Английская Википедия:Amen Clinics
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox company
Amen Clinics is a group of mental and physical health clinics that work on the treatment of mood and behavior disorders. It was founded in 1989 by Daniel G. Amen, a self-help guru and psychiatrist.[1][2] The clinics perform clinical evaluations and brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging to diagnose and treat their patients.[3][4] Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans, a type of brain-imaging technology, to measure neural activity through blood flow.[5][6] It has a database of more than 100,000 functional brain scans from patients in 111 countries.[7]
Amen Clinics has locations in Newport Beach, California; San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Reston, Virginia; Tukwila, Washington; Chicago; Los Angeles; and New York City.[4][8]
The American Psychiatric Association has criticized the clinical appropriateness of Amen's use of brain scans, stating: "[T]he clinical utility of neuroimaging techniques for planning of individualized treatment has not yet been shown."[9]
Operations
Amen Clinics was founded in 1989. It has been using brain SPECT in an attempt to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness since 1991.[10] Amen Clinics incorporates questionnaires, clinical histories, and clinical interviews in its practice.[5][11] Some Amen Clinics locations also use quantitative electroencephalography as a diagnostic tool.[12] Amen Clinics has scanned 50,000 people at an estimated cost of $170 million according to Daniel Amen.[13]
As of 2014, Amen Clinics had a database of more than 100,000 functional brain scans.[7] The subjects are from 111 countries with ages from 9 months to 101 years old.[7] The database was funded in part by Seeds Foundation in Hong Kong, and developed by Daniel Amen with a team of researchers including Kristen Willeumier.[7]
Amen Clinics has worked to treat athletics-related brain damage for professional athletes, including current and 117 former National Football League players.[14][15]
Effectiveness
Amen Clinics uses SPECT scans to measure blood flow and activity patterns in the brain.[4][5][16] The company also uses diagnostics such as questionnaires, clinical histories, and clinical interviews.[5] Amen Clinics claims that SPECT scans enable doctors to tailor treatment to individual patients' brains. A retrospective study released by Amen in 2010 showed that "regional cerebral blood flow, as measured by SPECT, predicted stimulant response in 29 of 157 patients."[17]
Harriet Hall has written critically about SPECT scans in articles for Quackwatch and for the Science-Based Medicine website.[18][19] Hall accuses the clinics of misrepresenting an unproven treatment as effective, of concealing important warning information, and of creating false hopes by promising things that can't be done.[18] She dismisses the scans as "pretty pictures" and says that although Amen himself seems to believe in his approach, "humans are very good at fooling themselves".[18]
A 2011 paper co-authored by the neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee discussed example cases that were found on the Amen Clinic's website. The paper noted that the example cases "violate the standard of care" because a normal clinical diagnosis would have been sufficient and functional neuroimaging was unnecessary.[13] According to the American Psychiatric Association, "the clinical utility of neuroimaging techniques for planning of individualized treatment has not yet been shown."[9]
References
External links
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 4,0 4,1 4,2 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 Шаблон:Cite magazine
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ 7,0 7,1 7,2 7,3 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 9,0 9,1 Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 13,0 13,1 Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite magazine
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
- ↑ Adinoff & Devous, 2010 Response to Amen Letter American Journal of Psychiatry
- ↑ 18,0 18,1 18,2 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
