Jack is a psychiatrist, which means he treats people who have mental problems.
He has been treating patients for many years and has used a variety of treatments.
Sometimes he just listens and talks to patients, and sometimes he uses medications.
These medications affect the brain in many different ways.
Over the years, Jack found that some patients improved with treatment while others didn't improve at all.
In some cases, a patient's response to a treatment was the opposite of what was expected.
Several years ago, he had a young patient who showed him why these treatments didn't work.
The patient's name was Bob.
He was 20 years old when he first came to see Jack for help.
The reason he came was that he had attempted suicide.
Bob was extremely smart and was a student at one of the best universities in the world.
However, he was often extremely depressed.
Because of his depression, he took drugs and drank a lot of alcohol.
It was an overdose of drugs and alcohol that nearly killed him.
His roommate called 911 when he discovered Bob unconscious in their dormitory room.
Once Bob recovered and was discharged from the hospital, he took time off from school to get help.
That was when he came to the clinic where Jack practices medicine.
At first, Jack attempted to treat Bob with antidepressant medications.
He also used conversation and recommendations to help him rethink his life and memories.
After a few months, Bob began to improve, but only moderately.
Though he cooperated with the treatment, he continued to think negatively.
He also continued to go through periods of depression.
As a result, he wasn't able to return to school.
Because the treatment wasn't working, Jack tried something new.
He decided to use brain scans to look inside Bob's brain.
Brain scans are a way to look inside the brain to see how it is functioning.
What the scans showed about Bob was crucial.
They showed that his brain was damaged in a way that nobody had anticipated.
There was significant damage to the front part of his brain.
An injury in this part of the brain can contribute to depression and negative feeling.
It can also contribute to feelings of anger and rage.
The fact that his brain was injured and unbalanced explained why the treatments hadn't worked.
The brain scans showed why the medications and other treatments hadn't worked.
They had failed because they didn't address the brain injury.
After discussing the injury with Bob and his parents, they concluded that the cause of the injury was from playing soccer.
In fact, Jack knew of quite a few soccer players who had suffered head injuries from playing that sport.
Heading a hard soccer ball many times can damage the brain.
With this new information, Jack used a new medication to treat the injury.
Gradually, Bob improved, and after a few month was close to full recovery.
He no longer had any signs of depression, and was finally able to return to school.
Ultimately, Bob graduated from his university with honors, and entered a famous law school.
From this experience, Jack realized that the brain imaging had allowed him to save Bob's life.
If it hadn't been for the scans, Bob would have ended up killing himself.
Detecting and treating the injury to the front part of his brain was the key step in his treatment.
Jack now believes that brain scans can be an important tool for psychiatrists.
An injured brain must be healed before other treatments, such as vitamins, drugs or counseling, can work.
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