines (26, 27); the Standard American Diet (SAD), filled with processed foods, pesticides (28, 29), sugar, and artificial colors and sweeteners; unbalanced hormone levels; chronic stress (30, 31); negative thinking; even spending time with unhealthy people are all bad for the brain. Take a moment to think how many of these factors might be affecting you.

6. Many things help the brain. The exciting news is that many things are also good for your brain and can boost its function, such as learning new things; great nutrition; coordination exercises; meditation; loving relationships; and certain nutrients, including vitamins B6, B12, and D, methyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF), omega-3 fatty acids, and phosphatidylserine. In many ways, the best thing you can do for your brain is to spend time with healthy people. As we will see, they are contagious. I often say the fastest way to get healthy is to find the healthiest person you can stand and then spend as much time around him or her as possible. Chapters 19 and 20, give a detailed description of what you can do to enhance your brain.

7.Certain systems in the brain tend to do specific things, and problems in these systems tend to cause symptoms that can benefit from targeted treatments. Knowing about your brain can help you understand yourself and others. This is one of the main areas of focus for this book. You’ll learn about the five major brain systems involved with feelings, thinking, and behavior, including the limbic or emotional brain (mood and bonding), basal ganglia (motivation, pleasure, and anxiety), prefrontal cortex (the brain’s CEO—focus, forethought, and judgment), anterior cingulate gyrus (detects errors and helps shift attention), and the temporal lobes (memory, learning, and mood stability). Specifically, we will look at the latest research about what each system does, what happens when things go wrong, and how to help them.

8.Looking at the brain gives us the opportunity for many powerful insights not possible by just listening to symptoms alone. After looking at more than one hundred thousand brain scans we know that if you don’t look at how the brain functions in individual patients, you are really just guessing at what’s wrong with them. Without imaging an individual’s brain, physicians miss important causes of cognitive, emotional, or behavioral problems, such as brain injuries, toxic exposures, or infections. People end up misdiagnosed and mistreated.

Adrianna, age sixteen, went on a mountain vacation with her family. When they arrived at their cabin they were surrounded by six deer. It was a beautiful moment. Ten days later Adrianna became agitated and started having auditory hallucinations. Her parents sought help for Adrianna, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and prescribed antipsychotic medications, which didn’t help. The next three months were a torturous road of different doctors and multiple medications, at a cost of nearly $100,000. Adrianna had become a shadow of her former self. Desperate, her parents brought Adrianna in for a scan, which showed areas of unusually high activity. It caused us to look deeper at the potential causes of her symptoms, such as an infection or toxicity. It turned out Adrianna had Lyme disease, an infection, often caused by deer ticks. Treatment with antibiotics helped her get her life back.

Imaging immediately decreases stigma as people begin to see their problems as medical and not moral. We have nothing else in psychiatry that is this powerful or immediate. Imaging increases treatment compliance, because people want a better brain so they can have a better life.

Steve

After I gave a lecture to a group called the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), one of the NAMI officers brought her son, who had paranoid schizophrenia and addiction issues, to one of our clinics. Steve had been living on the streets of San Francisco and could not live at home because of his violent, erratic behavior and his refusal to get treatment. During his clinical interview, our historian knocked on my door and told me she didn’t feel comfortable seeing Steve alone; he scared her. As I introduced myself to Steve it was clear he was psychotic and was agitated being at the clinic. He told me in a loud voice that he would not take medication and I couldn’t make him. To settle the tension, I asked if I could get him a cup of water.

As we talked, I told him I didn’t want him to do anything he didn’t want to do, but wondered if it would be okay to scan his brain. Seeing the brain SPECT scans on the walls of the clinic, he was curious and agreed to be scanned. After his scan we looked at it together. It showed high levels of damage. When I showed him a healthy scan (Image 1.3) compared to his scan (Image 1.4), he just stared at them without saying a word.

After about five minutes Steve looked at me, which was the first time we actually had eye contact, and he asked if I could help him. The scans helped him make the shift from being angry and in denial to being open to working with me to get a better brain. This was a pivotal moment—one that the scans had given us with our patients thousands of times before. I told him we had better medications than the ones he had been on in the past and prescribed a low dose of a newer antipsychotic medication. I then gave him an appointment for three weeks later.

A week later I walked into my waiting room to get a new patient and saw Steve’s mother sitting there and wondered to myself why she was at the clinic without an appointment. All of a sudden she stood up, grabbed me, and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thank you,” I said, a little bewildered. “Why did you do that?”

“You can’t believe how much better Steve is,” she said. “He is not hallucinating, he’s not aggressive, and we can have him at home. I am so grateful.”

A few weeks later I saw Steve for his first follow‑up visit. He was remorseful for his prior behavior and grateful he was feeling better. We did a follow‑up scan, which was dramatically better. I put his original scan next to his new one and asked him, “Which brain do you want?”

He said, “I want the healthy one.”

“Then you have to take your medication,” I replied.

The scans made all the difference for Steve and those he loved. Imaging completely changes the discussion around mental health:

What If Mental Health Was Really Brain Health?

With the pervasive stigma around mental health issues, few people want to see a psychiatrist, but almost everyone wants a better brain! Imaging helps to create brain envy. When people see their own brains, they usually want it to be better, like Steve, so they treat it better. Know better, do better.

9.Psychiatric illnesses are not single or simple disorders in the brain. Each one has multiple types that require unique treatments. One treatment will never work for everyone. Based on our imaging work, it is very clear that giving someone the diagnosis of depression is exactly like giving them a diagnosis of chest pain. No doctor would do that, because it doesn’t tell you what is causing it or what to do for it. The same thing is true for psychiatric illnesses. Depression is a cluster of symptoms, not a disease. It has too many causes and each requires its own treatment. Rather than simply give you a diagnostic label based on symptoms, we need to understand why you are anxious or have attention problems or temper issues. Based on our imaging work, I’ve described seven types of anxiety and depression, seven types of ADD, six types of addicts and five types of overeaters.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 110190464X
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harmony
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 3, 2015
Edition ‏ : ‎ Revised, Expanded ed.
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781101904640
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101904640
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.06 x 1.06 x 9.14 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Physiological Aspects in Psychology (Books)
- #9 in Anxiety
- #15 in Emotional Self Help

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Daniel G. Amen

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Daniel Amen believes that brain health is central to all health and success. When your brain works right, he says, you work right; and when your brain is troubled you are much more likely to have trouble in your life. His work is dedicated to helping people have better brains and better lives.

His online videos about brain and mental health have been viewed over 200 million times. Sharecare named him the web’s #1 most influential expert and advocate on mental health and the Washington Post called him the most popular psychiatrist in America.

Dr. Amen is a physician, board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, award-winning researcher, and 18-time national bestselling author. He is the Founder and CEO of Amen Clinics in Costa Mesa, Walnut Creek, and Encino, California, Bellevue, Washington, Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, New York, NY, and Hollywood, FL.

Amen Clinics has the world’s largest database of functional brain scans relating to behavior, with over 225,000 SPECT scans and 10,000 QEEGs on patients from 150 countries.

Dr. Amen is the lead researcher on the world’s largest brain imaging and rehabilitation study on professional football players. His research has not only demonstrated high levels of brain damage in players, but also the possibility of significant recovery for many with the principles that underlie his work.

Together with Pastor Rick Warren and Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Amen is also one of the chief architects of “The Daniel Plan,” a program to get the world healthy through religious organizations that has been done in thousands of churches, mosques and synagogues.

Dr. Amen is the author or co-author of over 80 professional articles, nine book chapters, and over 40 books, including 18 national bestsellers and 12 New York Times bestsellers, including the #1 New York Times bestseller The Daniel Plan and the over one million copy bestseller Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, along with The End of Mental Illness, Healing ADD, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, The Brain Warrior’s Way, Memory Rescue, Your Brain Is Always Listening, and You, Happier. Change Your Brain Every Day will be released on March 21, 2023.

Dr. Amen’s published scientific articles have appeared in the prestigious journals of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Molecular Psychiatry, PLOS One, Nature’s Translational Psychiatry, Nature’s Obesity, Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Minerva Psichiatrica, Journal of Neurotrauma, American Journal of Psychiatry, Nuclear Medicine Communication, Neurological Research, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Primary Psychiatry, Military Medicine, and General Hospital Psychiatry.

In January 2016, his team’s research on distinguishing PTSD from TBI on over 21,000 SPECT scans was featured as one of the top 100 stories in science by Discover Magazine. In 2017, his team published a study on over 46,000 scans, showing the difference between male and female brains; and in 2018, his team published a study on how the brain ages on 62,454 SPECT scans.

Dr. Amen has written, produced, and hosted 15 national public television programs about brain health, which have aired more than 125,000 times across North America. In March 2021 his new show, Overcoming Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Grief started airing across North America.

Together with his wife Tana he has hosted The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast since 2015, with over 900 episodes and 12 million downloads. It has been listed as one of the top 20 all-time podcasts in Mental Health on Apple.

Together with Barry Goldstein, Dr. Amen has produced four brain enhancing music albums The Brain Warrior’s Way (2016), BRIGHT MINDS: Memory Rescue Music (2017), and Feel Better Fast and Make It Last (2018). Your Brain Is Always Listening (2021). The first 3 have been on Billboard’s Top Ten New Age Album charts with BRIGHT MINDS spending 45 weeks on the chart and was the #6 New Age Album of 2018. Feel Better Fast and Make It Last has spent 25 weeks on the charts and was the #3 New Age Album of 2019. Dr. Amen was also listed as one of the top 10 New Age Artists of 2018 and 2019.

Dr. Amen has appeared in movies, including Quiet Explosions, After the Last Round, and The Crash Reel and was a consultant for Concussion, starring Will Smith. He appeared in the docuseries, “Justin Bieber: Seasons” and has appeared regularly on Dr. Phil and The Dr. Oz Show. He has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, The Early Show, CNN, and The Doctors, and appeared in the Emmy winning show, The Truth About Drinking.

He has also spoken around the world, with prestigious lectures in Canada, Brazil, Israel, and Hong Kong. He has spoken for the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Harvard’s Learning and the Brain Conference, the Department of the Interior, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Supreme Courts of Ohio, Delaware, and Wyoming, and large corporations, such as Merrill Lynch, Hitachi, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, GNC, and many others. In 2016 Dr. Amen gave one of the prestigious Talks at Google.

Dr. Amen’s work has been featured in New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, MIT Technology, Newsweek, Time, Huffington Post, ABC World News, 20/20, BBC, London Telegraph, Parade Magazine, World Economic Forum, LA Times, Men’s Health, Bottom Line, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, LA Style, NPR, and many others.

Dr. Amen is married to Tana, the father of six children and five grandchildren to Elias, Emmy, Liam, Louie, and Haven. He is an avid table tennis player.

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Customers find the book informative about brain functioning and appreciate its easy-to-understand format. They value its healing methods, particularly for helping those with depression, and its nutritional advice on diet and supplements. The book receives positive feedback for its effectiveness. While many customers consider it worth the cost, opinions about value for money are mixed.

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411 customers mention "Information quality"396 positive15 negative

Customers find the book very informative, providing great insights into the brain and helping readers understand themselves.

"...The book may become a comforting go-to encyclopedic reference tool that is further extended by back-up website materials for many struggling parents..." Read more

"...about whether medicine can help you, you may find this book very interesting and helpful, and it can help you find the right medicine within a group..." Read more

"Still reading it in doses. Powerful learning." Read more

"...I gained great understanding of the brain—prefrontal cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, anterior cingulate cortex, temporal lobe—and how..." Read more

333 customers mention "Readability"325 positive8 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable to read and consider it a must-read, with one customer noting its well-researched content.

"...of depression and ADD (inattentive type) this book has been extremely interesting and thought provoking...." Read more

"...The book is very interesting with Dr. Amen giving a lot of firsthand information about a beautiful complicated mess-- the human brain...." Read more

"...Fascinating read and I look forward to continuing reading it every year, it’s definitely a read more than once type of book." Read more

"...This book has the science, experience, and research to prove it. Thank you, Dr. Amen and colleagues!" Read more

128 customers mention "Ease of reading"90 positive38 negative

Customers find the book easy to read, appreciating its simple language and understandable descriptions of situations.

"Dr. Amen has written a very readable, almost-500 pages long, book explaining his research and methodologies for helping ordinary people with brain..." Read more

"...He also suggests remedies to these issues in an organized and concise method plan that Dr. Amen created...." Read more

"...It is technical and has pictures which I do not easily understand, however, it is not filled with medical jargon that bogs the reader down...." Read more

"...This book is a great representation of this quote, I not only learned something new everyday I read this book but I actually was learning something..." Read more

40 customers mention "Healing method"37 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's healing methods effective, particularly for helping those who suffer from depression, with one customer noting its time-tested therapeutic methods and ability to reverse or reduce symptoms of illnesses.

"...Dr. Amen and his teams have developed a well balanced paradigm and treatment protocol that includes both traditional medication as well as health..." Read more

"...neurological health, improve current conditions, and prevent future neurological issues. There is science to back this up...." Read more

"...Stunningly enlightening. Gives you a sense of great relief and better understanding of yourself family, friends and acquaintances." Read more

"...body generates more energy than an unhealthy body and can deal with more stress." Read more

40 customers mention "Nutrition"40 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the nutritional content of the book, which includes recommendations for improving health, a healthy diet, and helpful supplements, with one customer specifically highlighting the chapter on diet.

"...There is science to back this up. In doing so, you'll likely improve your health, your longevity, the quality of your life...." Read more

"...brain in easy terms, plus I love that it has vitamins and supplement recommendations instead of just medications...." Read more

"Daniel looks at health through how any activity affects the brain and through taking brain scans to determine areas of the brain which are under and..." Read more

"It was a great book. It told me what I need to stay healthy. 7- 8 hours of sleep, not too much stress, avoid toxins ect...." Read more

15 customers mention "Effectiveness"11 positive4 negative

Customers find the book effective and powerful, with one customer noting that its methods work well together to address negative aspects.

"...The book and the Life Deck work very well together to turn negative and self defeating thoughts into positive thoughts and actions...." Read more

"Great book! Dr. Amen’s progressive approach and success rates put conventional psychiatry to shame...." Read more

"...really hoping this would be a great book, but it formulaic and work full of gimicks...." Read more

"...The techniques worked very well and are effective. It was a bit of a dry read at times and I had to force my way thru...." Read more

34 customers mention "Value for money"17 positive17 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's value for money, with some finding it well worth the cost while others consider it disappointing and not worth the read.

"...I guess we all feel this way sometime. The price is definitely worth it...." Read more

"...The supplements his organization sells are another story. They are rather costly and I can't say the couldn't possibly have some unwanted side..." Read more

"...So I shopped Amazon.com and really got a great value. The information in the book was right on target and the changes in nutrition are sound...." Read more

"...Self promotion of Amen. The book is a total waste of time and money. If you're looking for a self help book, this is NOT it...." Read more

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Teach1
Cutting-Edge Medical Research tools Helping people Keep their Brains Healthy
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2021
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

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.

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Amazon User
I personally found this book very helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book is good. Dr Amen has sought to find physical evidence - within brain scans - of mental illness and of some awful states of mind such as depression. From the pictures of the scans, it's possible to see areas of the brain inflamed or inactive -in certain states- followed by the pictures of the same brain after treatment (medicine).

As a mental health professional, and a sufferer of depression and ADD (inattentive type) this book has been extremely interesting and thought provoking. It actually convinced me that I need to treat my depression. I never let this affect my work, it's always been there is the background haunting and hounding. Depression is an insidious and awful illness of the brain which affects every aspect of the lives of those who suffer from it. Before reading this I had been insistent on fixing my depression through psychological means only, believing that I should be able up fix myself by changing the way that I think. Maybe this is a part of my perfectionist tendency, the idea that I should not NEED a medicine to make me feel normal. However I now know that that's probably wrong. I do need a medicine, to get my brain to a more normal state, after the changes done to it throughout years of (relatively mild) neglect during my childhood. I now see that certain parts of my brain will be either overactive or underactive permanently, which of course affects the brain chemistry and serotonin levels etc. This also had the effect of ADD, however I can live with this more easily.

Anyway back to the book. Apparently this book is controversial and psychiatrists don't support the claims he makes. I don't know the details of this and why, however no psychiatrist (I work with them) has ever provided such a solid reason as to why anyone should use medicine to treat these illnesses as Dr Amen has. Seeing the physical proof is extremely beneficial and helpful.

THe debate about ADD / ADHD is a complex one and I'm less convinced about the purpose of treating such illnesses - i think there is a factor of trying to force people to fit in to a society that is skewed already, but that's another story.

Anyhow I'd like to see more debate about this subject and the reasons why these types of scan are not more routinely used to see which areas are over our under active. If you are having battles within yourself about whether medicine can help you, you may find this book very interesting and helpful, and it can help you find the right medicine within a group (eg antidepressants) rather than wait and see which one your doctor will be favoring this week.

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"Chelle"
Brain health
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Still reading it in doses. Powerful learning.

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Tiah
Reading this book felt like panning for gold
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
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.

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410 people found this helpful

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Claudie
Very good book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2013
Verified Purchase

I found this book very interesting and helpful as it has help me to understand more deeper about my husband depression and problems. I would be over the moon if one day we could afford to see Dr D. Amen in person and my husband could have a brain SPECT study.

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alter-ego
Must read for mental and physical health
Reviewed in India on September 21, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excellent read, helps to understand what one can do to help thyself. I liked the wealth of information and the outline of various disorders and how the brain operates during various phases. A must for anybody concerned about their mental and physical health and want to know how to improve both. It is easy to understand and the recommendations are equally simple to put into practice .

Overall, a highly recommended book.
Pictures posted for reference. I hope this helps.
Should you need any further information, do leave a comment below, I'll definitely try to get back.

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Amazon カスタマー
Change your brain change your life
Reviewed in Japan on October 3, 2003
Verified Purchase
まず英文が読みやすい。簡潔明瞭で、難解な専門用語が最小限度に抑えられているので、辞書を引く回数が少なくてすらすら読み進めます。
患者の具体的治療例が問題部位とそれに対する使用薬剤とを紹介してくれている事で、現在問題を抱えて病院に行こうか迷ってる人、実際通院している人両者にとって、とても心強いアドバイスになると思います。
著者や、彼の実子の問題についても率直に書かれてあり、同じ問題を持つひとや親の立場からも励まされる情報が得られる嬉しさがあります。
薬剤を使用したくない人にとっても、薬剤を上手に使用するメリットの説明とともに、薬剤なしの自助的治療法も具体性があってとっても実行しやすいのが有難いです。

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Cliente de Amazon
Buen libro!
Reviewed in Spain on March 9, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Quizás un poco enfocado a su imperio comercial.

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L. Manthorne
Great info, arrived quickly
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
I’m very happy to have this book, with excellent info on understanding what goes on in our brains, and therefore suggestions on making one’s life better. I was able to get additional info from the seller, who was a very approachable fellow. It arrived on time as advertised.

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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

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Cutting-Edge Medical Research tools Helping people Keep their Brains Healthy

5.0 out of 5 stars I personally found this book very helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brain health

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading this book felt like panning for gold

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for mental and physical health

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your brain change your life

5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great info, arrived quickly

Cutting-Edge Medical Research tools Helping people Keep their Brains Healthy

I personally found this book very helpful

Brain health

Reading this book felt like panning for gold

Very good book.

Must read for mental and physical health

Change your brain change your life

Buen libro!

Great info, arrived quickly