The Checkup with Doctor Mike Are These Brain Scans Too Good To Be True? | Dr. Daniel Amen
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Dec 14, 2025 
Dr. Daniel Amen, a double-boarded psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics, shares his groundbreaking insights on brain health. He discusses the pivotal role of SPECT imaging in understanding mental health and argues for brain-focused treatment methods. Amen addresses the overprescription of medications and how lifestyle changes can impact brain health. He also links childhood trauma to behavioral issues and emphasizes the importance of brain injury history in psychiatric treatment. Plus, his controversial views on supplements and celebrity brain scans add a fascinating twist!
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Reframe Mental Illness As Brain Health
- Psychiatry often treats symptom clusters instead of the organ that creates them, the brain.
- Shifting from 'mental health' to 'brain health' reframes treatment toward biology and prevention.
Ask One Simple Brain-Health Question
- Ask every patient: 'Is what you're doing today good for your brain or bad for it?'
- Use that single question to spark lifestyle changes like sleep, diet, and alcohol reduction.
One Drug Doesn't Fit All Brains
- Medications have varying effects depending on underlying brain patterns; the same drug helps some and harms others.
- Imaging can help match treatments to individual brain activity profiles.
