Product Description

BRAIN PRESCRIPTIONS THAT REALLY WORK
In this breakthrough bestseller, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with. Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life:
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)
To Curb Anger:
¸  Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-31
• Released on: 1999-12-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com
In this age of do-it-yourself health care (heck, if the doctor only sees you for 10 minutes each visit, what other options are there?), Change Your Brain, Change Your Life fits in perfectly. Filled with "brain prescriptions" (among them cognitive exercises and nutritional advice) that are geared toward readers who've experienced anxiety, depression, impulsiveness, excessive anger or worry, and obsessive behavior, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life milks the mind-body connection for all it's worth.

Written by a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has also authored a book on attention deficit disorder, Change Your Brain contains dozens of brain scans of patients with various neurological problems, from caffeine, nicotine, and heroin addiction to manic-depression to epilepsy. These scans, often showing large gaps in neurological activity or areas of extreme overactivity, are downright frightening to look at, and Dr. Amen should know better than to resort to such scare tactics. But he should also be commended for advocating natural remedies, including deep breathing, guided imagery, meditation, self-hypnosis, and biofeedback for treating disorders that are so frequently dealt with by prescription only.

From Library Journal
Clinical neuroscientist and psychiatrist Amen uses nuclear brain imaging to diagnose and treat behavioral problems. He explains how the brain works, what happens when things go wrong, and how to optimize brain function. Five sections of the brain are discussed, and case studies clearly illustrate possible problems. The accompanying brain-scan photos are difficult to read with an untrained eye. Although Amen provides step-by-step "prescriptions" geared toward optimizing and healing the different sections of the brain ("create a library of wonderful experiences"; "try meditation/self-hypnosis"), 80 percent of the patients in his case studies were given medication to treat their behavioral problems. The audience for this book is ambiguous. While it encourages readers to evaluate themselves and others, it would be more useful to a professional in the social sciences than to the general reader. Buy where self-help or brain-research books are popular.?Maria Uzdavinis, Rochester P.L., NH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"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

Customer Reviews

Change Your Brain Change Your Life
I watched a program 0n TV in which the author Daniel G. Amen discussed this book and and that is why i ordred it.So far I am enjoying reading it. As a person who has suffered from anxiety all my life, I was searching for answers and Dr.Amen's theories interested me very much.So far I am fascinated by his theories and hope to find value in them for me..I have not finished the book but will review it as soon as I have.

Pseudo-scientific hubris
While the notion of brain evaluation to heal psychological conditions is very appealing to all of us, this is yet another "prophet" (more like profit), whose time has not come. The theory and research behind this work are idiosyncratic. Dr. Amen is the author, the theoretician, the writer and the prescriber of formulas for success in, what is simply, way too broad a range of areas to be meaningful. His research has not been replicated by anyone outside of his office and his theories are not supported by the scientific community at large. He has created an approach that looks and sounds too good to be true, and is too good to be true. I hope that the underlying intent of his work is to help and heal others and if that is the case, would expect him to begin collaborating with universities and research laboratories that are genuinely independent and able to evaluate his assessment tools and his diagnostic approaches on their own, and thereby help to hone what he is doing, so that it can be determined whether there is more to his approach than smoke and mirrors. I'm not especially comfortable being this caustic about a fellow professional's work, but I've seen the "breakthroughs" purported by many others along the way, and have dealt with the consequences of disappointed patients and family members, who have often spent substantial amounts of time and money, only to be more frustrated and confused than ever afterwards.

Change Your Brain Change Your Life
Fascinating. Links abnormal activity levels in certain parts of the brain to specific mental disdorders. Provides a vast array of treament options from self-help to surgery.