Healing 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. Healing Anxiety and Depression reveals the major anxiety and depression centers of the brain, offers guidelines and diagnostic tools to determine the specific type of anxiety and depression, and provides a comprehensive program for treating each type. Based on new brain science-and featuring treatment plans that include medication, diet, supplements, exercise, and social and therapeutic support-this groundbreaking book will help readers conquer these potentially devastating disorders and change the way they think about anxiety and depression.

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Integration of Medicine and Psychology

By A Customer - February 18, 2004

Many books are one-sided arguments for the causes of depression and anxiety. According to these biased books, depressions stems from:Past child abuse and other negative environment factorsHolding your body in a depressing way - bent down, frowning, etc.Medical causesPoor diet, lack of exerciseIsolationFill in the blankBut this book is different.Healing Anxiety and Depression is a refreshing book, for it takes all of the above factors and mixes it into a complete approach to the causes and treatment of anxiety and depression.Moreover, Daniel Amen, M.D. and his co-author, Lisa C. Routh, M.D. have pioneered the use of a brain imaging technology known as SPECT: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography. This interesting brain scanning method is different than other methods because it allows one to see how certain parts of the brain interact to cause these debilitating conditions. Other
methods of brain imaging only give a surface view of the brain - which... read more

Astonishing

By N. St-Amand "Nat" - March 8, 2005

Dr. Amen is definitely one of the best when it comes to mental illness. Having suffered from depression, and more severely, anxiety, I browsed through the health section at my local bookstore looking for answers. And I definitely found them in this book. This book talks about the 7 types of depression and anxiety, how they are caused, what brain chemicals are causing the symptoms and where in the brain the problem lies. Dr. Amen uses SPECT nuclear imaging to see the brain in its depressed/anxious states. Along with descriptions of all of the 7 types are images of the brain with that type of depression/anxiety. I narrowed down my depression/anxiety to be a type 4, followed the advice it suggested, and have been 90% depression and anxiety free for 6 months. A MUST read for anyone suffering from a mood or anxiety disorder.

A "Must Read" for Anyone Facing Anxiety/Depression

By Kelly Frey - November 3, 2003

Healing Anxiety and Depression is an easy-to-read book that shines a spotlight on anxiety and depressive disorders from the perspective of brain functioning, as opposed to the traditional diagnostic approach based primarily on symptom clusters. In this book, Dr. Amen and Dr. Routh clearly explain the following five major interconnected brain circuits that underlie most of these disorders:* basal ganglia-sets the body's idling level
* deep limbic system-sets the mind's feeling tone
* anterior cingulated gyrus-helps shift attention
* temporal lobes-helps mood stability, temper control, and memory
* prefrontal cortex-helps with decision making, attention span, judgment, and impulse controlThe authors describe in detail the functions associated with each of these brain components, as well as the common difficulties that arise when that particular part of the brain is not functioning well. They proceed to propose a new way of approaching treatment for anxiety... read more