The End of Mental Illness

How Neuroscience Is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders, and More

By: Daniel G. Amen

Narrated by: Richard Harries

Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

New hope for those suffering from conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, addictions, PTSD, ADHD, and more. 

Though incidence of these conditions is skyrocketing, for the past four decades standard treatment hasn’t much changed, and success rates in treating them have barely improved, either. Meanwhile, the stigma of the “mental illness” label - damaging and devastating on its own - can often prevent sufferers from getting the help they need. 

Brain specialist and best-selling author Dr. Daniel Amen is on the forefront of a new movement within medicine and related disciplines that aims to change all that. In The End of Mental Illness, Dr. Amen draws on the latest findings of neuroscience to challenge an outdated psychiatric paradigm and help listeners take control and improve the health of their own brain, minimizing or reversing conditions that may be preventing them from living a full and emotionally healthy life. 

The End of Mental Illness will help you discover:

• Why labeling someone as having a “mental illness” is not only inaccurate but harmful
• Why standard treatment may not have helped you or a loved one - and why diagnosing and treating you based on your symptoms alone so often misses the true cause of those symptoms and results in poor outcomes
• At least 100 simple things you can do yourself to heal your brain and prevent or reverse the problems that are making you feel sad, mad, or bad
• How to identify your “brain type” and what you can do to optimize your particular type
• Where to find the kind of health provider who understands and uses the new paradigm of brain health

©2020 Daniel G. Amen (P)2020 Recorded Books

Good Ruler vs. Bad Ruler very distracting

I am a huge fan of Dr. Amen and his work.
I believe in his studies and all the information that he supplies. I was super excited about reading/listening this book. I find it very distracting and annoying with every comparison to the bad ruler versus the good ruler. All I want is bullet points on what we should do to create a healthier brain. Not only that the bad ruler list is put in a positive structure. Honestly it hurts my brain to listen to it. I will have you purchase a book so I can just look at the positive and highlight those ”to do” lists. It's super difficult to follow. Overall I'm sure the content is good but I can't bring myself to listen anymore. In addition, the narrator's voice is very monotone which adds to the frustration when listening.

Classic Dr. Amen, even if a bit wide-ranging

I’m a big fan of Dr. Amen’s work. I read “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life” a few years ago and was totally floored. I’d never heard of SPECT brain imaging before, never mind its use in diagnosing and treating various forms of mental illness.

This book builds on the SPECT-inspired “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” much like Amen’s other works do. I guess that’s to be expected since SPECT scanning is his “thing” and is what he’s based so much of his career on.

This one opens strongly, citing daunting statistics around mental illness and calling for change. From there, Amen paints a historical picture of how our approaches to mental health have changed over time, then introduces his “BRIGHT MINDS” framework / acronym to outline the subjects he’ll discuss in the book.

Once he jumps into his framework, he dedicates one chapter to each underlying word in that BRIGHT MINDS acronym. For example: “B is for Blood Flow” and “R is for Retirement and Aging.” Within each chapter, he discusses what it is about each subject that can be so detrimental to our mental health. He then goes on to recommend behaviors, habits, and supplements that we can implement / take in order to improve our standing in regard to each word / phrase in the acronym.

The reason why I’d give this book four stars instead of five is that these BRIGHT MINDS chapters become a little disengaging or repetitive after a while; I found myself spacing out sometimes during a few of them. Don’t get me wrong, the information in each one is valuable. It’s just that when you’re on the 300th recommended supplement of the book, each additional one holds, marginally, less weight.

My guess as to why this was the case is that the topics within the BRIGHT MINDS framework are wide-ranging, meaning several of them won’t apply to you. For example, not everyone reading the book is heading for retirement in the next few years.

As such, if I were to give a conclusion / recommendation, it would be this: read part one, then focus on the BRIGHT MINDS related chapters that are most relevant to you. All the content in the book is interesting, as is the book as a whole, but some of it will more be more engaging for you specifically depending on your age, genetics, and personal history.

-Brian Sachetta
Author of “Get Out of Your Head: A Toolkit for Living with and Overcoming Anxiety”

Mental health / Mental illness.

Great tips for people with mental illness. Some of the stories are long winded and repetitive.

An Excellent Book for Brain Health

Dr Amen explains the needs to keep our brains health, including diet,nutrition and exercise! I found this book very informative and practical in its uses....HAPPY Reading/listening...

Most powerful health book I have read

Dr Amen has provided a stepwise plan to extend the life of our brains. Being able to think clearly and function at peak performance while being able to turn off the highly functioning brain to then obtain a restful night’s sleep. Simply a miracle to have this life plan to use as a guide to avoid an unhealthy and anxiety driven life. Thank you

My Review

As a long time MDD patient also misdiagnosed with bipolar 2, I’ve found this book profoundly helpful and inspiring. If I
have any criticism it’s that the beginning of the book is a pretty long history of psychiatry. Then again one must know that I guess to embrace the new tech which Dr. Amen is promoting.

Life-changing Read

This is a must read book that will save and repair MANY lives! I will revisit it frequently.

Must read and/or listen

Love this book. Gut brain balance. We all know someone who has Mental Illness.

Superb

Fantastic! this book has given me new ideas to approach my own mental health based on dietary needs which most fit into my current working diet. just shows that truth is always the same!

good but looking for something different

very general, for overall brain health, very good info but I was looking for two more specific topics regarding brain health