Company:Amen Clinics

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Short description: Group of health clinics
Amen Clinics
Founded1989 (1989)
FounderDaniel G. Amen
Headquarters
United States
Area served
Newport Beach, California, San Francisco , Atlanta, Georgia, Reston, Virginia, Bellevue, Washington, New York City
Websitewww.amenclinics.com

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 has locations in Newport Beach, California; San Francisco ; Atlanta, Georgia; Reston, Virginia; Tukwila, 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. http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/Lookup.aspx?licenseType=G&licenseNumber=51434. 
  3. ↑ Dawn Ford (October 9, 2012). "The Seniors' Situation Room Edition 5 by Dawn Ford". Cornwall Free News. http://cornwallfreenews.com/2012/10/the-seniors-situation-room-edition-5-by-dawn-ford/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Everett Catts (October 18, 2012). "Brain expert speaks in Buckhead, opens Sandy Springs clinic". Neighbor Newspapers. http://neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/20538143/article-Brain-expert-speaks-in-Buckhead--opens-Sandy-Springs-clinic?instance=all. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Daniel Carlat (May 19, 2008). "Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don't Believe the Hype". Wired. https://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-06/mf_neurohacks?currentPage=all. 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. PMID 21863144. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Kathy Mahdoubi (13 October 2014). "New SPECT database holds 100K scans for psychiatric study". Molecular Imaging. http://www.molecularimaging.net/topics/molecular-imaging/neuroimaging/new-spect-database-holds-100k-scans-psychiatric-study. 
  8. ↑ "Amen Clinics & Brain Spect Imaging". Brain World Magazine. October 25, 2012. http://brainworldmagazine.com/amen-clinics-brain-spect-imaging/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 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. https://books.google.com/books?id=zql0AqtRSrYC&pg=PA44. 
  10. ↑ Daniel G. Amen (26 April 2010). "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-amen-md/change-your-brain-change_b_474293.html. 
  11. ↑ Eliza Shapiro (14 December 2012). "Can Daniel Amen Read Your Mind?". http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/14/can-daniel-amen-read-your-mind.html. 
  12. ↑ Zoë Kessler (2014). "Shawn Ladd's Excellent Amen Clinics Adventure – Part I". Psych Central. http://blogs.psychcentral.com/adhd-zoe/2014/06/shawn-ladds-excellent-amen-clinics-adventure-part-i/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chancellor, B.; Chatterjee, A. (2011). "Brain Branding: When Neuroscience and Commerce Collide". AJOB Neuroscience 2 (4): 18–27. doi:10.1080/21507740.2011.611123. https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=neuroethics_pubs. 
  14. ↑ Leigh Steinberg (3 September 2013). "Death of the NFL: Part 2". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leighsteinberg/2013/03/09/death-of-the-nfl-part-2/. Retrieved 19 February 2015. 
  15. ↑ Rick Maese (7 June 2012). "NFL concussions lawsuits aim to improve the damaged brain". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-concussions-lawsuits-aim-to-improve-the-damaged-brain/2012/06/07/gJQA9egaLV_story.html. 
  16. ↑ Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (6 February 2013). "Dr Daniel Amen interview: the shrink who believes technology will replace the couch". The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9836429/Dr-Daniel-Amen-interview-the-shrink-who-believes-technology-will-replace-the-couch.html. 
  17. ↑ Adinoff & Devous, 2010 Response to Amen Letter American Journal of Psychiatry
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Hall, Harriet (8 April 2008). "SPECT Scans at the Amen Clinic – A New Phrenology?". Science-Based Medicine. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/spect-scans-at-the-amen-clinic-a-new-phrenology/. 
  19. ↑ Harriet Hall, M.D. (15 November 2007). "A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen". http://www.quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/amen.html. 

External links



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