Healing ADD Revised Edition: The Breakthrough Program that Allows You to See and Heal the 7 Types of ADD Paperback – December 3, 2013

This is a great resource that sums up Dr. Amen's work on ADD in the last decade. I have seen him speak a handful of times and having recently discovered I have a version of ADD, quickly searched out Amen resources for his wise insights and fearless non-traditional approaches.Amen is controversial in the psychiatry world for his use of SPECT imaging, SPECT, as I understand it, provides a geographic map of the brain and detects the levels of activity in different regions of the brain. From this information, Amen can deduce if adverse behaviors are due to brain development issues and address those areas specifically, before engaging in the typical therapy and medications. There are many wonder stories Amen has of patients who came to him after finding no relief with traditional psychiatrist, he then runs a scan and treats a specific part of the brain (for example an underactive frontal lobe) leading to improvement, and sometimes strengthening the deficient area, a "cure".The wonderful insight of this book are the seven divisions of ADD that Dr. Amen has identified and distinguished, revealing the nuance in an "over-prescribed" and often claimed as "fake" condition. There are great explanations for the typical medical treatments, such as stimulants and anti-depressants, and when they are necessary, as well as specific suggested remedies unique to each of the seven ADD categories. Being that the brain is part of a system, Amen also details a proper nutrition plan as well as many other personal development items, such as journaling and getting rid of automatic negative thoughts. I feel that even if someone already has an understanding of ADD, they will benefit from this book due to Amen’s unique spin.To offer my own story, I came to discover I had ADD within the last several months. I have always had an ardent thirst for knowledge – personally and academically - but have felt like a martyr through the mental flogging required satisfying this desire. My own ADD type appears to be largely “limbic ADD”, something Amen describes as being due to an overactive limbic system which regulates emotion. Due to this, limbic ADD is commonly associated with depression and negative thoughts; I have experienced depression most of my life, largely in relation to feeling like a failure (hello ADD) and being unable to divorce myself from studies to areas I may be “more incline towards”. Anti-depressants never worked for me, as it turns out I don’t have typical “depression” and it’s actually a symptom of Limbic ADD, and a mild stimulant made the world of difference. A small dose of Adderall along with personal development practices has the despair receding and me feeling normal again; rediscovering a side of myself I forgot about for nearly 4 years.As a point of comparison, I also purchased Dr. Amen’s 30 Days to ADD Healing course for $150 and I have to say I feel this book is much better. The course may be great for people who need to be held accountable to something, but I found it much more frustrating to navigate the information and felt it offered nothing new beyond providing worksheets for Amen’s suggested personal development exercises. In this book, everything is concise and it’s cheap. To the reviewers who mention this book leaves you hanging, well yes, it’s just a book, you must pursue the change. If the book isn’t sufficient enough, then the call to action is to visit Amen’s SPECT center to truly figure out with going on in your head, or join his online course. With all the being said, this book is a gem and worth much more than its price tag.Through reading Amen as a whole, I have come to develop a sort of Physicalism. It appears that many people with adverse behaviors do not simply lack willpower, virtue, or a good environment, but rather the issues are linked to one's brain. ADD people don't "choose" not to study, rather due to the less developed part of the brain ( in some ADD types), their regulatory systems for making prudent choices are impaired. Although this is not a scientific textbook, I can imagine some of the material being supplemental to a study of neuroscience or determinism.Reviewers may be right that the book is repetitive, but don’t let that stop you; be an active reader and find what’s important to you. I probably only read 30 pages in total myself, moving between area relevant to my question and skipping Amen’s anecdotes as I have heard them before.Amen’s book serves as an excellent primer to anyone new to the concept or someone trying to become actively involved in their own treatment. It’s an easy read even if you just do section skimming, where I highly recommend it. After reading his book, I realize my psychiatrist has loosely used several concepts of his, but this book has offered excellent depth that I don’t think I would otherwise have come to discover; and I’m not sure if my psych understands the fullness of Amen’s principles either. In essence, this book makes ADD much less of a mystery and more a hopeful prospect of overcoming. Amen points out, and as an experience of ADD will know, people with ADD are no weak, but are especially strong when they are resourceful enough to get by or cope without knowledge that their struggles aren’t the norm. Solutions for ADD are less about “fixing” someone, and more about helping you reach your full potential.Thank you Dr. Amen for not being afraid to be controversial in your method and helping me to better understand myself; hopefully your findings will be impactful for decades to come.

This is one of THE most helpful books on ADHD I've ever read.Most books on ADHD focus on parents of children with ADHD. I'm an adult and capable of taking charge of my life including using supplements fully aware of the danger and utility. This book hits the spot if you're an adult with the condition or the parent of a child who wants to DO something.The description of the symptoms was priceless for me. Oppositional defiance - you mean that's a symptom and not just me being bitchy? Groggy in the morning sometimes for hours, starts fights to get enough stimulation to wake up. That's a symptom and not just me being obnoxious????? I've been dealing with moral judgements from everyone (including myself) and all I have to do is move the medication from the kitchen to the nightstand, play some music as my alarm instead of beeping and the problem goes away? Yup, it was that simple.Daniel Amens is a pioneer in SPECT imaging and it shows. His book is filled with a plethora of advice about medications, supplements, lifestyle changes, and the impact on the brain. He gets extremely specific about exact areas of the brain affected too.I found his advice on adaptogens (ginseng, rhodiola, ashwagandha, holy basil or tulsi and Relora) invaluable and effective. I've never really found another source that explains why these might be helpful. My psychiatrist was impressed as well. You see, I have panic attacks - I've used inositol, magnesium glycinate, Hardy's Essential Nutrients to combat the panic attacks successfully. But I still had tiny attacks and could not ditch them. I *think* the adaptogens did the trick. I started with adaptogens in the morning only. When I added them during dinner and before bed - my stress eating went away AND I started sleeping more eastly. It's the first time in years that I've had that Ahhhhh! feeling from a night of restful sleep. About then I noticed the panic attacks, even the tiny ones were entirely gone.What else? Well, thanks to a serious collapse, my ADHD was so bad, I have short episodes of amnesia. I also supplement with phosphatidylserine(PS) and phosphatidylcholine(PC). I've found PS improves memory and recall and PC improves alertness and concentration. Using lecithin for my PC - I found it was short-lived (about 6-8) hours so I added alpha GPC choline which forms a reserve. I also use acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) which helps protect the mitochondria in brain and boosts cognitive endurance. I would like to use N-acetyl-L-tyrosine (NALT) - which is the version of tyrosine (an amino acid) that can cross the blood-brain barrier but *it does the exact same thing* as Adderall/Vyvanse. Taken together, I managed to burn myself out. But, unlike the Vyvanse, it doesn't give me panic attacks. My psychiatrist is stepping down the Vyvanse so I can switch to the NALT. Do not combine NALT with Adderall/Vyvanse. It's way too much.The combined impact of these supplements is impressive. I've gone from forgetting everything because my short term memory was close to useless to able to remember 16 digits in my head and add'em all up. I've NEVER been able to do this. At my best in elementary school, I could remember 5 digits and complete the addition with effort. Most of the time, I just gave up, used pencil and paper and then my fingers. Needless to say, math was never my best subject.5 stars for both the first and second editions of this book - I borrowed the first edition from the library. It has useful information that isn't available in the second edition.

Doctors everywhere typically look down your throat if it's sore, they take x-rays for broken bones, they LOOK at the part of the body that is troubling their patients... except, typically, your brain. Dr Amen's brain imaging has added so much potentially life-saving, quality of life improving science to the study of brain science, I believe the time period of his work will be looked back on by future medical historians as the beginning of a new and vastly improved way to help people with all kinds of brain injury and illness, whether its the effects of drug and alcohol; physical trauma from accidents, sports or stroke; brain inflammation from sensitivities and allergies; malfunctions of the brain from anatomical, biochemical, and neurological anomalies; medicines, various additives and preservatives we put in and on our bodies, vaccines, pesticides and other toxins; and so much more! No worries, though, it is written and organized in a way that is very easy for most anyone to understand. And I dare say, for myself, at least one or more areas of discussion apply to me, a family member, friend, coworker, your grocery store clerk, pretty much every human I know, and maybe explains some of my crazy cat's weird behavior, as well! 😂 Kidding... maybe.... If, no, WHEN Dr Amen's work is fully embraced by the medical community, it will be the springboard to improved brain health in so many areas and will be recognizing as the most important pioneering work done in brain health in over 100 years! So, so excellent, this book should be in every household!