Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

Publisher's Summary

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

©1998 Daniel G. Amen (P)2008 Random House Audio

How to stretch 2.5 hours of material to fit 11

Skip past 1.5 hours its just brag about his former work, and yes it is really 1.5 hours of it before the book gets started, then listen closely, and just skip over the "look how great I did I saved yet another life parts"; or you might risk falling asleep or even go into a deep coma.

There are a lot of interesting facts about the specific brain parts, the book covers mainly the behavior patterns concerning the deep limbic system, X lopus, some X gyros and chemical imbalances and that's very informative, also there are some nice self help talk. And if the book was only 2.5 hours long I would have been happy,

87 of 89 people found this review helpful

Not what I expected

Reading the reviews prior to purchasing this book, I was expecting a book filled with information to help me to reduce or eliminate my anxiety. The author touched on breathing and some flaky self-hypnosis methods but spent the majority of the book covering ailments of different sections of the brain and what medications would be helpful in reducing each ailment. Although the information was interesting, I find it useless since I do not have access to the types of brain scans introduced to the reader and the author himself explained how difficult it was/is to get a physician to agree with the statements in the book and to follow the suggested methods of cure. It's possible that I was expecting too much but I simply found it disheartening to be told all these magnificent cures for my particular ailments but then to also be told not to bother trying to find a doctor who would believe or agree on these methods. I was hoping for more of a self-help book that would allow the reader to perform methods of treatment in the confines of their own home and not have to seek out a professional.

44 of 46 people found this review helpful

Detailed And Rightfully So

The PFC, temporal lobes, limbic system, basal ganglia, and everyone's secret monster, the cingulate gyrus, these are your brain's systems that control human behavior. This book will teach you where the problems originate. The biology of psychosomatic disorders is controversial. If you've ever lived with a loved one whose behavior made them their own worst enemy, and your worst nightmare, you know there is nothing controversial about needing a solution. Troubleshoot dysfunctions is more of an art than a science using only behavioral feedback. A psychiatrist gets an hour to diagnose your spouse or your child. You get a lifetime. Adults are rarely honest with themselves, let alone being honest with a psychiatrist. That's why you need this book. The better informed you are, the better prepared you are to ask the right questions, and offer up applicable feedback. This book helps with checklists that help determine the area of the brain most likely to be causing the behavioral issues. Amen uses pre and post SPECT scans, brain imaging, to back up his diagnosis and treatment plans. He discusses specific case studies of behavioral dynamics in dysfunctional relationships and families, both before and after treatment. I found several of his examples enlightening. I've criticized "real" psychiatrists because they can't produce test results to validate diagnosis and evaluate treatment of "chemical imbalance". Amen's SPECT scans sound like the way to go, with before and after scan data in conjunction with therapy that appears to be working or more importantly, appears not to be. The American Psychiatric Association says "evidence does not support the use of brain imaging". That doesn't stop the Amen Clinics from offering them. What it does stop is your insurance carrier from paying for it. The insurance carriers are in charge of treatment. Become better informed. Read this book and any like it.

18 of 19 people found this review helpful

A drug to fix every problem!!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Just not a great listen for me. You will enjoy it if you wish to have the functions of each area of your brain explained in great length. This is followed by a listing of symptoms that may be associated with dysfunction in a particular area of your brain followed by the drugs that can make you whole. I am sure this will be helpful to many people but it was not what I had in mind. I enjoyed Amen's other work as I found it more practical for my needs.

If you’ve listened to books by Daniel G. Amen before, how does this one compare?

I preferred would have rated change your brain; change your life four stars. I found it to be more practical.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Daniel G. Amen?

Perhaps

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Deep, Intense studies

This book is a must for everyone. I had, like many others, a crumby childhood, and now with a family of my own and slight feelings of hopelessness, I picked this up.
For those previous reviews not giving much credit, it's because they could not understand the information provided by daniel g. amen. the information he provides is very detailed and very informative. I've taken notes to help myself master the systems described & studied by the author. I am convinced that the author is not pro-medicine, but relies on it, for a series of time, as a last resort. He gives techniques, advice, pro's and con's to nutritional & herbal remedies. He desires to give all understanding of the human brain and the systems that effect our personality and behavior, and furthermore how we can control it, and how we can properly seek professional counseling, if needed.
Everyone needs to review this information to become aware of even the slightest issues that they have and then to be able to relate to family, friends, employee's, boss'... etc.
good luck & enjoy.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

MUCH too long

This is what killed it for me, it goes into too much detail and length about each subject.

Unnecessary for the everyday reader.

This book could be half in length which would make it much more engaging.

29 of 34 people found this review helpful

The next best thing

Any additional comments?

WOW Amazing. Dr. Amen discovered how to diagnose a “mental illness” and “Zoloft deficiency” just by looking at the brain scans. Just WOW!!!. I bet Dr Amen is a kind of doctor that will tell you how amazing is electric shock therapy is if PG&E gave him some money. I think this Doc just discovered the next best thing. I am pretty sure that he can tell you if someone has a Zoloft or a Prozac deficiency just by looking at their picture.

I have no problem with doctors that push prescription drugs that live somewhere in boondocks and have few patients that they can torture with their “medicine”. The problem is when they publish this nonsense to general public. The catchy title did get me. Then I waste 15 minutes of my time listening to this nonsense and waste another 30 seconds requesting a refund.

As a doctor I would assume that it would be my responsibility to educate myself by other ways than reading medical journals that are sponsored by pharmaceutical industry.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Careful here

Would you listen to Change Your Brain, Change Your Life again? Why?

no. I don't read, or listen to books more then once generally.

What other book might you compare Change Your Brain, Change Your Life to and why?

I don't know.

What about Daniel G. Amen’s performance did you like?

Emmmm well as far as recording gos it was good enough.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

His assertion of the value of FMRIs and medication

Any additional comments?

I liked this book, but a word of caution it is not about excersizes to change your brain. its about the use of medication. Their are a few other things in their, but FMRIS and medication are essentially what the book is about. I like it, and think folks should read it, but know what your reading before you jump in. It was very helpful for me, and I think it demystifies mental processes, and can help greatly.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

Strongly Recommended

Listened to this book twice so far and watched the DVD, too after seeing Dr. Amen on PBS. This book has changed my life and I am sure it has changed my brain, especially in the diet and nutrition area. I have better insight into how the person is not the brain, but the interface we all use to interact with the outside world. I how now completed my fifteenth consectutive day working out at the local YMCA hoping to help change my brain. Thanks, Dr. Amen.

14 of 18 people found this review helpful

You will learn there is hope for your loved ones!

Would you consider the audio edition of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life to be better than the print version?

This is a book that will teach you that you can't give up which means help is there you just need to find the right doctor with the know how!. With the information we learned here in this book we can now talk to our Doctor and help him help us. You will find this is a must have book that will have you going back in and listening to some sections again and again.

Any additional comments?

This has help me understand what my wife is going through. I was afraid I was alone with no where to turn but now I know better.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful