Healing Anxiety and Depression: Based on Cutting-Edge Brain-Imaging Science

by Daniel G. Amen, Lisa C. Routh

Based on brain-imaging science,  Healing Anxiety and Depression  reveals the major anxiety and depression centers of the brain, offers tools to determine the specific type of disorder, and provides a comprehensive program for treating both anxiety and depression.

Dr. Daniel Amen—a pioneer in uncovering the connections between the brain and behavior—presents his revolutionary approach to treating anxiety and depressive disorders. Based on brain science—and featuring treatment plans that include medication, diet, supplements, exercise, and social and therapeutic support—this groundbreaking book will help you conquer these potentially devastating disorders and change the way you think about anxiety and depression.

Healing Anxiety and Depression :
• Reveals 7 different types of anxiety and depression
• Provides proven-effective treatment plans for each type
• Explains the source of anxiety and depression through brain images
• Includes a self-diagnostic test to determine your type

“Help and hope for anyone who has struggled with anxiety and depression.”—John Gray, Ph.D.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Health, Psychology, Mental Health, Brain, Counselling

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2003

About the author

The Washington Post called Dr. Daniel Amen the most popular psychiatrist in America and Sharecare.com named him the web's most influential expert and advocate on mental health.
Daniel Amen is a life-long Christian and graduate of Oral Roberts University School of Medicine. He is a double board-certified psychiatrist and multiple NY Times bestselling author, with such blockbuster books as Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Healing ADD, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, and The Daniel Plan, co-authored by Pastor Rick Warren and Dr. Mark Hyman. In November 2016, he and his wife Tana published The Brain Warrior's Way.
Dr. Amen is the founder of Amen Clinics, which has 6 locations across the United States. Amen Clinics has the world's largest database of brain scans related to behavior, totaling more than 125,000 SPECT scans on patients from 111 countries.
Dr. Amen's research team has published more than 70 scientific articles on a wide variety of topics related to brain health. He is the lead researcher on the largest brain imaging study on active and retired NFL players and was a consultant on the movie Concussion starring Will Smith. In 2016, Discover Magazine named his brain imaging work for psychiatric diagnoses as one of the top 100 stories in all of science.
Dr. Amen has also hosted 11 national public television shows about the brain, which have aired more than 80,000 times across North America and raised more than 75 million dollars for stations.

You can connect with Dr. Amen on Facebook and Twitter

Reviews

[Amanda Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really interesting in that it looks to the actual brain function to find and treat emotional problems. In this older addition most of the book is dedicated to telling stories of people that have been diagnosed and treated at one of his clinics; and, while interesting, they actually didn't give any tools for anyone not at their clinic. However, I have read excerpts from newer books written by Dr Amen and they seem to be much more proactive, with the goal of helping people help themselves. I plan on reading the newer additions soon.

[Frank Lawton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very awesome way of looking at how the brain relates to specific psychological tendencies. A little bit dated and doesn't feel complete, but this doesn't detract from what the book offers. A great addition to one's database. Real applicable information, good for a better understanding of the minds and troubles of one's self and their loved ones, good for useful lifestyle tips, good for a psychologist's book shelf.

[Ángel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most helpful books I've read about anxiety and depression disorders. It really helped me to see the organic side of the disorders, and to wash off the stigma of disorder having to do with personality (which it does, but personality, again, is organic too). A recommended read.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful guide and help to me. I have battled with this for years. Now I feel validated in my current treatment regime. If you or anyone you love has a challenge with anxiety and/or depression, I highly recommend this book.

[Brian Sachetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Healing Anxiety and Depression” is my fourth Dr. Amen book. I just love his platform and the work he’s done in the mental health space. Though this book is similar to most of his other works, it’s also different in that it introduces a new framework for looking at and diagnosing anxiety / depression.

Specifically, Amen introduces seven different flavors of the afflictions, starting with “pure anxiety” (dubbed “one”), and ending with “unfocused anxiety and depression” (called “seven”). What I liked most about this framework is that it shows that mental illness is a spectrum; not all of us have the same symptoms or experience it in the same fashion.

This framework that Amen provides helps readers make better sense of their own flavor of anxiety / depression and discover specific strategies and supplements for dealing with it.

The reason I give the book four stars instead of five is that it goes pretty deep into each of the seven categorizations. Thus, while reading, you get kind of torn between wanting to skip to sections that are more relevant to you, specifically, and not wanting to miss any good information on mental health in general.

That said, there are many helpful tidbits and strategies scattered throughout the book that will help almost anyone dealing with anxiety / depression. The specific things that'll resonate with each reader will vary, but they'll also most certainly be there for the taking, in the end.

Definitely give this one a read if you’re looking for some of those tidbits yourself.

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

[Assja Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is interesting that the Doc’s last name is Amen. The whole time I was reading this was like “Amen.” It gave me an insight about the many types of anxiety and depression and why certain meds work immediately. The other noteworthy page of this book is PG.187 “always thinking”. I like that the Doc is practical and there’s a holistic option to fight anxiety and depression base on his research and study through single photon emission computed tomography. I need a reminder to grab my own hard copy of this book for future reference and to share to who it may need it. "Protecting the brain is actually very critical" according to Daniel Amen. PG 199 people are contagious talks about abuse in any situations including work.

[Zachary Krug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible and thorough.

Dr. Amen’s 7 definitions of anxiety and depression are essential for anyone who wants to better understand the complex mental health of individuals dealing with chronic stress and negative emotion.

The later part of the book seems more like the type of information you can get off of WebMD but Dr. Amen provides thorough and proven methods to tackling one’s mental state.

This is an excellent resource for anyone starting their mental health journey and is a great stepping stone to finding and working with a mental health professional.

[Emily Ripperger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent scientific approach to how the brain functions. I appreciate the inclusive nature of Amen’s perspective on treatment. He adequately addresses emotional, physiological, spiritual, and lifestyle impacts that can aggravate or heal anxiety and depression. Even if you are not personally dealing with one of these demons, this is worth a read. Widespread education in this whole-person manner has the potential to truly aid our society.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but very medical with technical terms so no easy to follow while listening, probably would have been better to actually read. But raises good points about mental health diagnoses and then focuses on anxiety forms that relate to depression. Interesting. 3.5 stars

[Chelsea Gunderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so outdated but I still found it helpful. Understanding how my brain works and breathing techniques to calm my anxiety has been a real eye-opener

[Ömer Faruk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that is gonna take you to shinny white light throughout the darkness

[Sheila Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting descriptions of types of anxiety/depression symptoms.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author's ego seeped through on every page. Obnoxious, not particularly useful other than his pet theories explained. Would not recommend.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have recently had some clients who suffer from moderate to severe anxiety and depression and have been asking me what they can do to overcome these obstacles. I have likewise noticed that anxiety and depression issues are on the rise. There are people in my extended family and at church who suffer from clinically diagnosed depression and/or anxiety. As a result I have felt the need to educate myself on these issues so as to better equip myself with the ability to help those individuals who've asked. Some people assume that because I'm involved in massage and the health field that I have the homeopathic or naturopathic answers to whatever problems exist. This, however, is far from the truth. If there is one thing I've learned it is that one can never know everything and can never have all of the answers. Consistently seeking to gain greater knowledge and understanding is the only way to learn about the pressing issues of our day, in any facet of life. So, I have begun to do some research in the area of anxiety and depression and have been learning some interesting things.

Although I do not endorse everything that is suggested or put forth in this book, I did feel that it contained a lot of interesting and helpful information. Writing a non biased review on this book is very important to me as it was very well researched and written and the information therein may be of great assistance to many people. This book talked quite a bit about combining naturopathic and medical treatments to achieve the best results in the healing process. Although I personally come at life from a holistic and naturopathic angle, I'm not opposed to others recommending or using medicine if they feel it will benefit their life. I definitely feel it is of great importance to research every avenue,approach, opinion or idea possible and then make an educated decision. Each much decide for themselves how they will overcome the obstacles life throws at them. This was a very informative and well written book.

[Shaun Psaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book where Dr Daniel G. Amen philosophy who in my opinion is one of the most brilliant psychiatrists living on earth in this century highlights his psychiatric philosophy about how to heal anxiety and depression very well as he starts highlighting the fact and correlating and explaining brain scan research by explaining the discoveries done in his clinics and describing what constitutes a healthy brain to then start dissecting the brain parts and explaining their role. After then he simply explains his bio-psyche-social approach and he mentions that it is more effective that first the one treating the patient optimises the hardware of the brain and then the program that is the software such as with psychotherapy. After these points he starts to mention the 7 types of anxiety and depression which I found also easy to read. Then In the following various chapters he discusses things like medication, nutrition, breath and neurofeedback and various other things such as the role of relationships have in healing and sleep which I also had fun reading and very psycho-educational. Apart from that Dr Amen style of writing and how the book moves from chapter to chapter has flow in an incredible way. For these reasons in my opinion this book is to be read by everyone interested to be educated psycho educationally while in my opinion I give it a 5 star which is something very rare that I give to a book but this book merit such rating as it can explain a new breakthrough in approaching psychiatry that Dr Daniel Amen has been advocating for a very long time now. Also I give 5 stars as, as a book it explains to the lay man very well on the subject of anxiety and depression whether he is the sufferer or the curious while highlighting that there is a path way forward. I so believe ultimately that this book can save lives with its new approach and clear explanation on how healing is possible whilst remembering that in suffering there is tomorrow and the possibility that perhaps we will heal tomorrow as we keep hoping for healing.

[Nita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listening to this made me want to get a SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) scan of my brain function just to see how what they came up with correlated with the neurofeedback, psychiatry and psychological findings of my current care-givers. This book provides a pretty thorough overview of the various medications, nutrient supplements, therapies and other remedies available for anxiety and depression. The main problem seems to be that Dr. Amen made some conclusions about the brain patterns that aren't supported by any other scientific theories besides his own study. His premise that doctors treating the brain should be actually studying brain function through scientific examination makes sense, but other health practitioners with whom I discussed his work indicated that the technology isn't nearly as perfected as he would like it to be.

[Beth Parkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I consider myself pretty informed when it comes to depression and anxiety, so I found this book relatively uninformative. It didn't really tell me much that I didn't already know. It was definitely good information for others seeking info and help though.

[Abdulaziz Fagih · Rating 5 out of 5]

أفضل كتاب يقدم معلومات عن الأمراض النفسية وعلاجاتها لغير الأطباء المتخصصين

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic! Definitely recommended for people who struggle with emotional issues. Very helpful and insightful. (Read my review on Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Dr. Amen)

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love all of daniel G. amens book but especially this one since i have extreme anxiety I have started to understand why and trying to get the knowledge that it can be managed.

[Jody Eckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some different ideas.

[Vtx Rudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book helped to put what I am feeling into words.

[Becky]

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