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: #80 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

Chabge Your Brain Change Your Life
Excellent book! Gives a view on the brain that the typical medical world does not always show.

Insights into Managing One's Thought Processes and Emotions
Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus mostly on some unmentioned and undeveloped content. The deep limbic system is responsible for such things as PMS, clinical depression, negative emotions, etc. These problems are exacerbated by ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) which become self-perpetuating with constant repetition. To eliminate them, the person needs to reframe negative thoughts and experiences as positive ones. Philippians 4:8 is cited as to the need for focusing on positive emotions. POLYANNA is mentioned favorably, including her statement that the Bible has about 800 "Glad Passages', indicating God's priority in this regard. Medications such as Saint-John's-wort can also be helpful in alleviating limbic-system dysfunction.

The basal ganglia are the person's natural "idle". When set too "high", they are responsible for such things as anxiety, fear, avoidance of conflict, the "freeze" response during emergencies, sloppy handwriting, TS (Tourette syndrome), OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), etc. To deal with problems related to the basal ganglia, the person should, besides killing ANTs, engage in guided imagery, diaphragmatic breathing, meditation/self-hypnosis, etc. Medications such as lithium and Valium can also help with basal-ganglial overactivity. In cases of basal-ganglial underactivity, as in ADD, the person often enjoys conflict with others as a form of self-stimulation.

The cingulate system is the person's natural "gear shifter". Problems with the cingulate include oppositional disorder in children, cognitive inflexibility, repetitive thoughts, and persistence of grudges. Such problems can be helped with SSRI drugs such as Prozac, as well as by physical exercise, the making of paradoxical requests, etc.

Other sections of the book include discussion of problems related to the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes. The book concludes with a list of references, to articles in medical journals, which the research-oriented reader can use for further study.

Enlightening and Empowering
I first saw Dr. Amen on a public television fund raiser. I was surfing
and stopped cold when the list of behaviors he was describing fit my current
boyfriend, I'm talking about all of them. He has had a rough go of it; I believe
he has had ADHD from birth (maybe never diagnosed), but two yrs he suffered
a brain aneurysm and stroke.
I needed help!
I tuned in and immediately sent for the book. It gave me so much insight into
creating a more successful environment to continue my relationship and it
empowered me with strategies to use to deescalate situations when circum-
stances arise. I haven't shared the book yet but I plan to because it makes so
much sense to me that the physical brain would dictate what is going on
behaviorally. I would love to attend some workshops of Dr. Amens', that is
my next goal.