About Company

The Amen Clinics offer brain SPECT imaging, comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and treatment at its four clinics in Newport Beach and Fairfield, CA| Tacoma, Washington| and Reston, Virginia. The Clinics have seen patients from every continent, except Antarctica. Established in 1989, Amen Clinics, Inc. has amassed the world's largest databases of functional brain (SPECT) scans related to behavioral problems. Dr. Daniel Amen, a board certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, started this work by simply ordering brain SPECT studies on his own patients in 1991. Immediately, Dr. Amen saw how helpful this technology was in understanding patients, targeting treatments, and helping patients understand they were dealing with brain illnesses rather than character problems. In his experience scans were clinically helpful in understanding| ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, Traumatic Brain injuries, Dementia, Alzheimer's, Addiction, Substance abuse, violence, Suicidal Behavior, marital conflicts, work problems, Behavior Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorders as well as other types of mental illnesses and ADD in children, teenagers and adults. As he saw how helpful SPECT scans were in the day-to-day diagnosis and treatment of patients he was sure that imaging researchers around the globe would soon establish ways for these scans to be used by clinicians. He waited and waited. There was ever-growing scientific literature on imaging, but nothing on how to apply it to clinical practice. In fact, applying this technology to direct patient care was discouraged. Not yet," he heard. "It is still experimental." So, "state-of-the-art" in the diagnosis of psychiatric patients is still through clinical interview and symptoms clusters. Not much better than 150 years ago. Psychiatrists remain the only medical specialists that never look at the organ they treat. A person can try to kill himself today in LA, New York City, Memphis or Seattle and none of his treating psychiatric professionals will look specifically at how his brain works. Based on our experience at the Amen Clinics this position is unconscionable. To better understand our services we have an analogy to explain our approach to psychiatric care: Imagine that your car is having problems. It stalls in the middle of intersections, it uses too much gas, or it backfires on a regular basis. So, you take your car to a mechanic to get it checked out. Imagine, then, that the mechanic listens to your story of problems, puts his hand on the hood and tells you that you need a new transmission -- without ever popping the hood or turning the engine on. Would you let this person work on your car?"