in 2012, "the washington post magazine" ran a cover story titled "daniel amen is the most popular psychiatrist in america. to most researchers and scientists, that's a very bad thing." "the washington post" detailed amen's lack of acceptance among the scientific community and his monetary conflict of interest. journalist sanjiv bhattacharya wrote that amen's critics likened him "to a self-help guru rather than a scientist, on account of all the books, dvds and nutritional supplements which he hawks so shamelessly on infomercials" and that amen was "the most controversial psychiatrist in america [who] may also be the most commercially successful." amen has responded to such criticism by claiming that the criticism comes from jealousy of his financial success and also claiming that his largest source of referrals is from previous patients.