Amen Clinics
| File:Amen Clinics Logo.png | |
| Founded | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Daniel G. Amen |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Newport Beach, California, San Francisco, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Reston, Virginia, Bellevue, Washington, New York City |
| Website | www |
Amen Clinics is a group of mental and physical health clinics that work on the treatment of mood and behavior disorders. It was founded in 1989 by Daniel G. Amen, MD. a self-help guru and psychiatrist.[1][2] The clinics perform clinical evaluations and brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging to diagnose and treat their patients.[3][4] Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans, a type of brain-imaging technology, to measure neural activity through blood flow.[5][6] It has a database of more than 100,000 functional brain scans from patients in 111 countries.[7]
Amen Clinics has locations in Newport Beach, California; San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Reston, Virginia; Bellevue, Washington; and New York City.[4][8]
Operations
Amen Clinics was founded in 1989. It has been using brain SPECT in an attempt to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness since 1991.[9] Amen Clinics incorporates questionnaires, clinical histories, and clinical interviews in its practice.[5][10] Some Amen Clinics locations also use quantitative electroencephalography as a diagnostic tool.[11] Amen Clinics has scanned 50,000 people at an estimated cost of $170 million according to Daniel Amen.[12]
As of 2014, Amen Clinics had a database of more than 100,000 functional brain scans.[7] The subjects are from 111 countries with ages from 9 months to 101 years old.[7] The database was funded in part by Seeds Foundation in Hong Kong, and developed by Daniel Amen with a team of researchers including Dr. Kristen Willeumier.[7]
Amen Clinics has worked to treat athletics-related brain damage for professional athletes, including current and 117 former National Football League players.[13][14]
Effectiveness
Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans to measure blood flow and activity patterns in the brain.[4][5][15] The company also uses diagnostics such as questionnaires, clinical histories, and clinical interviews.[5] Amen Clinics claims that SPECT scans enable doctors to tailor treatment to individual patients' brains. A retrospective study released by Amen in 2010 showed that "regional cerebral blood flow, as measured by SPECT, predicted stimulant response in 29 of 157 patients."[16]
A 2011 paper co-authored by the neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee discussed example cases that were found on the Amen Clinic's website. The paper noted that the example cases "violate the standard of care" because a normal clinical diagnosis would have been sufficient and functional neuroimaging was unnecessary.[12] According to the American Psychiatric Association, "the clinical utility of neuroimaging techniques for planning of individualized treatment has not yet been shown."[17]
References
- ^ James Butcher (2008). "Neuropolitics gone mad". The Lancet Neurology. 7 (4): 295. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70056-5.
- ^ "License Information". Medical Board of California. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ Dawn Ford (October 9, 2012). "The Seniors' Situation Room Edition 5 by Dawn Ford". Cornwall Free News. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ a b c Everett Catts (October 18, 2012). "Brain expert speaks in Buckhead, opens Sandy Springs clinic". Neighbor Newspapers. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Daniel Carlat (May 19, 2008). "Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don't Believe the Hype". Wired. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ Daniel G Amen; Manuel Trujillo; Barry Chaitin. "Brain SPECT Imaging in Complex Psychiatric Cases: An Evidence-Based, Underutilized Tool". Open Neuroimaging Journal. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Kathy Mahdoubi (13 October 2014). "New SPECT database holds 100K scans for psychiatric study". Molecular Imaging. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ "Amen Clinics & Brain Spect Imaging". Brain World Magazine. October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
- ^ Daniel G. Amen (26 April 2010). "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ Eliza Shapiro (14 December 2012). "Can Daniel Amen Read Your Mind?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ Zoë Kessler (2014). "Shawn Ladd's Excellent Amen Clinics Adventure – Part I". Psych Central. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ a b Chancellor, B.; Chatterjee, A. (2011). "Brain Branding: When Neuroscience and Commerce Collide". AJOB Neuroscience. 2 (4): 18. doi:10.1080/21507740.2011.611123.
- ^ Leigh Steinberg (3 September 2013). "Death of the NFL: Part 2". Forbes. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Rick Maese (7 June 2012). "NFL concussions lawsuits aim to improve the damaged brain". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (6 February 2013). "Dr Daniel Amen interview: the shrink who believes technology will replace the couch". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
- ^ Adinoff & Devous, 2010 Response to Amen Letter American Journal of Psychiatry
- ^ American Psychiatric Association (2006). American Psychiatric Association Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: Compendium 2006. American Psychiatric Pub. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-89042-385-1.
