A History of Psychiatric Theory

One of my sources of information has been what is now called the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, now edited by Dr. Abram Hoffer. This journal started in the Seventies under other titles. At first the title contained the word "schizophrenia", but this was dropped as it became clear that orthomolecular medicine was good for a wide variety of conditions.

L-DOPA

"Yaryura-Tobias (1970) and Yaryura-Tobias,

Wolpert, Dana and Merlis (1970) hoped to use L

Dopa to ameliorate the symptoms of parkinsonism

often produced by tranquilizers. But, the

experiment had to be discontinued because the

patients became more psychotic."

A. Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Professional Journal of the American Schizophrenia Foundation

Volume 2 - 1st Quarter 1970

Hoffer suggested that dopachrome might be one of the toxins that produce schizophrenia. L-DOPA is the direct precursor of dopamine. At that time the editor of the journal was J. Ross MacLean, M.D.

The journal was seeking a biological model of schizophrenia. Linus Pauling thought that it was genetic. My view is that both genetic components and environmental factors, such as stress, are involved.

"While there the chief of the service gave him large doses of L-dopa. My son got much worse and developed symptoms he had never had before." anonymous Father

Mark D. Altschule, M.D.

Dr. Altschule was a professor of Harvard Medical School in 1970. I do not know if he is still alive. I have not seen any papers books by him in the last few decades. He suspected indoles in schizophrenia because there are indole hallucinogens such as LSD. Altschule & Hegedus, also of Harvard Medical School, also suspected melanins as being possibly involved in schizophrenia because melanins are more stable. Melanins could accumulate in the brain.

In my opinion these are very plausible theories, but most theories were rejected by the late Dr. Seymour Kety of Harvard, a skeptic tank. Kety rejected almost all positive findings in schizophrenia except for his own. My view is that Kety may have made a terrible error by rejecting toxic theories. This may have been a blunder comparable to the Flat Earth Society. He had a negative bias, but not towards drugs. He accepted drugs.

The Pink Spot

The British scientist A. Pauline Ridges, Ph.D., M.Sc, A.R.I.C. published various reports on the "pink spot" test for schizophrenia including one in 1972. I have not seen any reports by her recently, so I don't know if she is still alive. She favored orthomolecular psychiatry.

Her 1972 article was entitled "Biochemical Research into Schizophrenia in Relation to Pink Spot Excretion". It was published in the following journal:

JOURNAL OF ORTHOMOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY

Official Journal of the Academy of Orthomolecular Psychiatry

Volume 1 - 1st Quarter 1972

This journal had previously been called "Schizophrenia". It is now called "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine". The article appeared on page 18. This article can be seen full text for free at orthomolecular.org.

Ridges blames schizophrenia on a "biochemical derangement". The "pink spot" was found most in "acutely disturbed patients". Out of 392 controls, 391 were negative for the pink spot. The remaining one was "impossible to assess". This means that it is extremely unlikely that it was caused by anything in the diet.

Patients "not on drugs" were studied. The pink spot was considered to be DMPE, which was called DMPEA by Friedhoff. Friedhoff's work was confirmed by the Liverpool group.

Other Interesting Reports

A couple of other interesting reports are also available free full text at orthomolecular.org. Both reports were in the same issue of Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry. One report was Evidence Indicating an Association Between Schizophrenia and Dopaminergic Hyperactivity in the Brain by A. Randrup and I. Munkvad on page 2. This report also supports dopamine theories. DMPEA is a toxic metabolite of dopamine.

Yet another report in the same issue was Illicit Drug Usage: Hazards for Learning Disability Students by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. The report is on page 67.

Nutrition

The late Roger Williams favored the use of nutrition to fight disease. He authored the book "Nutrition Against Disease" published by Pitman Publishing Corporationof New York.

Conclusions

Hoffer favored the "orthomolecular" treatment of schizophrenia". There was a theory by Dohan that celiac disease provides a clue to schizophrenia. In celiac disease the patient is sensitive to wheat gluten. A gluten-free diet is used to treat the psychiatric and gastointestinal symptoms.

More research still needs to be done. Some have questioned the identity of the "pink spot". A mass spectrometry studied verified that it was indeed DMPEA. Animal studies have shown that DMPEA is toxic. DMPEA may cause schizophrenia. If this is true, then ways need to be found to either prevent it or destroy it.

But what does this have to do with my amino acid theory? The answer is that it is DMPEA that is causing the amino acids to flood the brain cells. Nutrition may provide the treatment. DMPEA is made from amino acids. Amino acids are in the diet.

References

1. Hoffer, A.: L-Dopa: A Hallucinogen. Schizophrenia 2:1, 1970.

2. Hochstein, P. and Cohen, G.: The cytotoxicity of melanin

precursors. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 100:876, 1963.

3. DeLaey, P., Hoft, C., Timmerman, J. and Snoeck, J.:

Biochemical aspects of the Hartnup disease. II. Some

observations on rats about tryptophan metabolism. Ann.

Paediat. 202:17, 1964.

4. Osmond, H. and Smvthies, J.: Schizophrenia: a new

approach. I. J.'Ment. Sci. 98:309, 1952.

5. Hoffer, A., Osmond, H. and Smythies, J.: Schizophrenia:

A new approach. II. Result of a year's research. J. Ment.

Sci. 100:29, 1954.

6. Tanimukai, H., Grinther, R., Spaide, J., Bueno, J. R. and

Himwich, H. E.: Occurrence of bufotenine (5-hydroxy-

N-dimethyltryptamine) in urine of schizophrenic patients.

Life Sciences 6:1697, 1967.

7. Mclsaac, W.: A biochemical concept of mental disease.

Postgrad. Med. 30:111, 1961.

8. Altschule, M. D.: Preliminary observations on the

measurement of amiochromes in the blood.

Walaas, O. (Ed.): Molecular Basis of Some

Aspects of Some Mental Activity, Volume 2.

London, Academic Press, 1967.

9. Veech, R. L., Bigelow, L. B., Denckla, W. D. and

Altschule, M.D.: Urinary aminochromes in

schizophrenia. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 5:127, 1961.

10. Hoffer, A.: Erythrocytes from schizophrenic patients.

Dis. Nerv. Syst. 20:87, 1959.

11. THUDICHUM, J. W. L.: A Treatise on the Chemical

Constitution of the Brain. Balliere, Tyndall & Cox.

London 1884.

12. RICHTER, D.: Biochemical Aspects of Schizophrenia. In:

Schizophrenia, Somatic Aspects. London, Pergamon

Press, p. 53 1957.

13. HORWITT, M. K.: Critique on Studies of Metabolism in

Schizophrenia. In: Recent Advances in Biological

Psychiatry. J. Wortis (Ed.) 5:257. Plenum Press, New

York, 1963.

14. KETY, S. S.: Dietary Factors and Schizophrenia. In:

Chemical Influences on Behavior. R. Porter and J. Birch

(Eds.): Ciba Foundation Study Group. 35:76. Churchill,

London 1970.

15. STANBURY, J. B., WYNGAARDEN, J. B. and FREDERICKSON,

D. S.: Inherited Variation and Metabolic Abnormality. In:

Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease. J. B. Stanbury, J. B.

Wyngaarden and D. S. Frederickson (Eds.) 11:3, 2nd

Edition, McGraw Hill, 1966.

16. FRIEDHOFF, A. J. and VAN WINKLE, E.: Isolation and

characterisation of a compound from the urine of

schizophrenics. Nature (Lond.) 194:897, 1962.

17. BOURDILLON, R. E. and RIDGES, A. P.: 3,4-

Dimethoxyphenylethylamine in Schizophrenia? In:

Amines and Schizophrenia. H. E. Himwich, S. S. Kety

and J. R. Smythies (Eds.): Pergamon Press, Oxford, p. 43

1966.

18. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1337255/fighting_diseases_with_nutrition.html

19. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1333742/neurobiological_disturbances_in_schizophrenia.html

20. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1330527/advances_in_brain_research.html