Customer Reviews

Healing the Hardware of the Soul: How Making the Brain-Soul Connection Can Optimize Your Life, Love, and Spiritual Growth

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This book is the latest in a series of books in which Dr. Amen shines rays of light on the workings of the human brain, and discusses the relationship between brain functioning and behavior. This book takes the discussion a step further, however, into the connection between brain functioning and the human soul.

Dr. Amen asserts, "When the brain is healthy we are compassionate, thoughtful, loving, relaxed and goal directed, and when the brain is sick or damaged, we are unfeeling, impulsive, angry, tense, and unfocused, and it is very hard for our souls and our relationship with god to be at peace."

The book begins with an easy-to-follow explanation of each major part of the brain and its function, including SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) scans that show both healthy and under-functioning brains.

Dr. Amen compares the brain to a computer's hardware, with the variety of functions we perform day-to-day being the software. If a computer's hardware is not functioning correctly, it cannot successfully run software. Similarly, if one's brain is not healthy, one cannot successfully execute the "programs" of one's life, such as parenting, working, learning, teaching, coping with crises, etc.

The book includes many fascinating examples, drawn from the thousands of patients Dr. Amen has treated at his clinics. In each case, Dr. Amen describes the presenting problem, and shows, using SPECT scans, the unhealthy part of the brain that is causing the problem. In each case, after specifically treating the unhealthy part of the brain, the presenting problem diminished or disappeared.

The last half of the book includes tools for self-assessing brain functioning, and a discussion of the various methods used to optimize brain function. These methods include medication, natural supplements, cognitive strategies and breathing work.

I highly recommend this book for everyone who works with underfunctioning individuals at any level (and for underfunctioning individuals themselves). It presents a perspective that I think is imperative to the understanding of why people feel, behave, and function as they do. I think this information is a critical piece of the puzzle that we seek to solve each time we try to help an underfunctioning individual.

I can speak personally about the effectiveness of Dr. Amen's approach to understanding and treating underfunctioning individuals. We adopted our son at the age of 11, with full knowledge that he had a life-long history of violent behavior. Dr. Amen's SPECT scans and evaluation showed clearly the parts of his brain that were not functioning properly. And they showed that the medication he'd been on while in county group homes for four years was the exact opposite of what he needed. This helped us understand why he behaved as he did, and the new medications stopped the violent rages, which he could not otherwise control. Dr. Amen's intervention, along with a year of attachment therapy and hard work at home, have literally saved this child from life in an institution.

This book changes the way you see depression, ADD, and relationship-destroying behaviors. What a relief for those who struggle with these areas to know they are not "crazy" or unable to change, and that there is help available. This book empowers the families of those who face these challenges to have patience, and hope that things can get better. A must read for anyone who has depression especially!

Hello, my name is Derek Smith and I have been doing research on Dr. Daniel G. Amen for the past seven years or so. I felt this book was a very touchign book in which it goes hand in hand with Chenge Your Brain Change Your Life and also Healing ADD. I have been doign the treatment process using Dr. Amen's book and I am know in college in which nobody ever thought was possible for me. After reading this book it made me reflect on myself and what i have done and helped me relize that the sucess I have had can also help other people. This book made me relize that I should go and give back all the knowlege I have gained over the years from sucess and struggles of overcomming my oen problems and to head towards helping other people with the same problems.

For the first time in my life, BECAUSE of Dr. Amen's book, my outlook on sick & suffering people, is FOREVER altered. I am deeply grateful for this book, for Dr. Amen's work, his compassion, and his graciousness in sharing it with the world. I, like most people, have expended energy on judging certain people, and groups of people. After a huge spiritual & emotional break-through while reading this book, this has changed. I have true compassion and lack of judgement for sick people, because I now understand the cause and effect: healthy brain - healthy person - healthy life. As Dr. Amen says; these people need understanding - not moral judgement. Thank you Dr. Amen, for your work that has drawn me so much closer to God and my true desire in life: compassion, love, and understanding -for all.

I am a fan of Dr. Amen's work for many reasons. He has really opened up the science of the mind in profound ways. He is a brain researcher who attended a Christian University. His findings about the human brain will change the way we look at things like mental health, behavioral problems and as this book illustrates, even the nature of the soul/brain relationship. I don't agree with Dr. Amen on all of his conclusions (like doing brain scans on our elected officials so we can see what sort of brain problems they might have), but I have learned quite a bit from his books about the nature of how our brain health affects every part of our lives. Highly Recommended!


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Very interesting and helpful. Just getting time to use it and am so happy I bought it. Should be encourageing to make some needed changes in my life.

Dr. Amen has done it again! He shares with us how making the brain-soul connection can optimize your life, love, and spiritual growth. Acclaimed neurologist, Daniel Amen's breakthrough program has helped hundreds of thousands overcome depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and ADD. As one of the most innovative researchers of the mind today, Dr. Amen unites the concepts of neurology and values of religion in his holistic therapy for the mind and soul.

This is a wonderful book. Combining science with spirituality. It is very easy to understand. Dr. Amen does it again. Anyone looking for answers should read this book.

give us very good thought of souk

beautiful book