Daniel Amen

Daniel Gregory Amen (born 1954) is an American celebrity doctor He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Amen Clinics. He is also the founder of Change Your Brain Foundation, BrainMD, and Amen University. He is a twelve-time New York Times best-selling author as of 2023.

Amen has built a profitable business around the use of the controversial practice of SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) imaging for diagnostic purposes. His marketing of SPECT scans and much of what he says about the brain and health in his books, media appearances, and marketing of his clinics have been condemned by scientists and doctors as lacking scientific validity and as being unethical, especially since the way SPECT is used in his clinics exposes people to radiation with no clear benefit.

Amen has studied brain injuries affecting professional athletes

Early life and education

Daniel Amen was born in Encino, California, in July 1954 to a Lebanese-American family. His father Louis became chairman of the board for Unified Grocers. He subsequently obtained a BA degree in biology from Southern California College (now Vanguard University) in 1978, and an MD degree from Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in 1982. Amen did his general psychiatric training at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.,

Career in business Amen is the chief executive officer and medical director of the twelve Amen Clinics. An initial evaluation with SPECT at Amen's clinics cost about $4,000 in 2020. Amen's clinics claim to have the world's largest database of functional brain scans for neuropsychiatry.

The effectiveness of SPECT scans in treating psychiatric conditions has been the subject of scientific debate. John Seibyl of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging has stated that it is settled that SPECT is of no value for diagnosing psychological disorders. After visiting Amen's clinics, Carlat called Amen's interpretations of the scans "spectacularly meaningless". The review also states that neuroimaging studies "do not provide sufficient specificity and sensitivity to accurately classify individual cases with respect to the presence of a psychiatric illness." According to cognitive neuroscience researcher Martha Farah and psychologist S. J. Gillihan, "he lack of empirical validation has led to widespread condemnation of diagnostic SPECT as premature and unproven." Professor of psychology Irving Kirsch has said of Amen's theory: "Before you start promulgating this and marketing it and profiting from it, you should ethically be bound to demonstrate it scientifically in a peer-reviewed, respected journal", as otherwise, "you're just going down the path of being a snake oil salesman".

As reported by The Washington Post in 2012, officials at major psychiatric and neuroscience associations and research centers see Amen's claims for the use of SPECT as "no more than myth and poppycock, buffaloing an unsuspecting public." Amen made the initial diagnosis of brain damage in NFL kicker Tom Dempsey. These supplements have been promoted for a number of purported health benefits, including a claimed ability to prevent or stop Alzheimer's disease. There is, however, no known benefit from taking such supplements except for specific substance deficiencies. Neurologist Robert Burton has written that he was "just appalled" by the things offered for sale on Amen's "big business" websites,

Career in media Writing Amen's first book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, published in 1999, appeared on The New York Times best seller list.

In his book Making a Good Brain Great, he provided his analysis and recommendations for brain improvement purported to enhance a person's overall happiness and ability. For example, he suggested that hobbies which challenge the brain are important to ensure a happy life, as he believes they force the brain to learn and evolve over time. Davi Thornton characterized the book as consisting of "commonplace recommendations for self-improvement".

In Amen's The Brain in Love, he described the brain activity that occurs during chanting meditation as similar to that which takes place during the feeling of love and sexual activity.

In 2013, Amen co-authored with pastor Rick Warren The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life, on "how to lead a healthy life". Amen was one of the people—others included Mark Hyman and Mehmet Oz—that Warren recruited to help devise the program. Warren encouraged adoption of the plan by all member churches in his network of Saddleback churches. According to Janice Norris, "The Daniel Plan is...more than a diet. It is a lifestyle program based on biblical principles and five essential components: food, fitness, focus, faith, and friends." Amen, Warren, and Hyman appeared on the television show The View to discuss the Daniel Plan, and 3,000 people came to a rally at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, to hear the three talk about the plan.

In 2013, Amen released an updated version of Healing ADD from the Inside Out: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the Seven Types of Attention Deficit Disorder.

In 2017, Amen and his wife, Tana, published The Brain Warrior's Way: Ignite Your Energy and Focus, Attack Illness and Aging, Transform Pain into Purpose, which Harriet Hall reviewed; she wrote: "Much of the advice in this book is mainstream medical advice, and there are helpful practical hints like putting your food on a smaller plate and not shopping for food when you are hungry. The problem is that the good advice is inextricably mixed with false information and misleading statements, and with detailed recommendations that are not supported by science." Neurologist Michael Greicius, director of the Stanford Center for Memory Disorders and principal investigator of the Functional Imaging in Neuropsychiatric Disorders Laboratory at Stanford, stated, "The PBS airing of Amen's program provides a stamp of scientific validity to work which has no scientific validity." These programs have been described as infomercials for Amen's clinics. The program's depiction of the "wonders of ginkgo and other 'natural' products such as St. John's wort." was also criticized.

Reception of ideas In 2012, The Washington Post Magazine ran a cover story titled "Daniel Amen is the most popular psychiatrist in America. To most researchers and scientists, that's a very bad thing." The Washington Post detailed Amen's lack of acceptance among the scientific community and his monetary conflict of interest. Amen has responded to such criticism by claiming that the criticism comes from jealousy of his financial success and also claiming that his largest source of referrals is from previous patients. He has also been an assistant clinical behavioral professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.