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Amen Clinics was founded in 1989 by Daniel G. Amen, MD. a self-help guru and psychiatrist. The clinics perform clinical evaluations and brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging to diagnose and treat their patients. Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans, a type of brain-imaging technology, to measure neural activity through blood flow. There are six locations in Newport Beach, CA, San Francisco, CA, Atlanta, GA, Reston, VA, Bellevue, WA, and New York City, NY.

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

Cost

In 2013 a session of two SPECT scans was reported to cost $3,500 (£2,225). Amen claims to have scanned 50,000 people at an estimated cost of $170 million. The services available are not normally covered by insurance companies and therefore patients must pay for their own treatment. Interest free credit is available.

Effectiveness

Amen clinics rely on SPECT scans to measure blood flow and activity patterns in the brain. This diagnostic process requires injection of a radioactive tracer, and can be harmful.

The clinics claim that the scans enable them to target treatment to individual patients' brains. As of 2007, the Amen Clinic had not shown that patients using his treatment approach have better outcomes. In his own retrospective study of patient SPECT scans in 2010, Amen could correctly predict treatment response in only 29 of the 157 patients. The Brain Imaging Council offered to let Amen analyse a large series of SPECT scans of psychiatric patients and a control group. Amen denies the offer was ever made and has reportedly threatened to sue over the matter.

Harriet Hall has written critically about SPECT scans in articles for Quackwatch and for the Science-Based Medicine website. 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. 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".

A 2011 paper co-authored by the neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee discussed example cases that were found on the Amen Clinic's website including a couple with marital difficulties and a child with impulsive aggression. The paper noted that the examples "violate the standard of care" because a normal clinical diagnosis would have been sufficient and that there "was no reason to obtain functional neuroimaging for diagnostic purposes in these cases."

References

1. Butcher, James (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. "Brain SPECT Imaging in Complex Psychiatric Cases: An Evidence-Based, Underutilized Tool". Open Neuroimaging Journal. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
7. "Amen Clinics & Brain Spect Imaging". Brain World Magazine. October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
8. 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.
9. Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (6 February 2013). "Dr Daniel Amen interview: the shrink who believes technology will replace the couch". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
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12. ^ Hall, Harriet (8 April 2008). "SPECT Scans at the Amen Clinic – A New Phrenology?". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
13. ^ Harriet Hall, M.D. (15 November 2007). "A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen". Retrieved 3 October 2013.
14. Adinoff & Devous, 2010 Response to Amen Letter American Journal of Psychiatry
15. Tucker, Neely. Daniel Amen is the most popular psychiatrist in America. To most researchers and scientists, that's a very bad thing. Washington Post August 09, 2012

External links

• Official website

• Neuroimaging
• Psychiatric research institutes