This book was pretty good!

Most mental illness books are quite narrow in what they believe the main cause(s) of the problem are. But Amen was very broad, clearly understanding that there are numerous contributors to mental illness.

This is the first book I have seen connect brain scans to mental illness AND connect that in turn with a well-rounded approach to fixing the brain AND the symptoms. Seeing the scans improve was a very nice change in this theory-laden topic. Most books report improvements anecdotally, which can never be fully considered as “proof”, yet Amen has proof of his methods working.

Though Amen offers a list of contributing factors, AND a list of ways to change them, he still doesn’t cover everything. While he emphasizes several nutrients, there are still many more that should have been in the conversation. And a few quite important things were mentioned but not elaborated on.

There was practically no mention of attitude adjustments. I am very much a believer in physical causes of mental problems, but to completely leave out attitude and perspective and relationships and so on makes this an incomplete overview.

While not perfect, it was quite good and I do recommend it.