Contents
A S AMPLE OF O THER B OOKS BY D R . A MEN
Healing ADD,
Putnam, 2013 (Revised), Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com Bestseller
The Daniel Plan,
Zondervan, 2013, #1 New York Times Bestseller
Unleash the Power of the Female Brain,
Harmony Books, 2013
Use Your Brain to Change Your Age,
Crown Archetype, 2012, New York Times Bestseller
The Amen Solution,
Crown Archetype, 2011, New York Times Bestseller
Unchain Your Brain,
MindWorks, 2010
Change Your Brain, Change Your Body,
Harmony Books, 2010, New York Times Bestseller
Magnificent Mind at Any Age,
Harmony Books, 2009, New York Times Bestseller
The Brain in Love,
Three Rivers Press, 2007
Making a Good Brain Great,
Harmony Books, 2005, Amazon Book of the Year
Preventing Alzheimers,
with neurologist William R. Shankle, Putnam, 2004
Healing Anxiety and Depression,
with Lisa Routh, M.D., Putnam, 2003
New Skills for Frazzled Parents,
MindWorks, 2003
Healing the Hardware of the Soul,
Free Press, 2002
Images of Human Behavior: A Brain SPECT Atlas,
MindWorks, 2003
How to Get Out of Your Own Way,
MindWorks, 2000
ADD in Intimate Relationships,
MindWorks, 1997
A Teenagers Guide to ADD,
with Antony Amen and Sharon Johnson, MindWorks, 1995
Mind Coach: Teaching Kids to Think Positive and Feel Good,
MindWorks, 1994
The Most Important Thing in Life I Learned from a Penguin,
MindWorks, 1994
Copyright 1998, 2015 by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 1998.
Springer and Neuropsychology Review, Volume 2, January 1991, Analysis of the elements of attention: A neuropsychological approach by Allan F. Mirsky, Figure 1, is given to the publication in which the material was originally published, with kind permission from Springer Science and Business Media.
Oxford University Press and Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 20, Issue 4, January 1994, Geographic Correlation of Schizophrenia to Ticks and Tick-Borne Encephalitis by James S. Brown, Jr., with permission from Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Amen, Daniel G.
Change your brain, change your life : the breakthrough program for conquering anxiety, depression, obsessiveness, lack of focus, anger, and memory problems / Daniel G. Amen, M.D.2 [edition], revised and expanded.
pages cm
1. Mental illnessPhysiological aspects. 2. BrainPathophysiology. 3. NeuropsychiatryPopular works. 4. Mental illnessChemotherapy. I. Title.
RC455.4.B5A43 2015
616.89dc23 2015024175
ISBN9781101904640
eBook ISBN9781101904985
eBook design adapted from printed book design by Meighan Cavanaugh
Cover design by Kalena Schoen
v4.1_r1
a
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
The information presented in this book is the result of years of practice experience and clinical research by the author. The information in this book, by necessity, is of a general nature and not a substitute for an evaluation or treatment by a competent medical specialist. If you believe you are in need of medical interventions please see a medical practitioner as soon as possible. The stories in this book are true. The names and circumstances of the stories have been changed to protect the anonymity of patients.
To all our patients at Amen Clinics,
who taught me how important it is
to continue to do this work
and to tell the world about it
CONTENTS
Part One
How Imaging Changes Everything
Part Two
Know and Heal the Brain Systems That Run Your Life
Part Three
The Brain Warriors Way
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION
S ince Change Your Brain, Change Your Life was first published in 1998, so much has changed both in the field of neuroscience and at Amen Clinics. Our clinical experience in diagnosing, treating, and optimizing the brain has grown exponentially. Weve expanded from one local clinic serving the people in Northern California to a nationwide group of clinics treating children, teenagers, and adults from 111 countries. Our database of brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) studies, the primary functional brain imaging study we use at Amen Clinics, has grown from about five thousand scans in 1998 to well over one hundred thousand scans in 2015, making us one of the world leaders in applying brain imaging science to help people who struggle with emotional issues such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder; behavioral challenges like addictions, weight control, or anger; cognitive problems, such as brain fog or memory issues; and learning challenges, including attention deficit disorder (ADD), also called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
When Change Your Brain, Change Your Life was first written, the medical staff at Amen Clinics prescribed more psychiatric medications than we do today. Whenever feasible, we choose more natural ways to heal and support the brain, such as supplements and lifestyle interventions (nutrition, exercise, new learning, and so forth). While we still use medications when needed and believe they save lives when used appropriately, we firmly believe that treatment providers should first do no harm and use the least toxic, most effective treatments. Its not uncommon that a new patient will come for their first visit at Amen Clinics on four, five, or eight different medicationsand, unsurprisingly, theyre still suffering. One child actually came to our Reston, Virginia clinic on seventeen different medications. We spend more time taking people off medications than putting them on new ones. Most of our new patients have never been offered healthy lifestyle or natural supplement options before coming to see us.
At the time of this writing, Amen Clinics has published more than sixty scientific studies since the first edition of this book, on a wide range of topics from traumatic brain injury in professional football players to brain trauma, obesity, suicide, predicting treatment response for patients with ADHD, meditation, and the impact of nutritional supplements on the brain. In 2014 alone we published or presented twenty new studies.
Some of the concepts I wrote about in the original version of this book have changed as our experience has expanded and new research has been published. Of course, the core belief of the original book is still as valid today as it was in 1998