Daniel G. Amen

Daniel G. Amen, MD is a child and adult psychiatrist, self-help guru, bestselling author and medical director of the Amen Clinic.cite web
url=http://www.slate.com/id/2179392/
title=Return of the Neuropundits! Should presidential candidates have their brains scanned?
first=Daniel
last=Engber
publisher=Slate
date=2007-12-07] .

Professional Credential

Amen is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is the CEO and medical director of The Amen Clinics, Inc. in Newport Beach, California and Fairfield, California, Tacoma, Washington and Reston, Virginia.

Amen is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, an untenured volunteer position.(his name is not on the list of faculty- http://www.healthaffairs.uci.edu/psych/). Amen received his undergraduate degree from Southern California College (now Vanguard University) and his MD degree from the now-closed program at Oral Roberts University.cite web
url=http://www.salon.com/mwt/mind_reader/2008/05/12/daniel_amen/
title=Brain Scam: Why is PBS airing Dr. Daniel Amen's self-produced infomercial for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease?
first=Robert
last=Burton
publisher=Salon
date=2008-05-12
accessdate=2008-05-12]

Publications

Amen is the author of 22 books and a number of audio and video programs. Amen, together with The United Paramount Network and Leeza Gibbons, produced a show called "The Truth About Drinking", on alcohol education for teenagers, which won an Emmy Award for the Best Educational Television Show. In 1999, Random House published Dr. Amen’s book, "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life", which has been on the New York Times bestseller list and is translated into 13 languages. He is also the author of "Healing ADD", "Healing The Hardware of the Soul", "Making A Good Brain Great" and the co-author of "Healing Anxiety and Depression and Preventing Alzheimer’s". The audiobook for "Making A Good Brain Great" received Audiofile Magazine’s Earphone Award, the audiobook industry equivalent to the Grammy Awards. In January 2007, Harmony Books published Dr. Amen’s latest book, "Sex On The Brain".

The "Amen classification" is a new guideline for classifying psychiatric patients into particular groups of ADHD created by Amen.

Description

The Amen classification system defines six different subtypes of ADHD. [Functional neuroimaging in clinical practice (co-author with Joseph C. Wu and H. Stefan Bracha) in The Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry Edited by Kaplan and Sadock 2000] [Brain SPECT Imaging and ADD in Understanding, Diagnosing, and Treating AD/HD in Children and Adolescents: An Integrative Approach. Eds Incorvaia, JA, Mark-Goldstein BS, and Tessmer D. Jason Aronson, Inc, Northvale, New Jersey, 1999, 183-196.] [Brain SPECT Imaging: Encyclopedia entry. Encyclopedia of Special Education edited by Cecil Reynolds and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen to be published by Wiley in the winter of 2006. ]

These subtypes were created using SPECT imaging on patients who were known to have ADHD. Amen argues that differences seen in the imaging for sufferers of ADHD correspond to the new classification system he has created. A patient can have a range from none to all subtypes of ADHD under the Amen system.

The Amen classification consists of the following ADHD subtypes:

* Type I - Classic ADD (ADHD)
* Type II - Inattentive ADD
* Type III - Over-Focused ADD
* Type IV - Temporal Lobe ADD
* Type V - Limbic ADD
* Type VI - "Ring of fire" ADD

"=CRITICISM=

However, "SPECT scans are not sufficiently sensitive or specific to be useful in the diagnosis of AlzheimerDisease", say neurologist Michael Greicius , who runs the Stanford University memory clinic, and has a special interest in the use of functional brain imaging in the diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease.In 2005, on Quackwatch.org(http://quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/amen.html) a nonprofit that investigates health-related frauds, myths, fads and fallacies, Dr. Harriet Hall, a retired family physician, outlined some concerns; "Amen's recommendations defy science, common sense and logic. I feel much worse about him now than I did when I wrote the piece because I went back and looked at his Web site again, and I'm just appalled by some of the things that are on it now. He's selling vitamin supplements and he's selling his own line of products. He's turned into big business." According to its Web site, Amen Clinics charges $3,250 for a "comprehensive evaluation," which includes the patient's history, two SPECT scans, a physician consultation, and a 30-minute treatment follow-up appointment. Follow-up scans after treatment are $795 each". From reading some of Dr Amen's comments, it sounds like he is leaning more toward NATURAL medicine rather than scientifically controlled studies in evaluating the benifits of some drugs.He said in a reply {Daniel Amen responds to "Brain scam"}:(The author attacks my recommendations for natural supplements. He so easily dismisses them as being unproven and having no science, like so many misinformed medical professionals. Yet, there are hundreds of scientific studies on the use of supplements in psychiatry reporting their usefulness. In treating people, one question I always ask myself is what would I prescribe if this was my mother, my children or myself? More and more, after 25 years of being a psychiatrist, I find myself recommending natural or alternative treatments. I am not opposed to medications and I have prescribed them for a long time, but I want people to use all of the tools available to them, especially if they are less expensive and have fewer side effects).http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/05/12/amen_response/index.html

ee also

* SPECThttp://quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/amen.html

References

External links

* [http://www.amenclinics.com/ Amen Clinics]
* [http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/spect-scan/CA00084 SPECT imaging at Mayo Clinic]
* [http://www.quackwatch.com/06ResearchProjects/amen.html A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen]
* [http://www.salon.com/mwt/mind_reader/2008/05/12/daniel_amen/ Critical news piece about brain scans]