Interesting Idea

[rushmc 23]

At least it can make a fun discussion
an Op/Ed




http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-amen5dec05,0,6407609.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Getting inside their heads ... really inside


Presidential candidates' health is a campaign issue. So what about their brains?
By Daniel G. Amen
December 5, 2007
What do Rudy Giuliani's messy personal life, John McCain's temper and Hillary Clinton's inability to seem authentic have in common? Maybe nothing. They may be just overblown issues in the otherwise normal lives of candidates under the political microscope.

Such symptoms, however, may mean a lot -- such as evidence of underlying brain dysfunction. Sometimes people with messy personal lives have low prefrontal cortex activity associated with poor judgment; sometimes people with temper problems have brain damage and impulse control problems; sometimes people who struggle with authenticity have trouble really seeing things from someone else's perspective.

Is the brain health of a presidential candidate a fair topic in an election year? Certainly Dick Cheney's heart condition wasn't off-limits in 2000, nor have questions about McCain's age been considered out of bounds. The White House issues a complete medical history of the president each year -- detailing everything from his seasonal allergic rhinitis to his adenomatous colon polyps. Clearly we care about the health outlook for our elected leaders. Should we go so far as to do brain scans? Of candidates for the Oval Office? Some people might consider discussing brain health a ridiculous idea. Not me.

As a neuropsychiatrist and brain-imaging expert, I want our elected leaders to be some of the "brain healthiest people" in the land. How do you know about the brain health of a presidential candidate unless you look? The brain is involved in everything humans do: how we think, how we feel, how we get along with others, how we negotiate, how we pay attention in meetings and how we turn away the advances of White House interns or decide to invade a country based on contradictory intelligence.

Three of the last four presidents have shown clear brain pathology. President Reagan's Alzheimer's disease was evident during his second term in office. Nonelected people were covering up his forgetfulness and directing the country's business. Few people knew it, but we had a national crisis. Brain studies have been shown to predict Alzheimer's five to nine years before people have their first symptoms.

President Clinton's moral lapses and problems with bad judgment and excitement-seeking behavior -- indicative of problems in the prefrontal cortex -- eventually led to his impeachment and a poisonous political divisiveness in the U.S. The prefrontal cortex houses the brain's supervisor, involved with conscience, forethought, planning, attention span and judgment.

One could argue that our current president's struggles with language and emotional rigidity are symptoms of temporal lobe pathology. The temporal lobes, underneath your temples and behind your eyes, are involved with language, mood stability, reading social cues and emotional flexibility.

A national leader with brain problems can potentially cost millions of people their lives. Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein give us recent historical examples. Both of Milosevic's parents committed suicide, he had serious bouts of depression and reportedly drank heavily -- all signs that point to brain problems. He was found to be unreasonable and unreliable in negotiations and heartless as a political leader. Hussein was described as paranoid and without empathy, also symptoms pointing to poor brain function. His mother suffered severe bouts of depression and attempted suicide while pregnant with him, which is known to affect a baby's developing brain. He was physically and emotionally abused by his stepfather. All of these stresses must have been involved in shaping his paranoid brain into a mind that could torture dissenters, murder relatives and launch chemical attacks that killed thousands.

Functional scans, such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, provide a window into the brain. Doctors can now see healthy or dysfunctional brain patterns, much as we can assess the strength of a heart or measure hormone levels, and recognize trouble. All doctors might not agree on the interpretation, but there is a growing body of scientific literature establishing what these scans mean, such as attention deficit disorder or a predisposition for Alzheimer's.

Ensuring that our president has a healthy brain may be more than an interesting topic of conversation. It can be important information to put into the election equation. A president with brain problems could wreak havoc on the U.S. and the world at large. Maybe we shouldn't leave the health of our president's brain to chance. We have the tools; shouldn't we look?

Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics, is the author of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[kallend 2,150]

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President Clinton's moral lapses and problems with bad judgment and excitement-seeking behavior ...

Hmmm - and a bunch of SKYDIVERS are supposed to find that indicative of a problem? I think not.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[KelliJ 0]

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President Clinton's moral lapses and problems with bad judgment and excitement-seeking behavior ...

Hmmm - and a bunch of SKYDIVERS are supposed to find that indicative of a problem? I think not.

[Shotgun 1]

Yes, "brain health" is important. But I don't think that we have enough definitive interpretations of brain imaging, so that would be a dangerous tool to try to use right now.

[lawrocket 3]

I think anything lookign into the POTUS brain is bad news, because: 1) there is plenty of stuff oen to interpretation; 2) each brain is unique; and 3) what are we becoming when brain scans show what a good POTUS should be?

I can see situations where the mental health of the POTUS is important, such as what happened with Woodrow Wilson. But good luck when there a presidential hopeful shows evidence of migraines.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[BIGUN 1,488]

"Anyone who seeks and receives the nomination for President; should be barred from holding the office."

-Unknown

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[rushmc 23]

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Yes, "brain health" is important. But I don't think that we have enough definitive interpretations of brain imaging, so that would be a dangerous tool to try to use right now.

It does not happen very often is seems but, this thread is going liked I hoped it would

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

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"Anyone who seeks and receives the nomination for President; should be barred from holding the office."

-Unknown

Now here is a statement that I dont think anyone can agrue

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[Shotgun 1]

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Quote

Yes, "brain health" is important. But I don't think that we have enough definitive interpretations of brain imaging, so that would be a dangerous tool to try to use right now.

It does not happen very often is seems but, this thread is going liked I hoped it would

Well, I'm glad that I could help to entertain you.

And if you want more entertainment, here is a video about monkeys (which doesn't really have anything to do with this thread... well, maybe a little bit).

[wmw999 2,589]

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Now here is a statement that I dont think anyone can agrue

Rush, you know I don't usually get folks on grammar.

But dang -- of all the possible misspellings of "argue" you had to pick the one that's closest to "agree"

Either that, or
But dang -- of all the possible misspellings of "agree" you had to pick the one that's closest to "argue"


Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[BIGUN 1,488]

Now you're going to agree to argue or argue to agree?

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[rushmc 23]

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Now here is a statement that I dont think anyone can agrue

Rush, you know I don't usually get folks on grammar.

But dang -- of all the possible misspellings of "argue" you had to pick the one that's closest to "agree"

Either that, or
But dang -- of all the possible misspellings of "agree" you had to pick the one that's closest to "argue"


Wendy W.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[kelpdiver 2]

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Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics, is the author of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."

In our new era where newspapers are at risk of becoming extinct, it seems that they run a lot of free advertisements masquarading as articles.

[nerdgirl 0]

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Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics, is the author of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."

In our new era where newspapers are at risk of becoming extinct, it seems that they run a lot of free advertisements masquarading as articles.

The choice of the specific technique mentioned (SPECT) & the conspicuous absence of functional MRI struck me as curious.

…

Amen’s clinic has been profiled on Quackwatch.com: “A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen.”

“For about four years (2002 to 2006), the The Amen Clinic's home page stated:

‘Everything starts and ends in your Brain-Soul connection.

‘How your brain and soul work together determines how happy you feel, how successful you become, and how well you connect with others. The brain-soul connection is vastly more powerful than your conscious will. Will power falters when the physical functioning of the brain and the health of your soul fail to support your desires, as seen by illogical behaviors like overeating, smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, and compulsive spending.

‘It is the aim of The Amen Clinics to provide instructional programs and materials, evaluations and medical treatment where necessary to help you to understand and direct your mind to enhance your relationships, your work, and your health!’

“The Amen Clinics charge $3,250 for a ‘comprehensive evaluation,’ which included the patient's history, two SPECT scans (concentration scan and baseline scan), a physician consultation, and a 30-minute treatment follow-up appointment. Follow-up scans after treatment are $795 each.”

---- ---- ---- ----

Does this sound like quasi-Scientology to anyone else?

So yep, the author is hardly free of conflicting financial interests.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Remster 30]

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Does this sound like quasi-Scientology to anyone else?

Quasi? That's straight from their textbook wrt IQ testing.

Remster

[Gene03 0]

Politicians have brains? Yea, right, sure, uh-huh.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[rushmc 23]

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Politicians have brains? Yea, right, sure, uh-huh.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[joedirt 0]

They should be hooked up to lie detectors and asked yes or no questions about all their philosopihes. That would be entertaining.

[Gene03 0]

Now that's a novel approach.
Let's take it one step further.
Shall we say a lie detector/Taser combination.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)