Making a Good Brain Great: The Amen Clinic Program for Achieving and Sustaining Optimal Mental Performance
by Daniel G. Md Amen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel G. Md AmenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-12-26
ISBN: 1400082099
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Book Reviews of Making a Good Brain Great: The Amen Clinic Program for Achieving and Sustaining Optimal Mental Performance
Book Review: Great food for thought...for everyone
Summary: 4 Stars
Summary:
Dr. Amen takes a very complicated subject and turns it into something anyone with a brain can understand and enjoy. He starts by expressing the importance of brain awareness, providing plenty of anecdotes and anatomical information. Throughout the book, he cites more studies than I can count, which is good because it backs his information up nicely, but is somewhat unnerving because there is little mention of how the studies were carried out. The technical jargon is kept to a minimum, which is a huge benefit for most people. Personally, I would have liked more technical information, especially with regards to his treatments. Many times it seems like a big advertisement for his clinic, which is ok because they are all positive cases, but still, rather than giving a once over of many patients, I would have appreciated more in-depth analysis of case studies. Despite these sentiments, the book was well written, albeit redundant in many places, and is very enjoyable for anyone interested in neuroscience or simply trying to improve his/her brain.
Book Content:
At his clinics, Dr. Amen utilizes Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging. Two types of processing are performed. The first shows holes where there is less than 45% brain activity in an area. The second type shows where there is the highest 15% of activity. By looking at the brain under certain conditions, Dr. Amen is able to see where the brain is working the hardest and where it is struggling. This in turn allows him to truly see what we are doing to our brains when we do the things we do. This includes anything from depriving the brain of sleep or ingesting too much caffeine, to doing heavy drugs. He is also able to see changes with certain disorders (i.e. dementia, ADD, depression, etc...), making it useful for calculating the effect of a certain treatment, or looking at potential risk factors.
Dr. Amen starts the book by discussing the importance of the brain, and how it is involved in everything you do. While this sounds obvious, it is important to recognize that differences between brains result in differences in types of people. For instance, he talks about types of mothers, and how their personalities, which then shape you as a child, can be traced back to their brains. If they're guilt-driven mothers, for example, they may have increased activity in the limbic system where the brain houses its emotional centers. Realizing that all the aspects of our lives are driven by our brains is crucial for making changes we all so desperately want to make. Also, an important point that Dr. Amen makes is that in many instances we are hostages of our own brains. Some of the actions people do can be traced back to problems with their brains. He notes specific examples when he was asked to testify in court about the brain scan of a certain defendant. In one case the man had sustained severe brain damage (specifically in the prefrontal cortex where judgment is controlled) from falling off a ladder and one day killed his neighbors for cutting his tree. The brain scan was crucial because it showed he lacked the judgment of a healthy person, and because of this testimony the man's sentence, while still severe, was reduced. Pertaining to treatment, the Amen clinic looks at brain images to find the source of the disorder, rather than treating the disorder as a symptom much like many other doctors. Treating the source is much more effective; however it means there is no longer a "one-size fits all" mentality for treatment which has caused America to be such a pill-popping society.
In other sections, Dr. Amen discusses how soft the brain is, having a consistency similar to custard, and how important it is to protect it. He cites how dangerous contact sports are and how easy it is to permanently damage the brain by hitting it with soccer balls, playing football, or risking accidents by riding motorcycles and mopeds. It is also easy to damage the brain and not realize it. Dr. Amen provides self assessment forms to fill out and aid in determining if brain damage is present. He also supplies information about the main brain systems in a way that anyone can understand. Dr. Amen gives a good deal of detail on the systems, without boring those who don't want the in-depth anatomical explanations.
In Part II of the book Dr. Amen outlines his clinic's program for "making a good brain great." He discusses the importance of preventing physical harm, as well as eliminating as many unfriendly foreign substances as possible, backing everything up with many of his SPECT images. He talks about food as "brain medicine" and how damaging some foods are while others are crucial for proper brain development and disease prevention. Specifically, Dr. Amen discusses Omega-3 fatty acids quite a bit throughout the book, and how good wild salmon is in our diets. One nice thing about this part of the book is he gives a list of 24 extremely healthy foods that should be in our diets every week, including specific recipes, most of which are his personal favorites. Later in the book, Dr. Amen discusses specific supplements individually, citing studies and recommending daily intakes for different types of people. Aside from what we take in, the book talks about brain workouts, perception vs. reality, the importance of music, ways of de-stressing including meditation, risk factors for different disorders, how to get help, and lastly he outlines a 15 day plan to get your brain working better, which I intend to start soon.
The structure of the book, as previously described, was extremely effective since it established a knowledge base and gradually got more specific with information, finishing with his clinic's 15 day plan. For the structure, Dr. Amen broke the book up into many chapters, some as short as 4 pages, which was very effective.
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