Thoughts on Dr. Amen?

[If-love-were-all]

Has anyone looked into Dr. Daniel Amen's work? His theory is to do brains scans to find the specific areas that are underperforming before choosing targeted treatment. He believes in meds and supplements and exercise and everything, but insists there are very different types of ADD which need very different approaches. youtube.com/watch?v=UWnJ4wj...(Not working as expected?)

[Elijah1]

There are not different types of ADD (despite what Amen says). There are different reasons for attention, impulse control and overactivity problems which can be identified with a detailed medical history and evaluation. You should ask what the testing (SPECT scan) adds in addition to a good history and overall evaluation. Also ask for good and reliable peer reviewed medical articles that support the use of the SPECT scans (not just a commentary by the proponents). It is a great sales pitch - you need to determine the actual value (more testing does not mean better outcome).

[Harimadsol]

I don’t often comment but I will for this one. I would recommend staying away from Dr. Amen and his theories as well as expensive testing. An acquaintance of mine had been in a car accident with her two children (they all had concussions) and after various treatments was getting desperate for help and considered going to a clinic of his. She found it would be very expensive and was not pleased with the proposed treatment for each of them.

ADD/ADHD can be hard on families. As with any health issue we have to be careful because desperation can lead to being deceived more easily.

My husband also has had concussions and needs regular medical treatment. One of the hard things for us to come to grips with is that he still has he potential to improve but he will never be how he was before. He has had a SPECT scan before (for concussion reasons, not ADHD) and neurologists he has seen vary in opinion on how helpful/reliable it is.

[BeachGlassGirl]

My two grandkids and I went through the Amen clinic because of the recommendation of my counselor. I thought it made sense to have the scans because, like Dr. Amen states, in all other fields of medicine they can look at the body part, why not the brain also. Yes, it's expensive but I felt you do get a lot for that expense. Because of the abuse both my grandchildren had and being around drugs I also wanted to make sure there wasn't other problems related to those things. It was amazing looking at the brain scans of all of us. My granddaughter's scan was lit up like a Christmas tree and helped explain why she has trouble in areas she does. The Dr.s we've worked with have been super helpful and very understanding. They are there to help answer questions anytime. Like with any diagnosis it is a trial and error procedure. We are still trying to find what works for all of us. Nothing like a house with 3 ADHD people in it! The only down side in my opinion is that because of the demands for this type of diagnosis it can be difficult to get a followup appointment with a Dr. quickly. Recently our local news station was doing a report asking if the recent killings done by a former football player could be a result of brain injuries suffered while playing football. They interviewed local athourities in the field but also showed some brain scans that were done by the Amen Clinic. They didn't mention it by name but you could see the Amen logo and I recognized the scans.

[If-love-were-all in reply to BeachGlassGirl]

Thanks for that. Gwen (30) had a Qeeg scan done when she was 23 and I wish we'd been able to have a full blood flow SPECT done then, (but we didn't know about it. ) The areas of her brain which aren't fully communicating with each other and which lack function (clearly shown even on the Qeeg) are very like one (or possibly two) of Amen's Seven types of ADD and we want to target the problem as specifically as we can. We've made an appt. for May, (if we can get there with the Covid situation), but they are all very supportive and we are looking forward to trying it. It's expensive, but so are all things psychiatric and you do get quite a few appts. and follow up all in with the package. Fingers crossed.