Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Mary Todd Lincoln had a breakdown when her husband was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. She had to be put in an asylum.

Combat stress has been known to cause many cases of PTSD (1). It can also be seen as the result of terrorism (2). PTSD is considered an anxiety disorder.

Biological Factors

Ref. 3 discusses biological factors in this terrible disease.

Automobile Accidents

Ref. 4 discussed PTSD from automobile accidents.

Psychophysiology

Ref. 5 discusses the psychophysiology of PTSD.

Neuropathology

Ref. 6 reports positive neuropathology findings in this disease. Clearly this is a disease of the brain. However, hormones from the adrenal glands appear to be involved also (7).

Orthomolecular Treatment

Orthomolecular treatment is explained in Ref. 8. These are testimonials from patients who have reported great benefit from this type of treatment. Orthomolecular treatments are good for physical diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases as well as mental diseases.

Stress

Stress produces changes in tryptophan metabolism (9). Stress experiments have been done on rats. Stress causes an increase in brain tryptophan.

Other Mental Diseases

Information on hypochodria is given in Ref. 10. Scientists in the UK have used stressed rats as a model for depression (11). They found that immobilization stress increases the amino acid concentrations in rat brain. Further work by this brilliant UK group is given in Refs. 12-14.

Hormones Associated with Stress

Ref.15 reports hormonal influences on tryptophan transport into the brain. Hormones in the adrenal glands are released during stress.

Conclusions

Gerald Curzon made a career out of studying tryptophan in relation to stress and mental illness. More work by him is in Refs. 16 & 17. Curzon and his colleagues thought that tryptophan metabolism was abnormal in depression (Refs. 18 & 19).

My own view is that it is also abnormal in PTSD. However, Curzon never appeared to study PTSD (20). He did study stressed rats.

"Despite the reduced plasma levels, corresponding brain concentrations of many large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) were increased (tryptophan, phenylalanine, valine, leucine, and isoleucine). Brain concentrations of tyrosine and the other amino acids measured were unaltered." Kennett GA, Curzon G, Hunt A, Patel AJ.(11)

This finding appears to implicate certain amino acids in PTSD and possibly other mental disorders. This is a very interesting finding because these substances are found in the diet. My own theory is that a diet low in tryptophan, phenylalanine, valine, leucine, and isoleucine should be tried as a treatment. This diet would be low in protein.

The vegan diet is relatively low in these amino acids. This diet should be supplemented with niacin so as to avoid pellagra. More research should be done. Rat metabolism might be different from human metabolism. We need to find out if humans are affected the same way.

References

1. New onset and persistent symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder self reported after deployment and combat exposures: prospective population based US military cohort study. Tyler C Smith, Margaret A K Ryan, Deborah L Wingard, Donald J Slymen, James F Sallis, and Donna Kritz-Silverstein. BMJ. 2008 February 16; 336(7640): 366-371.

2. Post-traumatic stress disorder in the context of terrorism and other civil conflict in Northern Ireland: randomised controlled trial. Michael Duffy, Kate Gillespie, and David M ClarkBMJ. 2007 June 2; 334(7604): 1147. Published online 2007 May 11. doi: 10.1136/bmj.39021.846852.BE.

3. Clarifying the Origin of Biological Abnormalities in PTSD Through the Study of Identical Twins Discordant for Combat Exposure. Roger K. Pitman, Mark W. Gilbertson, Tamara V. Gurvits, Flavia S. May, Natasha B. Lasko, Linda J. Metzger, Martha E. Shenton, Rachel Yehuda, and Scott P. OrrAnn N Y Acad Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 October 29.PMCID: PMC2770249 Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 July; 1071: 242-254.
4. Ursano RJ, Fullerton CS, Epstein RS, et al. Acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder in motor vehicle accident victims. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 1999;156(4):589-595.
5. Orr SP, Metzger LJ, Pitman RK. Psychophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 2002;25:271-293.
6. Villarreal G, Hamilton DA, Petropoulos H, et al. Reduced hippocampal volume and total white matter volume in posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol. Psychiatry. 2002;52:119-125.
7. Sapolsky RM, Uno H, Rebert CS, Finch CE. Hippocampal damage associated with prolonged glucocorticoid exposure in primates. J. Neurosci. 1990;10:2897-2902.
8. http://orthomolecular.org/library/stories/index.shtml
9. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2781196/stress_and_tryptophan.html?cat=68
10. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2813340/hypochondria.html
11. J Neurochem. 1986 Jan;46(1):208-12. Immobilization decreases amino acid concentrations in plasma but maintains or increases them in brain. Kennett GA, Curzon G, Hunt A, Patel AJ.
12. Tryptophan disposition in psychiatric patients before and after stress. Curzon G, Kantamaneni BD, Lader MH, Greenwood MH. Psychol Med. 1979 Aug;9(3):457-63.

13. Study of disturbed tryptophan metabolism in depressive illness. Curzon G. Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 1979;37(1):27-33.

14. Amino acid analysis demonstrates that increased plasma free tryptophan causes the increase of brain tryptophan during exercise in the rat. Chaouloff F, Kennett GA, Serrurrier B, Merino D, Curzon G. J Neurochem. 1986 May;46(5):1647-50.

15. Availability of tryptophan to the brain and some hormonal and drug influences on it. Curzon G. Adv Biochem Psychopharmacol. 1974;10:263-71.

16. Effects of food deprivation and immobilization on tryptophan and other amino acids in rat brain. Knott PJ, Joseph MH, Curzon G. J Neurochem. 1973 Jan;20(1):249-51.

17. Effects of immobilization and food deprivation on rat brain tryptophan metabolism. Curzon G, Joseph MH, Knott PJ. J Neurochem. 1972 Aug;19(8):1967-74.

18. Curzon G. Tryptophan pyrrolase--a biochemical factor in depressive illness? Br J Psychiatry. 1969 Dec;115(529):1367-1374.

19. Curzon G, Bridges PK. Tryptophan metabolism in depression. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1970 Oct;33(5):698-704.

20. Green AR, Joseph MH, Curzon G. Oral contraceptives, depression, and amino acid metabolism. Lancet. 1970 Jun 13;1(7659):1288.