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437 of 468 found the following review helpful:
 hargray Sep 14, 2003
I was the terror of the neighborhood, failed grade 1,
dropped out of high school after grade 10, then after the
army, 3 teachers talked me into returning to school. A
VERY difficult journey began - hard to concentrate, memory
problems, hyperactivity, and etc. It took a LOT of help,
but ultimately I received a BA, MEd, and Ph.D. I became a
chief of psychology in a psychiatric hospital, teacher,
therapist -- and then at 46 years of age, I was diagnosed
with ADHD. Suddenly, "everything" made sense, as the
disorder was 'classic' to how I had behaved, thought,
struggled with relationships, and etc. MEDICATIONS
comletely turned MY life around (as my wife, friends, and
work associates would affirm) - they don't work for everyone,
but for me, it was like a miracle from heaven. Of course, the
anti-medication zealots will not wish to believe this, but
my experience is like that of so many others I have seen IN MY
PRACTICE AS A PSYCHOLOGIST. When medications work, they
really do a great job. When they don't, the experience can
be very disappointing, and anger can run high. I also
conducted over 500, 1-day seminars in almost every state in
the USA, and provinces in Canada (this took place over a
14 year period). Having said all of this - the absolute
best book in the field, based on my having read scores of books,
articles, and my experiences factored in, is Dr. Amen's book!!!
I have, in fact, cleared out about 80% of all the AD/HD
literature I had, and Dr. Amen's book remains my favorite.
It is the ONLY book I now recommend to individuals who ask
for my opinion, as a psychologist WITH ADHD.
256 of 273 found the following review helpful:
Healing ADD Mar 01, 2001
By Dr. Earl Henslin
"Psychotherapist"
Healing ADD is a landmark book that every counselor, psycholgist, psychiatrist,and pastor will want to have. More importantly if you struggle with ADD or know someone who does this book is a must read. I and the therapists who are associated with me have referred over 600 people in the last four years for SPECT Brain Imaging Scans. As a psychotherapist I have found Dr. Amen's work to be truly a landmark in the field of psychiatry, psychology and medicine in general. "Healing ADD" helps the reader to identify which of the six types of ADD that they have, and then the practical steps to take for treatment. An alarming number of people are medically mismanaged when it comes to ADD treatment, and the work that Dr. Amen has done through over 10,000 SPECT Brain Imaging Scans has resulted in a system of diagnosis and medication management that brings more precision to the care of the ADD patient.So many of the horror stories and bad press that Ritalin is given are due to inaccurate diagnosis. Ritalin or another stimulant will be prescribed when another system of the brain needs to be treated first before a stimulant is given. The checklists that are provided in Dr.Amen's book will give the reader a guide as to whether the counselor or physcian they are working with is headed in the right direction with the treatment program they design. What is also exciting about this work is how it educates and empowers the lay person to truly be in charge of their care, and be able to ask their therapist, or physcian the needed questions to make sure they are getting the most up to date care and treatment possible. This is a book that the lay person and professional will benefit from. If you are being treated for ADD you might want to purchase a copy for your doctor. Earl R. Henslin Psy.D., B.C.E.T.S. Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress Diplomate in the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
45 of 45 found the following review helpful:
 Technical but easy to understand, open to natural treatment. Feb 27, 2001
I really appreciated the explanation of the different parts of the brain and how they should work, but don't in the ADD brain. There is a list of 71 questions which helps you determine which type of ADD you are, and recommendations for how to change your lifestyle (diet, exercise) to give you more focus. Unlike most ADD books, this one does not focus on children but should be very useful for children with ADD. There is a chapter for each type of ADD. Prescription medications are discussed, as are natural and over-the-counter alternatives. When you read this, it will give you a really good idea which meds or supplements are likely to work best for you, in combination with changes in diet and exercising frequently. Medication alone is most often not enough. There is a section on ADD coaching. It gives exercises to help determine what is most important to you, and advice of accomplishing goals.
104 of 112 found the following review helpful:
Amen For New Information About Attention Deficit Disorder Feb 21, 2001
By Richard L Grant
Are you a parent confused about what doctors are saying about your child's difficulties? Are you a person having a problem finding a good fit for yourself in readings about problems in attention, anger outbursts, depression, getting stuck on things, road rage, alcohol or substance misuse, or disorganization? Are you a mental health clinician or medical doctor who wonders if ADD and ADHD exist and doesn't mind telling your patients that? Welcome to the club. Happily, after reading this book, you may drop your club membership. Daniel G Amen MD writes and talks to you about the six major types of ADD in his newest book, "Healing ADD." Confusion turns into clarity as you learn about kids and adults with ADD and the add-on symptoms that confuse even some experts. Using specialized SPECT brain scans, Amen shows where the parts of the brain that are having trouble functioning are and how they are detected. This book is rich in the details of the lives of persons afflicted with ADD. It brings alive the torments endured when ADD is not properly diagnosed, subtyped, or appropriately treated. It also describes the promise, indeed the results, of well-tailored treatment based on an accurate understanding of the complexities associated with ADD. While considered controversial, physicians and clinicians are giving Dr Amen's approach increasing acceptance. More locations and physicians are offering evaluations and treatment in part based on brain SPECT scans. More centers are making these specialized scans available. For the appropriately skeptical physician practicing evidence-based medicine, the needed research details about the role of brain SPECT scans in evaluation and treatment of ADD and its associated disorders are yet to be done. Yet many of those physicians are not conversant with such recommendations as the National Institute of Mental Health Guidelines about ADD or other recently published large research-based studies. I found it hard to read this book and not be intrigued to want to learn even more. For parents, teachers, and persons with ADD, this book will enlarge their understanding, if not their acceptance, of the emotional and behavioral problems inflicted by this disorder. For mental health clinicians, including physicians whose practice has persons with ADD, "Healing ADD" is close to a "must read" work.
46 of 47 found the following review helpful:
fascinating and validating Dec 27, 2002
Dr. Daniel Amen describes several sets of ADD symptoms, illustrating them with images of abnormal brain activity in those who suffer from the symptoms. While I'm not convinced that his six types are all really primarily ADD, or that they are the only types of ADD, still, this book provides fascinating insight into the physical basis for psychiatric difficulties. Dr. Amen's case studies are fascinating and quite compelling, and he shows both great tenderness for his clients and great insight into the needs and difficulties of people with ADD. This book is extremely valuable for debunking the myth that ADD is not a real disability. Dr. Amen's use of brain imaging technology demonstrates the ways that some people's brains work differently and ineffectively. It's not just laziness--when people with ADD try to concentrate, the part of our brain that controls concentration just shuts down. It's genuinely a physical disability. Although I can "feel" this, to see it verified in black-and-white was extremely validating. While Amen's treatments might be experimental, his diagnostic methods do not seem so. It is not "experimental" to use brain imaging technology to identify where the brain is working properly and not working enough. This has been done for many years. And it's not true that Amen's work is completely "out there"--his work was reviewed by research physicians in two departments (nuclear medicine and neurology, I think) at UCLA and found to be "good medicine" and worthwhile. Comparisons made in other reviews to procedures completely unsupported by any scientific evidence are really in themselves unsupportable. I am not a doctor and can't recommend whether the treatments outlined in this book should be implemented. I can say that people with ADD, and those around them who doubt the reality of their difficulties, will learn a lot from looking at the brain images in this book and understanding the connections between the brain's impaired functioning and the associated symptoms. Reading this book almost makes me feel that "normal" psychiatry is working in the dark without tools... Dr Amen might or might not have made as much progress in the field as this book appears to demonstrate, but nonetheless I think he must be on the right track. I wonder whether it will one day seem to us that trying to guess what's wrong with someone's brain without looking at it, is as strange as trying to diagnose strep throat over the phone.
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