Theories of Orthomolecular Psychiatry

Introduction 

 In the Seventies the APA created a task force to investigate orthomolecular psychiatry. They appointed Dr. Morris Lipton to this "force", which I call a "farce". Lipton chose not to investigate the carbohydrate metabolism theory, perhaps because it was very strong. They chose not to investigate the Harris diet, which was being recommended by Adelle Davis, Dr. Carlton Fredericks, Wendel & Beebe, and other orthomolecular types. They decided to only look at the megavitamin niacin treatment. They rejected the niacin treatment despite the fact that it lowered blood cholesterol.
  They chose to ignore a huge number of Soviet reports supporting a toxic plasma factor. They chose to ignore a lot of reports out of Detroit and New Orleans supporting "taraxein", one of Hoffer & Osmond's theories. In 1952 Osmond & Smythies called it the "M substance". After the task farce was over, reports continued to come in supporting a toxic factor. The toxic factor was one of the basic tenants of Hoffer & Osmond.  

  Linus Pauling called the task farce biased. My feeling is that Pauling was right. The APA was heavily funded by the drug companies. The drug companies can't make a killing with orthomolecular psychiatry.

Ritalin & Prozac: Putting Out Fire with Gasoline?

  It seems that "Mucko", the killer of a number of employees of Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, was on a high dose of Prozac when he went berserk and shot people in an angry rampage. According to Dr. Peter Breggin, there have been many other incidents like this, although not on the same scale.   Ritalin has been shown to cause a temporary psychosis, and this is also true of many other amphetamine analogs. Are we trying to put out fire with gasoline?

The Real Deal  

  The possibility exists that some ringed compound in the brain similar in chemical structure to amphetamine may cause psychoses. Certain amino acids have one benzene ring like amphetamine. These include tyrosine, phenylalanine, and L-dopa. The neurotransmitter dopamine is similar in chemical structure to amphetamine. However, there is an important difference in the two chemical structures. Amphetamine has an extra methyl group. Dopamine is made from amino acids. The methyl groups often come from the amino acid methionine. Therefore it is possible that amino acids cause psychoses, or at least contribute to them.   

  Breggin was correct in criticizing the drugs, but he did not offer good alternatives except for psychotherapy, which is limited in success. This is also true of Scientology, which also does not offer good alternatives. The solution may be a diet low in amino acids.                                             

Toxic Factor

  Only scientific research will be discussed here. Work by Savulev has demonstrated a toxic factor in the blood. This factor causes swelling and fragmentation of the mitochondria in the rat cerebral cortex. In addition there is swelling of the cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. This organelle takes amino acids and converts them to proteins. This result suggests a flooding of the cells with amino acids.

Fujita  

  The Russian work is supported by Japanese work. Fujita found a toxic factor in the urine of schizophrenics. The factor was a flourescein. Since dopamine is a flourescein (fluorescent in ultraviolet light), the factor could be related to dopamine. 

Conclusions

  The solution may be a diet low in amino acids. There is reason to believe that amino acids go haywire in the psychoses. For more information, consult my website, which is www.CraigOlson.bizhosting.com. 

References

1.       www.associatedcontent.com/article/679899/the_molecular_and_cellular_pathology.html 
2.       www.associatedcontent.com/article/679607/world_research_on_schizophrenia.html 
3.     www.associatedcontent.com/article/671305/studying_schizophrenia_on_a_cellular.html 
4.     www.associatedcontent.com/article/669729/nutrition_against_cancer_and_mental.html 
5.     www.associatedcontent.com/article/665637/american_research_on_mental_health.html 
6.    www.associatedcontent.com/article/644151/european_research_on_mental_health.html