Amen Clinics

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, 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
Founded1989 (1989)
FounderDaniel G. Amen
Headquarters
United States
Area served
Newport Beach, California, San Francisco, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Reston, Virginia, Bellevue, Washington, New York City
Websitewww.amenclinics.com

Amen Clinics has locations in Newport Beach, California; San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Reston, Virginia; Bellevue, Washington; Chicago; Los Angeles; and New York City.[4][8]

The American Psychiatric Association has criticized the clinical appropriateness of Amen's use of brain scans, stating: "[T]he clinical utility of neuroimaging techniques for planning of individualized treatment has not yet been shown."[9]

Operations

Amen Clinics was founded in 1989. It has been using brain SPECT in an attempt to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness since 1991.[10] Amen Clinics incorporates questionnaires, clinical histories, and clinical interviews in its practice.[5][11] Some Amen Clinics locations also use quantitative electroencephalography as a diagnostic tool.[12] Amen Clinics has scanned 50,000 people at an estimated cost of $170 million according to Daniel Amen.[13]

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 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.[14][15]

Effectiveness

Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans to measure blood flow and activity patterns in the brain.[4][5][16] 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."[17]

Harriet Hall has written critically about SPECT scans in articles for Quackwatch and for the Science-Based Medicine website.[18][19] Hall accuses the clinics of misrepresenting an unproven treatment as effective, of concealing important warning information, and of creating false hopes by promising things that can't be done.[18] She dismisses the scans as "pretty pictures" and says that although Amen himself seems to believe in his approach, "humans are very good at fooling themselves".[18]

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.[13] According to the American Psychiatric Association, "the clinical utility of neuroimaging techniques for planning of individualized treatment has not yet been shown."[9]

References
  1. James Butcher (2008). "Neuropolitics gone mad". The Lancet Neurology. 7 (4): 295. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70056-5.
  2. "License Information". Medical Board of California. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  3. Dawn Ford (October 9, 2012). "The Seniors' Situation Room Edition 5 by Dawn Ford". Cornwall Free News. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  4. Everett Catts (October 18, 2012). "Brain expert speaks in Buckhead, opens Sandy Springs clinic". Neighbor Newspapers. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  5. Daniel Carlat (May 19, 2008). "Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don't Believe the Hype". Wired. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  6. Daniel G Amen; Manuel Trujillo; Barry Chaitin (2011). "Brain SPECT Imaging in Complex Psychiatric Cases: An Evidence-Based, Underutilized Tool". Open Neuroimaging Journal. 5: 40–8. doi:10.2174/1874440001105010040. PMC 3149839. PMID 21863144.
  7. Kathy Mahdoubi (13 October 2014). "New SPECT database holds 100K scans for psychiatric study". Molecular Imaging. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  8. "Amen Clinics & Brain Spect Imaging". Brain World Magazine. October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  9. 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.
  10. Daniel G. Amen (26 April 2010). "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  11. Eliza Shapiro (14 December 2012). "Can Daniel Amen Read Your Mind?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  12. Zoë Kessler (2014). "Shawn Ladd's Excellent Amen Clinics Adventure – Part I". Psych Central. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  13. Chancellor, B.; Chatterjee, A. (2011). "Brain Branding: When Neuroscience and Commerce Collide". AJOB Neuroscience. 2 (4): 18–27. doi:10.1080/21507740.2011.611123.
  14. Leigh Steinberg (3 September 2013). "Death of the NFL: Part 2". Forbes. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  15. Rick Maese (7 June 2012). "NFL concussions lawsuits aim to improve the damaged brain". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  16. Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (6 February 2013). "Dr Daniel Amen interview: the shrink who believes technology will replace the couch". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  17. Adinoff & Devous, 2010 Response to Amen Letter American Journal of Psychiatry
  18. Hall, Harriet (8 April 2008). "SPECT Scans at the Amen Clinic – A New Phrenology?". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  19. Harriet Hall, M.D. (15 November 2007). "A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen". Retrieved 3 October 2013.
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