Healing Add [Hardcover]

The most frightening aspect of this is the fact that people who suffer from ADHD, a very real and very serious condition, are buying into Amen's snake oil and banking their hopes on its effectiveness. Like any treatment that is successfully marketed, it undoubtedly carries a substantial placebo effect that, in the absence of replication by other researchers using similar techniques, makes it impossible be validated. While SPECT may be a useful imaging technique, NOBODY has made use of it in a manner even remotely close to that which Amen indicates. His classification (the "6 types") and treatment recommendations are utterly unsupported by science and contrary to volumes of sound research from a diversity of sources. As such, Amen's HYPOTHESES, when put into practice, carry great risk.

It remains to be seen whether Amen is a genius or zealous snake oil salesman driven by greed. Despite my great reservations about his position and my belief that he is the latter, his HYPOTHESES may ultimately be found to be valid. However, until such a time comes that others (who do not benefit financially from positive results) replicate his findings, his diagnostic and treatment practices should be considered EXPERIMENTAL, UNPROVEN, and POTENTIALLY HARMFUL. Moreover, Amen exhibits the highest degree of ethical disregard by promoting his position as valid and empirically supported.

Readers should be advised that Amen is far out of the mainstream and his practice may be akin to past life regression, abuse memory recovery, rebirthing, and other treatments that, while appearing promising early on, were found to be absolutely invalid when viewed under the bright light of scientific inquiry.

If you aren't interested in the case histories at the front of the book then just do the test to find out which kind of ADD you have and then read the chapters on medication, herbal treatments and practical advice for your day to day life.
I have read almost every ADD book for adults on the market and this is the first one to address my problems with sleep! This was fantastic for me.
Also in New Zealand where I live most medications for ADD are not available and this has been extremely frustrating for me.
Dr Amens advice about herbal supplements helped me to find a supplement that has also helped me immensely.
I have Inattentive ADD and Overfocused ADD and Dr Amen's descriptions describe my life more perfectly that any other book I have read. Most books just focus on the "classic hyper ADD male (or sometimes female) but ignore the rest of us who DO have very serious problems in life.
If you are the mother of an ADD child this book proves the physical existance of ADD once and for all and the tips at the back will really help your child when they become a teen and adult. Also the chapter on herbal supplements is not written by one of the many many people trying to sell you a snake oil cure for ADD but by a doctor who knows how herbal treatments REALLY work on the brain because he has seen the physical evidence.

As someone who has ADD and who has worked with children with ADD and studied psychology I must say Dr Amen's ideas explain what I already knew from experience, research and logic. That is... that our brains are wired differently that others.
People are angry with Dr Amen because he has finally proven once and for all that ADD exists. No more calling it a fad or saying that ADD people are just lazy and selfish. So called "mental health professionals" are jealous because he is a genius, that has discovered a totally new way of helping people. There are many so called professionals who just can't handle someone coming up with new ideas that challange the status quo.
Some of the people writing reviews on this site are motivated by their own professional jealousy and fear of anything new. Also the scientologists who belive doctors are evil (they say so publically) also come here to attack many of the books sold on Amazon.com.
Anyway I truly belive Dr Amens works are an ENORMOUS breakthrough for those suffering from the less serious mental health conditions (ADD, anxiety etc...)