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

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.

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

I learned that even minor bumps to the head can change people's personalities and ability to learn. Dr. Amen shows pictures of brains with little or no activity in areas that have been injured, mirroring the patients' emotional or intellectual difficulties.

Amen is very clear that he always uses talk therapy and teaching communication skills before he contemplates having a SPECT series done. His point is that many people can benefit from learning new skills and ways of looking at life, but some are truly stuck because their brain activity keeps them looping on negative thoughts, reacting with extreme anger, obsessing about limited situations, or shutting down when they try to concentrate. When medication is used these patients can finally put the communication and coping skills they have learned to good use.

This book helped me understand people in my life who have seemed hopeless, shallow and even vicious. It showed me that there is hope for everyone who is willing to open their mind, get proper treatment, and challenge how they have viewed the world up until now. The exercises he gives the reader are very specific and helpful. If another reviewer thinks that there is nothing concrete in the book, then they aren't willing to look at their diet, their habitual way of thinking, and herbal and medical treatments. The prescriptions are plentiful and very specific.

It is an easy read, very accessible, with fascinating stories that pull you in. It is not academic or inaccessible. Quite the opposite. It's a great book for anyone who wants to know more about themselves and how their body works.


An engaging exploration of the brain-personality link   June 8, 2000
Mark Mills (Glen Rose, TX USA)
47 out of 52 found this review helpful

This is a fun book, easy to read and very thought provoking.

The book recounts a wide variety of case studies. Each story begins with a patient coming for help. After inquiring about the problem, the wise doctor does a SPECT scan (like a CAT scan) and discovers over-active or underactive brain regions. Based on the diagnosis, drugs and/or therapy are prescribed. Most stories have a happy ending.

As a whole, the book constructs a fascinating link between behavior and brain 'health.' By presenting at least 50 SPECT images (black and white to keep costs down), Amen describes brain health in terms of 'normal activity' levels. Hyperactivity and underactivity in localized areas of the brain cause behavioral problems. At the end of the book is a section on drug abuse and brain health. The pictures of what drugs do to the brain ought to scare many.

The material is somewhat controversial. Dr. Amen's definition of brain health is not universally shared. Rather than dwell on the controversy, the book sticks with the case study review, including conflicts with doctors favoring 'talk' therapy along the way. In one case, he has to go all over the country to find a surgeon willing to remove the cyst causing a patient problems. The story telling style keeps the politics to a minimum and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.


In the past 3 weeks I have lived the title of this book.   March 23, 1999
62 out of 63 found this review helpful

I read this book three weeks ago and am performing as an actor in a stage musical for the first time in over a decade. I have to admit that I first took it from the shelf in the "new books" section of the library because it struck me as having (my apologies to the designer) the ugliest cover I had ever seen! In spite of my having been on Prozac since 1996, I have experienced continual mental problems which resulted in periods of severe depression. The first sentence on the inside cover grabbed me: "Do you panic at the thought of walking into a room full of people you don't know?" I checked out the book. I am, as I write this, in the process of ordering my own copy and one to send to my sister. I am a 45 year old male teacher/ actor/writer. I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater Arts and have previously made my living as a working actor as well as having had books, plays and songs published since 1976. My spouse of twelve years died in 1994. Suicidal, I returned to my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, after living fifteen years in New York City and Los Angeles. I have not been able to work on a regular basis since. Going back on stage and working as an actor was not even a consideration. Since 1995, I have only been successful at doing sporadic tutorial work with English Composition students at local colleges and universities.

The suicidal tendencies I was suffering stopped with the administration of Prozac, but I have spent the past two and one-half years wondering what was wrong with me because I could not focus long enough to complete any of the dozens of projects I would start. I had no patience and could not even keep still long enough to attend a film. I have been in grief counseling during this period, but have not seen a psychiatrist (poor insurance). Fortunately, my regular physician is very receptive and listens to his patients.

I did not know adults suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. I thought it was something children suffered but outgrew (I have no children, but have four out of nine neices and nephews on Ritalin). I took the test for Cingulate problems at the end of Chapter 9 in Dr. Amen's book by asking myself what I had been like, before I began taking Prozac, compared to my present state of mind. I went from almost all 3s and 4s, indicating serious problems with worry and obsessiveness, to 0s, 1s, and 2s. This was an obviously improved state, and very much in line with Dr. Amen's findings. I read the entire book in two nights, and did the remaining four checklists. I had very few 3s and 4s with the exception of a huge majority of those numbers on the Prefrontal Cortex Checklist. Not only did I discover adults can have ADD, but that there may be a genetic tendency. I spoke with my Mother who said the pediatrician had her give my brother and myself coffee in the early sixties before sending us to school and it seemed to help, to a small extent, with our behavioral problems. I immediately made an appointment with my doctor and showed him where Dr. Amen had used the combination of Prozac and Ritalin. He prescribed Adderall and I began to see results in only two or three days. My doctor immediately ordered a copy of the book from Amazon.com. He was going to have his daughter read it. Her son is on Ritalin. She is on Prozac, but suffers many of the same problems I described.

I began taking the Adderall with the Prozac three weeks ago. During that time I have submitted lyrics to the composer with whom I had written songs, but not been in touch for several years. I have completed a play upon which I began working in 1992, and it is being produced at the local University in May.. I had been offered a number of stage roles by local directors since my return to Birmingham, but turned them down. As previously mentioned, I have just agreed to perform in a musical this summer for the first time since 1988.

Dr. Amen offers many, many suggestions for ways to change your brain and your life which have nothing to do with prescription medication, but he convinced me to explore every possible avenue available, without any of the reservations I originally had about going on Prozac. Just knowing my debilitaions can be physiological instead of "all in my head" has made me view my total self differently than at any time since realizing I was "different" around the age of twelve years. I have, at this point in time, had the most productive, fulfilling three weeks of my adult, possibly entire, life. I am literally able to maintain a peace of mind I truly believed impossible.

Dr. Amen's writing style is most accessible to the "lay-reader". The book is a blessing. Anyone who has ever doubted his or her "sanity" should read this work, and find a doctor willing to listen to its message!


Absolutely fascinating!   February 3, 2002
Florida Moon (Boca Raton, FL)
27 out of 30 found this review helpful

This is one of the more interesting books I have ever read.
Its probably not very good as a self-help book but if you want to better understand the workings of your brain and various disorders, its top notch!

I suffer from OCD and I could see in his book, that OCD has caused many of the problems I have had. To fix your brain through medication/therapy is to truly change your life!

Other parts of the book I liked commented on how our thoughts have a very real impact on our lives. This is very consistent with all the self-help books I have read, especially Joseph Murphy.

Finally, his images of the brain after drug abuse and also of people who smoke too much and drink to much coffee are startling.
Unless you want "a hole in your head", pass that joint, coffee, cig, crack, alcohol etc to someone else! Yuck!


Comprehensive Resources for Understanding Your Brain   December 31, 2004
P. Stalker (Angelica NY)
13 out of 17 found this review helpful

Amazon referred me to Dr. Amen's work as I was seeking resources for a colleague whose parent may be in early stages of Alzheimer's. Dr. Amen's work is amazing, 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 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 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 an Intimacy, books for children, teens, and siblings. "Change Your Brain..." is the first step in understanding and optimizing your brain, "the hardware of your soul."