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CHANGE YOURBRAiNCHANGE YOURlife [MP3]Do you panic at the thought of walking into a room full of people you don’t know? Do you feel as if a cloud of gloom is always hovering over your head? Do you have the same negative thoughts over and over? Are you so easily distracted that you often can’t finish a project? Do you fly off the handle at your spouse for no good reason? Do you have trouble connecting meaningfully with other people? If you’ve been struggling to overcome a problem like these without success–perhaps you’ve even tried therapy but given up–it probably isn’t for lack of trying, thinking, or motivation: you just didn’t have the right answers or the right tools. Now you do.In his pioneering new book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Dr. Amen explains how you can “optimize” your brain to achieve your fullest potential. Using state-of-the-art brain imaging technology, Dr. Amen has spent the last decade helping thousands of patients understand how the way their brains are wired can affect their thoughts and emotions. He explains which brain systems are associated with particular problems, gives detailed checklists to help you pinpoint your problems, and offers specific yet simple “brain prescriptions” (cognitive exercises, nutrition medication, and more) to help actually enhance brain function and heal each problem.Many of the difficulties associated with anxiety, depression, excessive worrying, anger, and distraction are related to five specific systems in the brain. Dr. Amen explains how these systems work and how malfunctions can affect your behavior. If you’ve always believed that you were just going to have to live with the way you are, you’ll be amazed by the vivid before-and-after brain scans of some of the thousands of patients that have been successfully treated at the Amen Clinic–visual proof that the right treatment can help you. You certainly don’t need a brain scan to understand the basis of your particular problem or implement the correct solution, but these striking images will inspire you to make meaningful and effective changes. Seeing is believing!When your brain doesn’t work right, you can’t work right. With its easy-to-follow program and compelling evidence that you can actually retrain your brain to work more optimally, this breakthrough book will help you make lasting changes. [from the inside flaps]   Buy This Book About the Author   Daniel G. Amen, M.D., is a clinical neuroscientist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, and medical director of the Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine in Fairfield, California. The recipient of awards from the American Psychiatric Association, the Baltimore DC Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the U.S. Army, Dr. Amen is a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between the brain and behavior, and on attention deficit disorder, and is the author of several books, including Windows into the ADD Mind and Firestorms in the Brain.  Excerpts   Your deep limbic system is the part of your brain that directly processes your sense of smell. That is why perfumes and wonderful-smelling soaps are attractive and unpleasant body odors are repellent. In the British journal The Lancet, a study was reported on the benefits of aromatherapy using the oil from lavender flowers. When used properly, lavender oil aroma helped people to feel less stressed and less depressed. It also enhanced sleep. In aromatherapy, special fragrances are used in a steam machine, in the bath, on the pillow, and in potpourris. These fragrances can have an appreciable effect on people’s moods. However, there is a difference between ingesting the substance and smelling it. When you ingest something, it goes to the stomach and is processed by the digestive system. (Moreover, many essential oils, including lavender, are dangerous if ingested.) A smell, however, activates the olfactory nerves, which go directly to the deep limbic system…Many people have noticed that certain smells sometimes bring up very strong, clear memories, as if the whole feeling and sense of the original event were coming back to them. There is a good reason for that: smell and memory are processed in the same area of the brain. Because smells activate neurocircuits in the deep limbic system, they bring about a more complete recall of events, which gives one access to details of the past with great clarity. Smells have an effect on moods. The right smells likely cool the deep limbic system. Pleasing fragrances are like an anti-inflammatory. By surrounding yourself with flowers, sweet fragrances, and other pleasant smells, you affect the working of your brain in a powerful and positive way.Change Your Brain, Change Your Life:The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety,Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsivenesspage 75——————————————————————————–It is important to set (or reset) your basal ganglia to a relaxed, healthy level. This is best done by a regimen of daily relaxation. Taking twenty or thirty minutes a day to train relaxation into your body will have many beneficial effects, including decreasing anxiety, lowering blood pressure, lowering tension and pain in the muscles, and improving your temperament around others. Guided imagery is a wonderful technique to use on a daily basis.Instructions: Find a quiet place where you can go and be alone for twenty to thirty minutes every day. Sit in a comfortable chair (you can lie down if you won’t fall asleep) and train your mind to be quiet. In your mind’s eye, choose your own special haven. I ask my patients, “If you could go anywhere in the world to feel relaxed and content, where would you go?” Imagine your special place with all of your senses. See what you want to see; hear the sounds you’d love to hear; smell and taste all the fragrances and tastes in the air; and feel what you would want to feel. The more vivid your imagination, the more you’ll be able to let yourself go into the image. If negative thoughts intrude, notice them but don’t dwell on them. Refocus on your safe haven. Breathe slowly, calmly, deeply. Enjoy your minivacation.Change Your Brain, Change Your Life:The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety,Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsivenesspage 99——————————————————————————–When the limbic system functions properly, people tend to be more positive and more able to connect with others. They tend to filter information in an accurate light and they are more likely to give others the benefit of the doubt. They are able to be playful, sexy, and sexual, and they tend to maintain and have easy access to positive emotional memories. They tend to draw people toward them with their positive attitude.When the limbic system is overactive, people tend toward depression, negativity, and distance from others. They are more likely to focus on the most negative aspects of others, filter information through dark glasses, and see the glass as half empty, and less likely to give others the benefit of the doubt. They tend not to be playful. They do not feel sexy, and they tend to shy away from sexual activity due to a lack of interest. Most of their memories are negative, and it is hard for them to access positive emotional memories or feelings. They tend to push people away with their negativity.Positive Limbic Relational Statements”We have a lot of good memories.””Let’s have friends over.””I accept your apology. I know you were just having a bad day.””Let’s have fun.””I feel sexy. Let’s make love.”Negative Limbic Relational Statements”Don’t look at me that way.””All I can remember is the bad times.””I’m too tired.””Leave me alone. I’m not interested in sex.””You go to bed. I can’t sleep.””I don’t feel like being around other people.””I don’t want to hear you’re sorry. You meant to hurt me.””I’m not interested in doing anything.”Change Your Brain, Change Your Life:The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety,Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsivenesspages 260-261[from the hardbound edition]——————————————————————————–