A most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans
A thought-provoking video presentation about SPECT brain scanning from TEDx. (single photon emission computed tomography) raises questions as to the lack of physical evidence in psychiatric/psychological brain treatment.
Brain injury is found in 99 percent of donated brains of NFL players.
Long term brain damage to professional athletes is fast becoming the big new story in sports – not just in America’s NFL but also worldwide in boxing, professional soccer and rugby.
The presenter, Dr Amen’s presents high-quality brain scan imagery to get across to viewers the remarkable differences in brain structure/activity that occurs as a consequence of mental/physical trauma.
The message here is that the science of mental health needs to focus on the physically verifiable abnormalities presented in the patient’s brain structure – especially now MRI and other advanced scanning technology is becoming widely available.
Watch the video here:
The eye-opening comment is when Dr Amen says:
“Psychiatrists are the only medical profession that never looks at the organ they treat.”
Clearly, much work is needed in the mental health studies field to engage better in technological advances being readily employed in other medical specialties.
Dr Amen’s earnest talk is persuasive where his analysis points out that criminality is often a brain disorder than can be medically improved rather than punished (“crime, evaluation and treatment”).
“Changing people’s brains to change their minds” is certainly bringing mental health into the rational world where empirical physical solutions might be better used rather than so many airy-fairy esoteric cognitive therapies linked to counselling, which can be hit and miss and sometimes worsen symptoms.
Dr Amen impresses when he speaks about NFL players’ brain injuries, which he claims can be reversed on a ‘brain smart’ program (thought what such a program entails is not divulged).
Undoubtedly, more studies into this are urgently needed because unrecognized damage from traumatic brain injuries is real. And let’s not forget head trauma on military personnel. Dr Amen may be correct in recommending that SPECT scans be routinely used in all such cases.
Though any of the specifics of what the rehabilitative brain programs might entail isn’t addressed. In this video Amen is only showing the procedure of scanning, not solutions.
Moreover, not everyone who has watched this video was so optimistic. This video shows Dr Amen citing his experiences and anecdotal evidence rather than verifiable scientific evidence.
As one cynic, Sam Smullen, responded:
“If Dr. Amen wants to help people, why doesn’t he present his case studies to American Journal of Psychiatry for peer review and support of his peers where insurance would cover the cost of evaluation including the scan?”
It is clear Dr Amen’s ground-breaking approach is getting much pushback from orthodox practitioners. Wikipedia (the elite’s tool of mass propaganda) tells us:
“Amen touts the use of SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging for diagnostic purposes.[6]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 has 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 harmful radiation with no clear benefit.”
But anyone who values independent, objective reasoning will take whatever Wikipedia says with a pinch of salt and make their own evaluations based on examining Dr Amen’s evidence.
Dr Amen does leave the viewer with three compelling take-home points no one can dismiss:
1: “The real reason not to use drugs? They damage your brain.”
2: “Look at the organ you are treating. Cardiologists look. Neurologists look. Orthopedics look. Psychiatrists guess.”
3: “How do you know unless you look?”
Only time will tell if SPECT will deliver on it’s claims to be able to advance mental health treatment. But Dr Amen is certainly right, at least on one count, psychiatry/psychology will remain a lesser science unless/until it can treat patients using physical evidence (imagery/CAT-scans, etc).
[PSI Editor: thanks to Gregg Thompson for submitting the story]
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