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Summary: A Brain Spect Expert's Opinion on Healing ADD
Review: Healing ADD,by Dr.Amen, is an advancement of his ideas presented in his prior book,Change Your Brain Change Your Life.He connects brain function with a spectrum of familiar symptoms under the umbrella of "attention related disorders" for a very useful reason: to empower the reader with hope and possibility. A scientific approach to an "age-old condition" of ADD,he encourages the reader (patient,parent,physician,a child, etc.) to seek an integrated approach to treatment. Through the visual presentation of SPECT images, Dr. Amen engages the imagination of the reader into a novel understanding of overlapping symptoms under one umbrella. The book begins with descriptive subtypes from "Ring of Fire" to "Classic ADD" more cogently than in his prior book. Chapters five through ten on the six ADD subtypes is written for the lay person yet broad-reaching enough for those more clinically trained in the field. The major advantage of this section over contempory books on ADD is to integrate, not isolate, symptoms under one umbrella. Each chapter cover page helpfully lists differences in core symptoms(ie:Temporal lobe ADD versus Ring of Fire ADD) in easy to read BOLD print.This makes it easy for the first time reader to retrace the important points. In part III,Dr. Amen includes alternative intervention strategies that he uses in his clinic. Chapter 20, on Neurofeedback strategies, is particularly helpful to those persons seeking assistance from professionals without relying solely on medication. Having performed over two hundred Brain Spect scans on my patients in the past year I found Dr. Amen's book to be an accurate approach to the evaluation and treatment of ADD in the twentyfirst century.
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Summary: Very Humorous Book
Review: I found that the typical but useless psycho-babble about "brain dysfunction" in this book pretty much keeps to the standard psychiatric biochemical line about how the brain works. It's interesting that there are currently a number of class action lawsuits against the American Psychiatric Association claiming that ADD is a fraud, i.e. a non-existent disease claimed to be a disease by the APA to gain business at our children's expense. This book is nothing but a continuation of the fraud. However, Dr. Amen's novel treatment approaches and pseudo-scientific pontifications aside, this was a very entertaining book. And, if you want to see why psychiatry is a dying industry with no workable answers, read it.
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Summary: Wish I woulda known earlier...
Review: Well, I found which type of ADD that I had, and understand it and myself better. No one ever believed me when I said that ritalin made it worse, but this book confirmed what I felt. What really scared me is the similarities between my school performance and that of many of the examples in the book. I didn't graduate high school on time, even though I am very intelligent. I haven't had time to complete the book yet (midterms are this week and next week), but from what I have read it is an excellent book, and very accurate. If you have Add, you owe it to yourself to learn more about it through reading this book.
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Summary: Technical but easy to understand, open to natural treatment.
Review: I really appreciated the explanation of the different parts of the brain and how they should work, but don't in the ADD brain. There is a list of 71 questions which helps you determine which type of ADD you are, and recommendations for how to change your lifestyle (diet, exercise) to give you more focus. Unlike most ADD books, this one does not focus on children but should be very useful for children with ADD. There is a chapter for each type of ADD. Prescription medications are discussed, as are natural and over-the-counter alternatives. When you read this, it will give you a really good idea which meds or supplements are likely to work best for you, in combination with changes in diet and exercising frequently. Medication alone is most often not enough. There is a section on ADD coaching. It gives exercises to help determine what is most important to you, and advice of accomplishing goals.
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Summary: Amen For New Information About Attention Deficit Disorder
Review: Are you a parent confused about what doctors are saying about your child's difficulties? Are you a person having a problem finding a good fit for yourself in readings about problems in attention, anger outbursts, depression, getting stuck on things, road rage, alcohol or substance misuse, or disorganization? Are you a mental health clinician or medical doctor who wonders if ADD and ADHD exist and doesn't mind telling your patients that? Welcome to the club. Happily, after reading this book, you may drop your club membership. Daniel G Amen MD writes and talks to you about the six major types of ADD in his newest book, "Healing ADD." Confusion turns into clarity as you learn about kids and adults with ADD and the add-on symptoms that confuse even some experts. Using specialized SPECT brain scans, Amen shows where the parts of the brain that are having trouble functioning are and how they are detected. This book is rich in the details of the lives of persons afflicted with ADD. It brings alive the torments endured when ADD is not properly diagnosed, subtyped, or appropriately treated. It also describes the promise, indeed the results, of well-tailored treatment based on an accurate understanding of the complexities associated with ADD. While considered controversial, physicians and clinicians are giving Dr Amen's approach increasing acceptance. More locations and physicians are offering evaluations and treatment in part based on brain SPECT scans. More centers are making these specialized scans available. For the appropriately skeptical physician practicing evidence-based medicine, the needed research details about the role of brain SPECT scans in evaluation and treatment of ADD and its associated disorders are yet to be done. Yet many of those physicians are not conversant with such recommendations as the National Institute of Mental Health Guidelines about ADD or other recently published large research-based studies. I found it hard to read this book and not be intrigued to want to learn even more. For parents, teachers, and persons with ADD, this book will enlarge their understanding, if not their acceptance, of the emotional and behavioral problems inflicted by this disorder. For mental health clinicians, including physicians whose practice has persons with ADD, "Healing ADD" is close to a "must read" work.
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Summary: Questionable research, equivocation-from a reviewer with ADD
Review: This book was a big disappointment. Using brain scanning imagery AMEN has deduced that there are six types of ADD. I find his taxonomy very questionable, and while I don't object to anecdotal evidence to support medical views, Amen turns very slight differences in behavior into major types of diagnoses. The descriptions of the various types interweave to the point that the differences among them are very slight. Why six? Why not 60? Amen's selective perception seems to be pseudo-science reductionist claptrap to me. I have ADD, and as I studied the traits of each one of Amen's categories, it seemed that I was a likely candidate for five of the six. His suggestions regarding diet are laughable: he recommends a healthy well balanced diet as a component to "healing" ADD. Well, now isn't that the most innovative idea about improving one's health: a good diet?!?!?! Thanks to psychostimulants I have been able to completely change my life in ways that at one time would have seemed miraculous. At times, I still feel it is miraculous. But I would never say I am "healed." The term in the title seems to be more marketing ploy than accurate empirical statement. I do recommend the book SCATTERED by Gabor Mate, a physician with ADD. That book is far more informed, holistic, thoughtful, incisive. It is also very well written. The style and methodology of Amen's book makes the DSM-IV seem as though it were written by God him/herself.
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Summary: Groundbreaking, but unfortunately way ahead of the times...
Review: While the work in this book is excellent and the research both compelling and well defined, the techniques have yet to be approved as "standard diagnostics and treatment". This means the tests are not covered by many (most?) insurance plans -- especially not HMO's.
I work with one of the Dr. resources mentioned in the back of the book, but the HMO, Kaiser, he works for refuses to allow the studies (even though they have all the equipment in most of their facilities). However, they don't have the 3-D modeling software which _appears_ to be patented by Amen who has a financial interest keeping the process proprietary and expensive (like any good capitalist). While the scan itself might only "cost" $500, or less if the equipment and procedures were widely available, the interpretation of the data in a meaningful way for treatment has to be paid for out of pocket to the tune of $1500-$3000 dollars.
Psychology, as a field, is still in the early 20th century as far as diagnostics. I saw several Kaiser Psychiatrists who were incompetent in diagnosing my ADHD because it was of a particular subtype that they were not familiar with and is, according to my doctor, difficult to diagnose and treat.
It could be another 15 years or more, my MD estimates, before such tests are considered mainstream diagnostic tools. Most psych's, I have found, are woefully underinformed when it comes to Adult AD[H]D and are prejudiced against diagnosing it due to the perceived "abuse" threat of the medications -- even though it's fairly well known that the major sources of amphetamines on the street come from large scale batches mixed up in people's bathtubs. Prescriptions for AD[H]D as a source for amphetamine abuse are a red herring (this from my doctor who has worked with the author of the book).
If you can get your psych to read the book and get your carrier to cover the tests, it can help everyone...
Amazonian Denizen
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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: A Good Start
Review: Through his groundbreaking research Dr. Amen, a well-respected psychiatrist, demonstrates that ADD/ADHD is a neurological disorder, which can be positively identified using brain imaging. Although some experts in the field may take exception to his characterization of different ADD/ADHD sub-types (since we have always identified many of those sub-types as co morbid disorders existing with ADD), he makes a valuable contribution to our understanding and therefore treatment of ADD/ADHD. Surprisingly, by identifying each of the sub-types, he makes medication recommendations, which have been used by many doctors for years, they just never called it what Dr. Amen does. A good read for struggling parents of ADD/ADHD kids who are not responding to standard stimulant medications and those wishing broader and more diverse knowledge of the field.
Ali Hashemian, Ph.D.
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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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