Unlocking the mysteries of the mind with a world-renowned psychiatrist
BY LA Stories Staff Costa Mesa
PUBLISHED 10:00 AM ET Jun. 09, 2025
In a new episode of “LA Stories with Giselle Fernandez,” Dr. Daniel Amen, a world-renowned psychiatrist and brain health pioneer, opens up about his life’s mission: to revolutionize the field of psychiatry through advanced brain imaging.
Over decades of groundbreaking research, Amen has built a reputation for showing that many psychiatric illnesses are not just mental health issues, but brain-health issues.
Amen’s innovative brain scans have helped diagnose and treat conditions ranging from ADHD to Alzheimer’s, allowing doctors to tailor treatments based on the brain’s specific needs.
“You are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better, and I can prove it,” he says.
Amen’s maverick approach is built on the belief that traditional psychiatry’s reliance on symptom-based diagnoses is flawed.
By using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography scans, he has uncovered critical insights into how conditions like depression, PTSD and anxiety affect the brain’s activity.
Unlike conventional psychiatric methods, which rarely look at the brain itself, Amen’s approach offers a more precise, personalized way of understanding mental health.
“If you don’t look at the organ you’re trying to impact, shame on you,” he said.
In their conversation, Amen and host Fernandez explore how his techniques have changed the lives of patients worldwide, including athletes, veterans and children with behavioral issues.
From his personal experience with his godson’s aggressive behavior, which turned out to be caused by a cyst in his brain, to his work with celebrities such as Mike Tyson, Amen demonstrates the profound impact of looking beyond surface-level symptoms.
“I don’t take broken people and put them back together,” he said. “I take awesome people and help them be more awesome.”