Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
Hardcover – December 22, 1998
Description
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., NHCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. "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 From the Trade Paperback edition. From the Inside Flap at the thought of walking into a room full of people you don't know? Do you feel as if a cloud of gloom is always hovering over your head? Do you have the same negative thoughts over and over? Are you so easily distracted that you often can't finish a project? Do you fly off the handle at your spouse for no good reason? Do you have trouble connecting meaningfully with other people? If you've been struggling to overcome a problem like these without success--perhaps you've even tried therapy but given up--it probably isn't for lack of trying, thinking, or motivation; you just didn't have the right answers or the right tools. Now you do.In his pioneering new book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life , Dr. Amen explains how you can "optimize" your brain to achieve your fullest potential. Using state-of-the-art brain imaging technology, Dr. Amen has spent the last decade helping thousands of patients understand how the way their brains are wired can affect their thought Daniel G. Amen, M.D. , is a clinical neuroscientist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, and medical director of the Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine in Fairfield, California. The recipient of awards from the American Psychiatric Association, the Baltimore DC Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the U.S. Army, Dr. Amen is a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between the brain and behavior, and on attention deficit disorder, and is the author of several books, including Windows into the ADD Mind and Firestorms in the Brain. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Do you panic at the thought of walking into a room full of people you don't know? Do you feel as if a cloud of gloom is always hovering over your head? Do you have the same negative thoughts over and over? Are you so easily distracted that you often can't finish a project? Do you fly off the handle at your spouse for no good reason? Do you have trouble connecting meaningfully with other people? If you've been struggling to overcome a problem like these without success--perhaps you've even tried therapy but given up--it probably isn't for lack of trying, thinking, or motivation; you just didn't have the right answers or the right tools. Now you do.In his pioneering new book,
- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
- , Dr. Amen explains how you can "optimize" your brain to achieve your fullest potential. Using state-of-the-art brain imaging technology, Dr. Amen has spent the last decade helping thousands of patients understand how the way their brains are wired can affect their thoughts and emotions. He explains which brain systems are associated with particular problems, gives detailed checklists to help you pinpoint your problems, and offers specific yet simple "brain prescriptions" (cognitive exercises, nutrition, medication, and more) to help actually enhance brain function and heal each problem.Many of the difficulties associated with anxiety, depression, excessive worrying, anger, and distraction are related to five specific systems in the brain. Dr. Amen explains how these systems work and how malfunctions can affect your behavior. If you've always believed that you were just going to have to live with the way you are, you'll be amazed by the vivid before-and-after brain scans of some of the thousands of patients that have been successfully treated at the Amen Clinic--visual proof that the right treatment can help you. You certainly don't need a brain scan to understand the basis of your particular problem or implement the correct solution, but these striking images will inspire you to make meaningful and effective changes. Seeing is believing!Brain Prescriptions That Really WorkSee the Anxious Brain * See the Depressed Brain * See the Angry Brain * See the Impulsive Brain * See the Worried BrainIn this breakthrough book, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. But you're not stuck with the brain you're born with. Here are just a few of neuro-psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life:
- To quell anxiety and panic:
- Follow the 18/40/60 ruleUse simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoilLearn which foods calm anxiety
- To fight depression:
- Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)Build a library of wonderful emotional experiencesSurround yourself with antidepressant fragrances
- To curb anger:
- Follow the Amen anti-anger dietLearn the nutrients that can calm rageLet Mozart calm you
- To conquer impulsiveness and learn to focus:
- Develop total focus with the "One-Page Miracle"Use lights and sounds to stay focusedGet coaching from a professional organizer
- To Stop obsessive worrying:
- Learn the nutrients and foods that helpFollow the "get unstuck" writing exerciseDo simple problem-solving exercisesWhen your brain doesn't work right, you can't work right. With its easy-to-follow program and compelling evidence that you can actually retrain your brain to work more optimally, this breakthrough book will help you make lasting changes.
