Here are some areas where we are using Brain SPECT imaging to help our patients.

• ADD/ADHD
• Depression
• Bipolar Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Substance Abuse
• Brain Trauma
• Memory Loss Issues
• Relationship Difficulties
• Temper & Aggression
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

If you have specific questions or are dealing with something that’s not addressed here—please contact us—we’d love to speak with you.

1. ADD/ADHD

SPECT can help with:

• Determining whether or not you have ADD/ADHD
• Targeting your treatment plan
• Assessing the effectiveness of your treatment
• Determining if there are co-morbid conditions along with ADD/ADHD that need treating
• Increasing insight into your brain functioning, which increases compliance with treatment
• Increasing the understanding of your family and friends

ADD/ADHD affects 5-10% of the population—common symptoms include inattention, impulsiveness, distractibility, procrastination, and disorganization.  Some people also exhibit restlessness and hyperactivity.
SPECT imaging (along with clinical history) can help determine if you have ADD/ADHD as well as aid in directing your treatment plan.  ADD/ADHD is not a single disorder as we see different SPECT patterns in the brains of ADD/ADHD patients.  This is why one treatment doesn’t work for everyone—a treatment that may make your neighbor better may make you worse.

Not treating ADD/ADHD can have severe consequences.  Untreated people have more problems associated with school performance, drug abuse, marriage difficulties (divorce, infidelity) mood problems, anger issues, and job performance.

ADD/ADHD people are usually intelligent and creative, but are often limited by their ADD/ADHD symptoms.  Receiving the correct treatment can drastically improve their happiness and success in life.  We employ a variety of treatment options for ADD/ADHD including supplements, behavioral based therapies, nutritional treatment, physical exercise programs, neurotherapy, allergy testing, and medication.  SPECT imaging is a vital tool in guiding each individual’s treatment plan.

Learn more about ADD/ADHD signs, symptoms, and treatments.

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2.  Depression, Bipolar, and Anxiety Disorders (including PTSD)

SPECT can help with:

• Directing your treatment based on underlying brain activity
• Assessing if there are other conditions in addition that need to be treated
• Assessing how effective your treatments are working
• Increasing insight into your brain functioning and increasing treatment compliance
• Helping families understand your brain condition and better help you

Almost 1 in 4 people will struggle with a mood or anxiety disorder (or both) during their lifetime.  No treatment or incorrect treatment can be disastrous.  One in six people with bipolar disorder or depression will die by suicide.  How many of these could be prevented with the right treatment plan?

Anxiety and depression affect every area of our lives.  SPECT imaging shows that mood and anxiety disorders are not one single disorder.  This helps explain why one type of treatment works for one person, but may make another person feel worse, more anxious, or even suicidal.  One treatment definitely does not fit all—if it did there would not be so many different treatment options available today.

Many patients who come to our clinic have been through multiple treatments without success and really don’t know where to turn by the time they find us.  We work with them step-by-step in a comprehensive program.
We use a wide variety of treatments for depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders including supplements, numerous psychotherapeutic counseling techniques, nutritional therapy, neurotherapy, physical exercise regimens, and medications.

Learn more about the causes, symptoms, & treatments of Anxiety Disorders, Depression, & Biploar Disorder.

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3. Substance Abuse

SPECT can help with:

• Assessing effects of drug use on brain functioning
• Identifying co-occurring conditions
• Decreasing denial in users
• Motivating users to get treatment
• Providing hope that there is a solution
• Monitoring progress in treatment
• Preventing relapse
• Deterring others from using
• Allowing family members to better help in recovery

Denial is one of the biggest barriers to treatment with substance abuse.  Users frequently deny the seriousness of their use or that it has harmed them.  SPECT images show the extent of toxicity that drugs or alcohol has had on the brain.  This often helps break the cycle of denial and motivates the person to get treatment.

SPECT also helps us better target treatment.  We often find underlying conditions that exacerbate the substance use.  For instance, over activity in an area of the brain known as the basal ganglias is frequently seen in alcoholics.  Low activity in the prefrontal cortex is often rampant in methamphetamine and cocaine addicts.  Over activity in the thalamus is common for narcotic abusers.  Sometimes we see unexpected findings such as prior brain trauma that can compound problems with substance abuse. 

Identifying and correcting these abnormalities helps in the recovery process.  For instance, if we see over activity in the basal ganglias, which often presents as anxiety and insomnia, we know that calming down that area of the brain will help alleviate these symptoms, which will help diminish the craving to drink.

Seeing SPECT images of brain damage from substance use is one of the strongest deterrents for children and teenagers for drug abuse.  While it does make it hard for patients to remain in denial—especially when they’re looking at their brain compared with a healthy one—it also provides hope.  Research today has shown that damage from use of alcohol and drugs is at least partially reversible with abstinence.  We’ve seen cases of complete brain healing.

Learn more about the causes, treatments, & risk factors for addiction & substance abuse.

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4. Brain Trauma

SPECT can help with:

• Assessing for the presence of brain trauma
• Identifying where trauma is located (functional images can detect deficits not seen by anatomical studies such as CT, MRI)
• Tailoring treatment plan

There are millions of people in this country with brain injuries—many of them undiagnosed.  Why?  Because people often think you have to lose consciousness to sustain a brain injury—this is simply not true.  Getting knocked out often has more to do with the location of the force as opposed to the severity of it.

We have even seen people who have brain injuries without hitting their heads—such as a car wreck with whiplash.  The brain is injured from the inside.  Our brains’ are soft—the consistency of butter—it floats in our skull (the hardest bone in our body).  Fast acceleration or deceleration can cause the brain to bounce off of the inside of the skull, which contains many bony ridges.

Some patients even report seeing a doctor or going to the ER after a head trauma and are told they’re fine, or it’s only a mild concussion—often without a proper medical workup.  Sometimes patients will undergo a CT (computed Tomography) scan and it will be normal.  CT’s are great at identifying acute bleeding in the brain, but they often miss more subtle brain injuries. Many brain injuries are akin to a bruise.  If you get hit in the arm it may bruise, but it may take awhile for that bruise to appear.  Think of brain injury in the same manner.

SPECT is a well documented study to identify and assess brain trauma.  Finding brain trauma can change a person’s life (for the better).  After a significant brain injury there are higher incidences of depression, suicidal thoughts, concentration problems, anger problems, school and job related problems, memory problems, and often legal problems. 

These people are often told that their primary problems are psychiatric.  They often don’t respond that well to the routine psychiatric treatment protocols.  Brain rehabilitation strategies may never be considered in their treatment strategy.  Unsuccessful treatment often leads to giving up.  These patients wonder what is wrong with them—many turn to alcohol and drugs—often as a form of self medicating.

Documenting brain injury is also important.  There are specialized services available for brain injured people.  The trauma usually has to be documented for insurance/legal purposes—SPECT can do that.

Learn more about brain injury & trauma.

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5.  Memory Loss Issues

SPECT can help with:

• Identifying changes in brain function associated with dementia (an early screening tool)
• Differentiating dementia types
• Evaluating memory deficits in learning disorders
• Monitoring effectiveness of treatment plan with follow-up scans
• Increasing insight into brain functioning and compliance with treatment
• Assisting families in understanding extent of patient’s condition—allows them to better help in patient’s treatment

People are talking about Alzheimer’s disease more and more today.  With our aging population the number of people affected with this condition is expected to rise to over 12 million people in the next 20 years.  Diagnosing and treating early in the disease can make a profound effect on adding quality years to someone’s life.  Of course, living a brain healthy lifestyle is important also for prevention.

One of the main problems today with dementia is not diagnosing it early enough.  Many people are not diagnosed until they’re in the moderate stages of the disease—this makes treatment less effective.  SPECT imaging is very sensitive in detecting brain changes associated with dementia.

Many people think all memory problems are Alzheimer’s disease, but there are actually several types of dementia.  Such as:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Frontal temporal lobe dementia
• Vascular dementia
• AIDS related dementia
• Toxic dementia (from alcohol & drugs)
• Dementia secondary to brain injury
• NPH (normal pressure hydrocephalus)
• Lewy body dementia
• Pseudo dementia  (which is not really dementia, but depression which presents like dementia—when the depression improves so does memory)

The dementias show different SPECT imaging patterns.  Correctly differentiating these helps better target in on a more specific treatment plan.

Learn more about the causes & symptoms of memory loss.

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6. Relationship Difficulties

SPECT can help with:

• Troubles marriages (with frequent arguing)
• Oppositional behavior
• Frequent job loss
• Impulse control problems
• Aggressive behavior
• Someone who can’t let go of the past
• Conduct disorders

Our brain controls how we think, how we feel, and how we act.  One of the first steps in helping people with problems relating to others is by evaluating their brain functioning.  Correcting this often enables them (with good counseling) to be successful in interacting with others.

Building successful relationships are a must for success and happiness in life.  People with problems in this area often experience failed marriages or dating relationships, job difficulties, strained relationships with friends or family, chronic arguments, loneliness, and depression.  Impulse control problems can also ruin relationships and wreak havoc on lives.  Restoring the brain to healthy functioning can definitely help restore interpersonal relationships.

Marriage therapists have shared stories with us about difficult couples they have worked with where one or both partners had a SPECT evaluation.  Many of these couples they were convinced were headed for divorce and had made little to no headway in counseling.  When the partner(s) brain functioning was evaluated and successfully treated the therapist was then able to successfully work with that couple in restoring their marriage.

Oppositional teenagers often have areas of their brain that are working too hard (overactive).  Parents are often amazed by the behavior change that happens when we calm down those hot spots.

Impulsive behaviors can cost someone his marriage, his career, or even his life.  These are often smart and talented people who, for some reason, just seem to self-destruct.  We often find areas of underactivity in these brains—particularly the frontal lobes.  Correcting this can dramatically improve the ability to exercise forethought and control impulses.

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7.  Temper & Aggression

SPECT can help with:

• Assessing if there is a biological finding that causes or exacerbates aggressive behavior
• Evaluating people with a “short fuse”
• Directing treatment
• Motivating people to get treatment
• Assessing for other underlying conditions, such as brain trauma, seizures, or bipolar disorder that can be treated
• Enabling families to better understand the source of temper and aggression—which allows them to better help that troubled family member
• Assessing how treatment is working with a follow-up scan

Most of the people we see with a history of violence, aggression, or temper problems have an underlying brain abnormality.  While cognitive and behavioral based therapies focusing on controlling anger definitely help with curbing these behaviors, we find that correcting the underlying brain functioning makes these therapies much more successful.  People with healthy brain functioning have better control over their thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Treating aggressive people can be tricky.  The wrong treatment can make their behavior more aggressive and out of control.  This is why assessing brain functioning is so important.

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9.  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

SPECT can help with:

• Identifying the brain area(s) that are affected
• Directing the treatment plan
• Removing the shame, guilt, and stigma associated with this
• Motivating treatment
• Allowing family members to better understand how a loved one’s brain works and how they can help him or her
• Assessing if treatment is working at an optimal level

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can turn someone’s life into a living hell, as well as the lives of those around him.  OCD can be a tough condition to treat.  Many people who come to our clinic have been told by their doctors that their condition is treatment resistant.  Many others we find are resistant to treatment—even-though their symptoms are seriously affecting their lives in a negative way.

Sometimes we see people with OCD who are on the wrong treatment, in other situations they are on the right treatment, but need higher doses.  We often see those who have refused to get help finally realize when they see a scan of their brain that this is not a character problem.  It’s rewarding to see their new found hope—although there’s occasionally a few who are still skeptical.

Correcting the brain functioning doesn’t always take away every obsessive thought or compulsive behavior, but it does usually bring significant relief of symptoms and allows cognitive/behavioral therapies to be much more effective.

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