Edwin H. Conger

Daniel G. Amen, MD is a child and adult psychiatrist, self-help guru, bestselling author and medical director of the Amen Clinic..

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.

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.

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

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".

See also

• SPECT

http://quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/amen.html

External links

• Amen Clinics
• SPECT imaging at Mayo Clinic
• A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen
• Critical news piece about brain scans

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