tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post6316799177500564069..comments2024-03-22T00:30:09.536-07:00Comments on The Neurocritic: The Dark Side of Diagnosis by Brain ScanThe Neurocritichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-62752203721206064672022-11-22T14:01:16.026-08:002022-11-22T14:01:16.026-08:00Nice one. Was your son treated at AMEN clinic? Nice one. Was your son treated at AMEN clinic? Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16799410417817828613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-18656281629399565442022-11-22T13:59:51.227-08:002022-11-22T13:59:51.227-08:00This is so sad. I'm sorry. May God heal you as...This is so sad. I'm sorry. May God heal you as you put your trust in His healing hands. Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16799410417817828613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-57373711353853559252022-11-22T13:49:03.843-08:002022-11-22T13:49:03.843-08:00I wish I could know your doctor. I'm at a cros...I wish I could know your doctor. I'm at a crossroads now. Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16799410417817828613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-47120551719394615172022-11-22T13:42:26.696-08:002022-11-22T13:42:26.696-08:00Thanks for sharing this . I hope we get a great te...Thanks for sharing this . I hope we get a great testimony too Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16799410417817828613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-53394367160920150172022-11-22T13:38:47.520-08:002022-11-22T13:38:47.520-08:00Jesus saves. When I gave my life to Jesus, He set ...Jesus saves. When I gave my life to Jesus, He set me Free from all complications. This is a reality. Try Jesus. He never fails. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-71398507400235103862020-10-31T13:01:59.864-07:002020-10-31T13:01:59.864-07:00Our son had the scan and medication for Aspergers ...Our son had the scan and medication for Aspergers about 15 years ago. After a few years on medication, he was taken off and his comment when starting the meds were "MY brain has never felt so free". They take your brain scan and compare it to someone else's brain that is similar. I can only say that for our son, it helped him 100%! I was happy that their goal is not to keep you on medication, but to normalize teh brain and take you off the meds. I appreciated their program and we only went for a short time. Marilee Walkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-73466505481377186282020-01-10T11:57:45.561-08:002020-01-10T11:57:45.561-08:00Having seen the Ted talk but being rather sceptica...Having seen the Ted talk but being rather sceptical as a intellectual defense from fraudulent claims my further reseach led to this blog. Having read and the positive and negative comments and claims of profiteering I came to the conclusion it was not possible to reach any informed judgment. This is a rational decision. Some commentators seemed angry at the failures of conventional medical treatment others are 'believers' in the Dr's scans and therapy. There is no doubt about it that sensible eating, exercise and positive thinking achieves positive results and getting rid of self hate is a good strategy. I suffered greatly from depression and anger during my 30's and 40' but now in my 70's I have none of these problems, which is a great surprise to me but there again I have a greater tolerance of my failings. Perhaps it was because I sincerely meditated morning and evening for 30 years, although I'm not doing it any more, the effects if there had been any effects seem not to have worn off. I am convinced there were positive effects. My memory is not so good, I'm slower at most tasks, I have aches and pains but I'm in my 70's therefore I judge this as normal. BKTOBKTY is the therapy I recommend: Be Kind To Others Be Kind To Yourself. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-17412516117653869362019-12-31T13:53:03.273-08:002019-12-31T13:53:03.273-08:00I was a direct patient of Dr. Amen himself for man...I was a direct patient of Dr. Amen himself for many years when I was a child in the early 1990's. Dr. Amen was focused mainly on the study of adolescent ADD/ADHD at that time. Dr. Amen personally diagnosed me with ADD at his own clinic in northern California. Dr. Amen was so interested in seeing my brain images that he actually offered to have his clinic pay for my SPECT scans since my mother could not afford to pay for it at that time. Today I realize that this was most likely for his own research in adolescent ADD at the time, rather than for my benefit. Dr. Amen prescribed many different drugs to me in an attempt to treat my ADD symptoms while I was his patient. I feel as though I was a test subject for his research, and I have been left with many everlasting side effects due to those treatments. Today, 25 years later, I suffer more than ever from ADD, depression, social anxiety, social isolation, drug abuse, panic attacks, and many other symptoms I believe are result of the numerous medications that were tested on me.Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11420577499634255564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-15614734961863191102019-12-28T20:49:44.181-08:002019-12-28T20:49:44.181-08:00I have a hard time taking the psychiatric communit...I have a hard time taking the psychiatric community serious because of their own manipulations and abuse of patients. None more odious than diagnosing gender disphoria in children and recommending sex changes and hormone blockers sometimes even against a parents will and judgement.<br /><br />I can see how Amen might be a fraud. The moment it became clear his treatments were products he was selling and profiting greatly from.<br /><br />But from my perspective as a layman he is in good company with you unrependant arrogant con men. I have to look elsewhere for help for my nonverbal 8 year old. God knows you bone in the nose hacks cant help.Oconostotahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12101493014251711664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-37866740087690769412019-07-25T14:46:12.847-07:002019-07-25T14:46:12.847-07:00I am a soon to be medical researcher with a focus ...I am a soon to be medical researcher with a focus in Neuroscience, I want to say after reading this article and all the comments, I feel research has regressed 100 years, Science is not meant to be text book, science is meant to be falsified,questioned and studied. Nothing is concrete like the world, science is ever changing and growing. Why is it okay for other areas of science to grow and try new things but psychiatry must stay by the book. By the way a very generalized book pinning a patient to be a symptom rather then a person. I am very disappointed with these top scientist at lest Dr. Amen is trying to find a different approach to helping people, and FYI the reasons why it coast so much money is because as the article stated due to the advisement of these medical professionals. After all if you think about it, if we find a way to minimize prescription medication and Dr. visits a lot of these psychiatrists will lose big bonuses that are paid out to them, hmmm so who are the unethical crooks now? <br /><br /> So to the medical professionals, scientists and skeptics , tell me how many people have to be treated before it is considered as a clinical trial? Once you have figured out that number what makes his 45,000 patients who have aided in his research any different? I say this to those bureaucrats that are seating atop of the science world micromanaging and halting advancements in psychiatry because of your aged ideals, prepare yourselves because you have a whole crew of fresh ideas that are going to turn the psychiatry world upside down and remind you what science , research and advancement is all about. <br /><br />IshtarAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-46209034341735696372019-07-17T05:07:07.370-07:002019-07-17T05:07:07.370-07:00Dr. Amen offers a sensible sounding easy “fix” to ...Dr. Amen offers a sensible sounding easy “fix” to complicated difficult to solve illnesses like bipolar disorder, ADD, addiction, depression and anxiety. Unfortunately current psychiatry DOES seem like guesswork to the average layperson. It’s the perfect backdrop for the clickbait Amen offers. Twenty three years ago when I was diagnosed with clinical depression, I was prescribed two antidepressants and an anti anxiety med to counteract side effects. I was told that I needed to take these drugs for the rest of my life to avoid relapse. I weaned myself off after about a year, and have never had a relapse, and now the claim that you need to take psychiatric drugs forever for depression has been debunked. People who suffer from these illnesses desperately want a cure. When it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. My guess is that Amen started out with good intentions, and then realized how easy it was to capitalize on human desperation and disgust with the corruption and general lack of unbiased ethical scientific studies in psychiatry. From there he just catapulted to fame and fortune. He’s the Donald Trump of the psychiatric field - he fills a need. It’s obvious when you read some of the comments spanning the seven years from the time this article was written until now. I’m glad I did a little research on Amen, but so sad that psychiatry is still a science largely funded by many equally corrupt drug companies motivated by the same dollar signs as Amen.Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17087789698887195096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-477411842546384412019-02-03T06:39:37.659-08:002019-02-03T06:39:37.659-08:00why would other dr.s accept this? that would mean ...why would other dr.s accept this? that would mean patients getting better and they would lose business. why do you think drs dont try to find the root problem instead of putting a bandaid on everything. they would lose customers. unfortunately that is the way it is<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-39097724120794097852018-11-01T08:32:09.541-07:002018-11-01T08:32:09.541-07:00How has your mental health improved since your las...How has your mental health improved since your last post? I am interested in your progress/experience.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14613707633778956241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-4654328122672488832018-10-29T09:44:46.055-07:002018-10-29T09:44:46.055-07:00I dont have much to say about Daniel Amen, but hon...I dont have much to say about Daniel Amen, but honestly I dont think the field wants a good diagnostic tool. To begin with it would - as the the article notes - mean that the symptom based mental health diagnostic system of the DSM would no longer be relevant. So in the name of relevance the system will continue to differentiate mental illness from medical illness, maintaining the stigma of mental illness, as well as leaving people to suffer through subpar treatment that treats the symptom and the side effects of that treatment rather than identifying, treating and or trying to resolve the problem. Again yet another example of a field not practicing what it preaches as it seeks to act based on maintaining the status quo of the field and its secondary gains.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-78364490353819952052018-06-02T23:31:43.834-07:002018-06-02T23:31:43.834-07:00Your a Dr. FRANKENSTEIN profiting off the mental i...Your a Dr. FRANKENSTEIN profiting off the mental issues of real people who have real issues. How come the FDA has not approved your methodology? Because you can't prove your methods. And worse off you charge huge sums of money for false promises. You were betterin San Fran as a private pratice. Your methods are over stated and I challenge you to simple methods that CBT and other simplistic brain scan imagining testing equipment could do. Showing P300 scans, Alpha, Theta and Delta waves which can and simplisticly show signs of depression,anxiety, ADHD,early onset Dementia, early onset Alzheimer's. Not to mention can discover concussionswithin seconds on athletes. All this and it portable too.<br /><br />Any challenge call L.J Schwartz @ MEDICS TESTING North America where we don't scare people into abusing their mind or money.L.J. Schwartz ljschwartz61@gmail.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-87981571514266811622018-03-16T04:47:43.054-07:002018-03-16T04:47:43.054-07:00Until one has been treated and given some hope, th...Until one has been treated and given some hope, then you don’t know that they’re not the “answers to your prayers.”Lil Crafty Nookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446608435048350768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-6923713459052160752018-03-16T04:32:47.641-07:002018-03-16T04:32:47.641-07:00Yes!! I am sensitive to medicines anyway, so anyt...Yes!! I am sensitive to medicines anyway, so anything that helps point the doctors in a better direction is a good thing!! I was a patient of theirs in 2012, and just reading their summation of what I had been feeling and goin through for years is worth it!!Lil Crafty Nookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446608435048350768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-42005971617549113112017-12-05T04:25:27.535-08:002017-12-05T04:25:27.535-08:00total faketotal fakeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07722995001634958681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-13642984244311684972017-12-05T04:24:18.947-08:002017-12-05T04:24:18.947-08:00couldn't agree more.couldn't agree more.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07722995001634958681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-85821584341987163052017-12-05T04:23:24.418-08:002017-12-05T04:23:24.418-08:00Good luck. I t agree with you. I find the comments...Good luck. I t agree with you. I find the comments here to be suspect of sour grapes as anyone who is treated by "accepted standard psychiatric practice knows it a 15 minute appt to figure out which drug the y can sell for the pharmaceutical company so they can get the kickback. And thge research on effectiveness and outcomes are dismal. Talk about quackery! May DR. Amen cointinue to dfo great work.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07722995001634958681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-27769038717495951572017-11-08T20:21:29.869-08:002017-11-08T20:21:29.869-08:00A lot of these comments sound like Daniel Amen. No...A lot of these comments sound like Daniel Amen. Notice they all started at the same time complimenting his clinics... Anyway SPECT scans emit a LOT more radiation than other scans. Here's why: Often times you'll hear that SPECT is equivalent to a chest X-ray. This statement is only partially correct. The radioisotope most commonly used in SPECT imaging is Technetium-99m, which emits predominantly gamma rays. The energy emitted by the gamma rays are approximately 140 keV, which is around the same ballpark as chest X-rays. While most of 99m-Tc will decay by emitting gamma particles, there is a minute probability that 99m-Tc will also release beta particles, which are especially high energy and can easily cause DNA damage.<br /><br />Furthermore, while the energy of the gamma rays in SPECT and chest X-rays are similar, the dose of radiation over time are over two orders of magnitude greater in SPECT imaging. That's well over 100 chest X-rays! A single exposure of gamma rays from a chest X-ray lasts only a few seconds. In comparison, the half-life of 99m-Tc is SIX hours. This means that it takes 6 hours for half of gamma-emitting 99m-Tc to decay to 99-Tc. Thus, long after the SPECT scan is over (30 to 60 minutes), the radiotracers in one's body will continue to emit gamma rays for the next several hours.<br /><br />Don't get all that radiation for nothing! Stupid move, people. Be smart.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-72806898080769890992017-08-11T13:11:13.707-07:002017-08-11T13:11:13.707-07:00Thank you for confirming what I was already thinki...Thank you for confirming what I was already thinking. My son has been using heroin/meth for ten years and has mental illness. Long story short after years of rehabs, jail, prison, mental hospitals, etc. I considered trying the Amen Clinic. A friend went through the process with her son and said it was worth it. I've been skeptical because, like you stated, (and I paraphrase) if Dr. Amen is right, then why is he the ONLY one out there has figured this out? When a breakthrough treatment of any kind for any condition occurs, there may be a single person or team responsible, but it it works everyone else jumps on board so they can make millions too! If this was really the answer, there would be shoot-offs of clinics all over the world. I talked to the clinic just now and spoke to a very nice, calm woman who seemed 100% sincere about the accuracy of these tests. I'm not going to go through with it. I'm still at a loss for helping my son, but at least I'm not our $3.500! Glad I found your blog, some fascinating info here!Bar L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11100008292699584336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-61081019457171431612017-08-07T11:00:56.594-07:002017-08-07T11:00:56.594-07:00Ideally one should forget internet quack-versus-qu...Ideally one should forget internet quack-versus-quack arguments, ads in freebie magazines, TV fundraisers. Those with serious medical issues ought to proceed into treatment on advice from a good GP, not TV! <br /><br />Bona fide nutritionists are now highly qualified, with impressive degrees from ivy league medical schools. They can suggest, based on a GP's blood test results, conservative but highly effective vitamin and dietary, exercise, and sleep regimens for their clientele. Much of the nutritional and lifestyle advice they give is very similar to Amen's, but they do not entrap patients into buying overpriced or unnecessary boutique treatments, or risking radiation. History students remember Galen's "food as medicine" theory. Good news: it still works. <br /><br />No I'm not a professional, only a convert, wishing you well. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-90083204450991004802017-07-26T14:16:28.854-07:002017-07-26T14:16:28.854-07:00I will not debate the usefulness of spec scans for...I will not debate the usefulness of spec scans for diagnosis, even though they are highly questioned within the medical community. I will focus my review on the other aspects of my experience. <br />Even though they charge a huge amount of money, their "premium" services only includes one meeting with the doctor. Any further meetings or phone calls will be made with the doctor's assistant and not the doctor himself. After diagnosis, they asked me to start taking all sorts of different supplements for a total of 26 pills per day and charged me thousands of dollars for those supplements. <br />Bear in mind that I didn´t take a single pill before visiting Amen. 3 weeks after I started taking the pills I still had no change regarding my state of mind and I felt physically bad because of the amount of pills I was having to digest. <br />Finally I decided to start working with one of the most brilliant psychiatrist in my country instead. Unlike Amen where the doctor was never available, I was able to contact my psychiatrist at any time of the day via email and expect a response within a day. After 2 weeks of treatment I was feeling a lot better, and 1 month later I´m feeling better that what I´ve ever felt before. And what did I have to do? Take 1 pill of 20mg Prozac a day, the lowest dose available for adults. And my psychiatrist tells me it´s only temporary and I could even stop taking it after a year or two. Also, I met with the psychiatrist 3 times, for a total cost of $400 plus one box of Prozac a month, which is quite cheap. Amen charged me about $3500, plus travelling expenses, plus $2000 in supplements for just 6 months. <br />Amen Clinics did not help my anxiety, they made it far worse. So I strongly recommend to avoid them and look for a clinic or a doctor that cares more about you than about making money of you. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-29682986082720475442017-06-26T19:02:41.992-07:002017-06-26T19:02:41.992-07:00Once I came to a psychiatrist because a neurologis...Once I came to a psychiatrist because a neurologist couldn't figure out my problem...do it must be in the mind...no? Being a known psychiatrist he knew the exact diagnosis immediately before too long he perscribed some SSRI because he knew immediately I had clinical chronic depression. After buying the drug and reading the side effects and the fact that I need to dose on that drug three whole months before anyone could establish sister it works for me so I could no wash it out of my system, ever, I decided to think over whether I want something to alter my system altogether. Yes, I was in a bad mood due to living for three years with a spasm of facial muscles disturbing me to speak...and that is a horrid experience fora wife and a mother of five. Several days earlier I had lost my expensive cellphone which was my greatest luxury. As a therapist I asked myself if he asked me a very baisic question about anything disturbing me for objective reasons. His basement clinic and his face were also quite depressing I really walked out of there depressed...then I remember asking whether it really is a good idea to take such a drug, because I heard of a woman, who one day found the drugs stopped effecting her and looked worse than she would have, had she never taken the first dose. So he said: "why worry about something that may not happenn for fifteen years?!"...well that might mean a life sentence...? Giving me a bad prognosis...? But I was feeling down, especially after such an inspiring, empowering meeting...try?...maybe tomorrow. I've always been a health freak. How about changing my diet, cleansing, walking, yoga, maybe cognitive therapy? Shouldn't he have sent me to any psychotherapy or something of the sort? If I were depressed, research has proven drugs to work best with therapy, why try second quality treatment. This stuff can't be healthy. I'll stay away from drugs- isn't that what I was always told to do?<br />I am not depressed. This is just s bad mood!<br />Anyway, soon he called to ask how his treatment was working..."I am experienced enough to tell you that you have chronic depression"...well I will have terrible depression if you don't stop talking to me. I was too polite to tell him where I wish he would go and I did start to get depressed, in fact when your face is spasdicated it is a bit depressing. "Why to you think it is chronic? My situation is not very happy but that could change." He got deffensive, so I knew he had no idea what he was talking about so I was a patient patient and let him go on until he let out all he wanted to tell his inobedient client. It did not do me any good. I wasn't going to give in. No drugs and no toxins.<br />Fast forward: Stoll have trouble talking but learned to cope with it better and went to study new "stuff" to take my focus elsewhere (stocks, healing and more). I go to body-mind therapy and just know I want to live and "be". But the psychiatrist did help me. I realized firstly, how I never want to look, sound or behave. Secondly, I realized that I can help myself and I really know a thing or two about my "self" and that no one could tell me what I want.<br />So think twice before accepting any diagnosis from a psychiatrist. They will always look for which medicine to gone rather than whether a person needs any medicating at all.artherapisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16171533129676950631noreply@blogger.com