Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness

I really enjoyed this book and all the information that it had. This was a great read and the must if you are interested in making better habits for your life and understanding your brain.

Very informative on brain health. This book can change your life quit literally.

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.

This book has given me so much hope and insight into how I can do my part to keep my brain healthy and live fully a lot longer.

I would recommend anyone and everyone to read this

Very helpful

Buy it immediately!!!

helpful book. it I remember to do any of it.

There are many useful self-help books on mental health problems - and a good book is often more helpful than a mediocre professional person. In my view, Amen's book is possibly the best self-help book in the field. What makes his work distinct is his study of sophisticated SPECT brain scans, which demonstrate how the brain is malfunctioning in many common states of mind - anxiety states, depression, OCD, ADHD etc. The data make vividly clear the brain state basis of these common problems - and, most importantly, outline helpful ways to counter these and facilitate optimum brain function. A truly shocking feature is Amen's data on the appalling damage to brain function resulting from the use of common recreational drugs and alcohol. He shows pictures of brain function (not brain anatomy) that reveal multiple holes where the brain is not working in people who have abused drugs or alcohol. Amen's work makes much of current psychiatry and psychotherapy (which is not based on a clear understanding of brain function, as revealed by SPECT scans)seem extremely primitive - although there remains a definite role for psychotherapy. Sadly, SPECT scans are not yet routinely available.

I needed this book, although I wasn't aware of it at the time.This gave me a better insight into the behaviours of others, and has helped me become more calm and understanding to those who suffer with mental illness.I was very ignorant at the time to how people could think and behave in certain ways, but now I understand and am less agitated.

Very insightful book, with tons of stories to illustrate the scientific discoveries of the author. Above all, I loved the way this book presents us several exercises, come of them as simple as a checklist, to help us improve our quality of life.

It is informative and has some practical advice. However, as I read on, it started to feel redundant with so many case descriptions that I started to wonder if this book is an advertisement for the author’s practice.Being interested in the SPECT scan as the author provides, I checked the price in his clinic and it was way out of reach for me. I wonder that, if the author sincerely wants to help those who are suffering, why he does not make it more affordable for the general public.

I haven't finished reading yet but it's very compelling reading and extremely interesting. As much as I have read I would recommend to others