Dr. Amen is a physician, double board certified psychiatrist, teacher and eight time New York Times bestselling author. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on applying brain imaging science to everyday clinical practice. Dr. Amen is the Founder and Medical Director of Amen Clinics in Newport Beach and San Francisco, California, Bellevue, Washington, Reston, Virginia, Atlanta and New York City.
Amen Clinics have the world’s largest database of functional brain scans relating to behavior, totaling more than 77,000 scans on patients from 90 countries.
Dr. Amen is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is the lead researcher on the world’s largest brain imaging and rehabilitation study on professional football players. His research has not only demonstrated high levels of brain damage in players, he also showed the possibility of significant recovery for many with the principles that underlie his work.
Together with Pastor Rick Warren and Drs. Mark Hyman and Mehmet Oz, Dr. Amen is also one of the chief architects on Saddleback Church’s “Daniel Plan,” a 52 week program to get the world healthy through religious organizations. After the first year the church lost 260,000 pounds, but weight loss was only one of the stunning side effects of getting truly healthy. Other common effects of The Daniel Plan were increased energy, better focus and mood, and a reduction of many medications for the participants. The Daniel Plan is now being exported around the world to help churches, synagogues and all religious people get healthy. 
Dr. Amen is also the host of 7 popular shows about the brain, which have raised more than 44 million dollars for public television.
Dr. Amen is the author of 52 professional articles, five book chapters, and over 30 books, including eight New York Times bestsellers, including Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Magnificent Mind At Any Age, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, and Use Your Brain to Change Your Age. In February 2013, Crown will publish Dr. Amen’s upcoming book, Unleash the Power of the Female Brain.
A small sample of the organizations Dr. Amen has spoken for include: the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Harvard’s Learning and the Brain Conference, Franklin Covey, The Million Dollar Roundtable, Retired NFL Players Summit, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Supreme Courts of Delaware, Ohio and Wyoming. Dr. Amen’s work has been featured in Newsweek, Time, Parade Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, LA Times, Men’s Health, and Cosmopolitan.
Dr. Amen is married to Tana, the father of four children, grandfather to Elias, Julian, Angelina, Emmy and Liam. He is an avid table tennis player.
Topics discussed in this episode:
– How ADD effects children and adults differently.
– Characteristics and signs of ADD
– How ADD is related to chronic stress
– Characteristics such as short attention span, distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, and impulse control and how these characteristics occurring over a long period of time is what is typically associated to ADD.
– Using a brain scan to determine the type of ADD you have.
– Certain medications and treatments should be specific to the type of brain you have.
– Athletics and its effects on ADD.
Time Codes:
00:00 Intro
1:10 a list of Dr. Amen’s books
2:11 Chalene introduces Dr. Amen
3:00 ADD and adult ADD
3:30 Explanation of ADD in children and adults
4:30 the signs of ADD
5:40 how the brain can block out certain things
6:20 struggle with organization
7:15 ADD and chronic stress
8:15 short attention span, distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, impulse control occurring over a long period of time.
9:50 ADD and focus
10:15 students and their view on ADD and grades
10:55 is ADD something you need to get tested for
12:00 imaging and how it effects treatment in ADD
13:50 cost of brain scans and testing
15:45 assessment of ADD without a scan
17:15 entrepreneurs and ADD
18:30 Chalene and Bret’s therapeutic approach to their entrepreneur mentorship program
19:26 fear of losing the good qualities of ADD
21:00 Dr. Amen’s personal experience with ADD and his kids
23:40 benefits and risks of the medications associated with ADD
26:00 football and the head trauma associated with ADD, head trauma can increase risk of ADD
27:15 soccer and how headers create trauma to the brain
29:45 head injuries and how they are preventable in youth sports
30:00 damage can be reversed
30:28 we can make your brain better
Links from this episode:
Dr. Ame’s website: www.amenclinics.com
Dr. Amen’s ADD quiz: www.healingaddin30days.com
Chalene’s 30 Day program, goal setting and defining priorities: www.30daypush.com
Chalene’s 7 day eat clean train mean program: www.cj7day.com
Chalene on Facebook: www.facebook.com/chalene
Chalene on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chalenejohnson/
Chalene on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/chalenejohnson
Chalene on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chalenejohnson
