Orthomolecular psychiatry is a branch of orthomolecular medicine whose proponents argue that dietary supplements and other treatments may be effective in treating mental illness. Orthomolecular medicine and optimum nutrition are controversial medical and health approaches[1] that posit that many diseases and abnormalities result from various chemical imbalances or deficiencies and can be prevented, treated, or sometimes cured by achieving optimal levels of naturally occurring chemical substances, such as vitamins, dietary minerals, enzymes, antioxidants... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ...

Though mainstream medical experts agree that some nutritional and dietary supplements have value in treating mental illness (for example, through the use of omega 3 fatty acid), the sometimes sweeping claims of orthomolecular psychiatry proponents have found little support among mainstream medical experts.^[1] Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids found in certain fish tissues, and in vegetable sources such as flax seeds, walnuts, and canola oil. ...

History

The origins of orthomolecular psychiatry can be traced as early as 1927^[2].

However orthomolecular psychiatry per se is generally accepted to have begun in the 1950s with the work of Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond in Canada. Later proponents include Carl Pfeiffer, David Horrobin^[3] and Linus Pauling. Abram Hoffer (b. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Notability If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ... Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist. ...

Orthomolecular psychiatry treatments and scope

Specific techniques commonly employed include individual biochemical workup, dietary measures, fasting, Megavitamin therapy, and identifying allergies. Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. ... In nutrition and CAM, megavitamin therapy makes use of large amounts of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA), to treat many types of diseases. ... An allergy is an abnormal, acquired sensitivity to a given substance, including pollen, drugs, or numerous environmental triggers. ...

Hoffer and Osmond developed and used the "HOD test" to identify and monitor schizophrenia patients' progress, using a much different method than the testing used by the American Psychiatric Association. A more recent development in orthomolecular psychiatry applies the "niacin flush" concept dermally to identify and evaluate patients biochemically.^[4] Due to the epidemic of medical errors, readers are cautioned to be aware that the American Psychiatric Association isnt immune to this. ...

Many orthomolecular physicians still prescribe neuroleptics, initially. However, the long-term avoidance of neuroleptics is the main goal. "Pfeiffer's Law" (actually a dictum), states, "For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect." The term antipsychotic is applied to a group of drugs used to treat psychosis. ... In common law legal terminology a dictum (plural dicta) is any statement that forms a part of the judgment of a court, in particular a court whose decisions have value as precedent under the doctrine of stare decisis. ...

These and other methods have been claimed to treat alcoholism, drug addiction, anxiety, autism, clinical depression, hyperactivity, ADHD, Alzheimer's Disease, mental retardation, senility, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ... Drug addiction, or dependency is the compulsive use of drugs, to the point where the user has no effective choice but to continue use. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Autism is a brain development disorder that shows symptoms before a child is three years old and has a steady course with no remission. ... Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or unipolar depression when compared to bipolar disorder) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily living. ... Hyperactivity can be described as a state in which a person is abnormally easily excitable and exuberant. ... DISCLAIMER Please remember that Wikipedia is offered for informational use only. ... Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. ... For other uses, see Bipolar. ...

Criticisms

As of 2005, orthomolecular psychiatry remains controversial, with little support among the mainstream medical community. Critics have noted that the claims of proponents are considered unsubstantiated by conventional psychiatry. Conventional authoritative bodies such as the National Institute of Mental Health^{[citation needed]} and American Academy of Pediatrics^[5] have historically criticized orthomolecular treatments as ineffective and potentially toxic.

A 1973 task force of the American Psychiatric Association charged with investigating orthomolecular claims, but instead focused on niacin monotherapeutically^[6] (the earliest version of treatment, ca. 1952) for a different kind of patient population, concluded:

This review and critique has carefully examined the literature produced by megavitamin proponents and by those who have attempted to replicate their basic and clinical work. It concludes in this regard that the credibility of the megavitamin proponents is low. Their credibility is further diminished by a consistent refusal over the past decade to perform controlled experiments and to report their new results in a scientifically acceptable fashion.

Under these circumstances this Task Force considers the massive publicity which they promulgate via radio, the lay press and popular books, using catch phrases which are really misnomers like "megavitamin therapy" and "orthomolecular treatment," to be deplorable.

According to a Beersheva Mental Health Center study begun in 2005 and ongoing as of 2007,

"Controlled studies using the orthomolecular approach have been few. Those that were done were performed in chronic schizophrenia or in populations that included bipolar and schizoaffective patients. Both of these diagnostic groups are not today considered to benefit from the orthomolecular approach. Moreover, some negative studies of high-dose niacin were done in patients who were not otherwise given general counseling for good diet.";^[7] compared with a basic, modern orthomolecular regimen.

Harvard-trained pediatrician Mark Vonnegut discusses orthomolecular psychiatry in his memoir The Eden Express; he advocated the use of orthomolecular psychiatry but later disavowed it. Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ... Mark Vonnegut is an American pediatrician and writer He is the son of noted writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ... The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity, is a 1975 book by Mark Vonnegut, son of American writer Kurt Vonnegut, about his experiences in the late 1960s and his major psychotic breakdown and recovery. ...

Rebuttals

Proponents consider the 1973 APA task force report error laden with sweeping, scientifically unfounded conclusions,^[6] highly politicized, and that its studies failed to use similar methods, materials and subjects as the original work.^[8] The APA report's criticism alleges inadequate controlled trials because Hoffer quit running additional blinded tests that he had come to view as unethical for his patients, especially since the results of his previous double blinded tests went unheeded.^[9] The APA's assertion is made despite Hoffer's claim to have run the first double blind controlled test in psychiatry, on megavitamin therapies, with a total four double blinded tests, up to 19 years before the APA task force report, as well as being supported by two independent double blinded tests ^[10] and an extensive biochemical research program.^[11] One of the APA report's six authors, psychologist JR Wittenborn, reacting to Hoffer's specific criticisms, later re-analyzed his original double blind study^[12] favorably with respect to orthomolecular psychiatry, obtaining the same result as Hoffer,^[13] and never received NIMH or APA support again.^[14] Wittenborn's latter report also goes unquoted by critics. Another of the APA report's authors, then NIMH member Loren Mosher, later resigned from the American Psychiatric Association in total disgust,^[15] which he also called a "drug company patsy." ^[16] Abram Hoffer (b. ...

Scientific evidence

A recent literature review by scientists at Johns Hopkins University found that the removal of gluten from the diet of schizophrenics shows potential as a viable therapy for a subset of schizophrenic patients.^[17] The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... Wheat - a prime source of gluten Gluten is an amorphous mixture of ergastic (i. ...

References

• Abram Hoffer, Morton Walker (2002) Smart Nutrients: Prevent and Treat Alzheimer's, Enhance Brain Function, CCNM Press, ISBN 1-890612-26-X
• Abram Hoffer (July 2004) Healing Schizophrenia: Complementary Vitamin & Drug Treatments, CCNM Press, ISBN 1-897025-08-4
• Abram Hoffer (2004) Healing Children's Attention & Behavior Disorders: Complementary Nutritional & Psychological Treatments, CCNM Press, ISBN 1-897025-10-6
• Eva Edelman (2001) Natural Healing for Schizophrenia: And Other Common Mental Disorders, Borage Books; 3rd Rev ed, ISBN 0-9650976-7-6
• Eric Braverman, Carl Pfeiffer, K. Blum, R. Smayda (2003) The Healing Nutrients Within: Facts, Findings, and New Research on Amino Acids, 3rd ed, Basic Health Publications, ISBN 1-59120-037-7
• Carl C. Pfeiffer (1988) Nutrition and Mental Illness : An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry, Healing Arts Press, ISBN 0-89281-226-5
• Birkmayer JGD & Birkmayer W, "The coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) as biological antidepressive agent. Experience with 205 Patients.", New Trends in Clinical Neuropharmacology, 5:19-25, 1991.
• Melvyn R. Werbach (1999) Nutritional Influences on Mental Illness, 2nd edition, Third Line Press, ISBN 0-9618550-8-8

External links

• Orthomolecular Medicine Online
• Linus Pauling Profiles in Science, (1967) "Orthomolecular Psychiatry"

See also

• Megavitamin therapy
• Orthomolecular medicine
• Pyroluria
• David R. Hawkins
• Pseudoscience
• List of pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts

In nutrition and CAM, megavitamin therapy makes use of large amounts of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA), to treat many types of diseases. ... Orthomolecular medicine and optimum nutrition are controversial medical and health approaches[1] that posit that many diseases and abnormalities result from various chemical imbalances or deficiencies and can be prevented, treated, or sometimes cured by achieving optimal levels of naturally occurring chemical substances, such as vitamins, dietary minerals, enzymes, antioxidants... Pyroluria, or malvaria (from the term mauve factor), is the metabolic condition when a person has too many pyrroles in the urine. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... This is a list of fields of endeavor and concepts that have been regarded as pseudoscientific by: Organizations that are representative of the international scientific community, and/or Skeptical organizations They may have explicitly called a field or concept pseudoscience or used words to that effect: instances of the latter...

Footnotes