The Latest Research in Psychiatry

"Our customary grouping into manic and melancholic attacks does not fit the facts, but requires substantial enlargement, if it is to reproduce nature." Emil Kraepelin (1921)

An huge book on this subject with recent findings is "Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression", the Second Edition, by Frederick Goodwin and Kay Jamison. This book was published in 2007. There is also a two volume set of books by Gale. This is the Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health. The Gale books can be accessed at the Gale database Health Reference Center. This database is at the major libraries.

There is a current theory that Edgar Allan Poe was manic-depressive. He was also an alcoholic. Byron was also thought to have been manic-depressive. Both were great poets. Wiliam Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott were also suspected.

Unfortunately the neurobiology of manic-depression has eluded most scientists. There is a serotonin theory, but it is not convincing. There is also a glutamate theory. Stress is thought to be involved. The death of neurons is involved. Glial cells are also thought to be involved. Theories are a dime a dozen, but good theories are rare.

Lithium has been used as a treatment, but there is no good rationale for it. It was a trial & error treatment.

Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter in the brain.

Neuroimaging studies have found enlarged ventricles and subcortical hyperintensities. These findings were reported from MRI scans.

Cerebral metabolic rate for glucose has been reported to be low in the frontal lobes. This has been called "hypofrontality". This was first reported by Mayberg in 1994.

The decreased metabolism of glucose may be a very important finding because the brain is heavily dependent on glucose for its energy.

"For our body is like a clock; if one wheel be amiss, all the rest are disordered, the whole fabric suffers: with such admirable art and harmony is a man composed." Robert Burton (The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621)

Goodwin & Jamison recommend drugs as treatments. My own view is that orthomolecular treatments are better.

Schizophrenia

Ref. 7 discusses drug treatment.

Alcoholism

Ref. 8 advocates orthomolecular psychiatry as an approach to alcoholism. Often in the past doctors have taken people off of alcohol by getting them hooked on a drug such as Valium. Then when they get out of the hospital the patient is addicted to two substances.

The Orthomolecular Approach

Refs. 9-11 explain orthomolecular medicine.

Hospitals

Ref. 12 discusses hospitals.

Cancer

Ref. 13 advocates the use of orthomolecular medicine to fight cancer.

ADHD

Ref. 14 favors the use of nutrition in ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactive disorder).

Depression

Stress is considered a risk factor for depression and exacerbates it (15). Ref. 16 reports that anxiety is negatively related to choline levels. This means that when choline is low, anxiety is high. Choline is a nutrient and also a part of a neurotransmitter (acetylcholine).

Conclusions

There is massive evidence that nutrition is important for mental diseases as well as physical diseases. Amazingly this has been almost completely ignored by most psychiatrists! Hoffer is an exception to this, but he has retired from being a psychiatrist. Hoffer is in Canada.

References

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2004134/mental_health_amino_acids.html

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2012172/controversies_in_psychiatry.html
3. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237845/the_link_between_food_allergies_and.html
4.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/1932938/disease_biomarkers_in_psychiatry.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1926322/advocacy_for_mental_health_clients.html
6. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1922710/new_approaches_to_mental_health.html

7. Amitai, Nurith, and Athina Markou. "Increased impulsivity and disrupted attention induced by repeated phencyclidine are not attenuated by chronic quetiapine treatment." Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior 93.3 (Sept 2009): 248(10). Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Newton Free Library. 6 Aug. 2009
8. Hoffer A, Saul AW. The Vitamin Cure for Alcoholism. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-59120-254-7.

9. Saul AW, Hickey S. [Editorial] Patent medicine and orthomolecular medicine. J Orthomolecular Med, 2009. Vol 24, No 1, p 3-5.

10. Hoffer A, Saul AW. Orthomolecular Medicine for Everyone: Megavitamin Therapeutics for Families and Physicians. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-59120-226-4.

11. Hickey S, Saul AW. Vitamin C: The Real Story. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-59120-223-3.

12. Saul AW, Hickey S. [Editorial] Unacceptable losses: hospital-caused deaths. J Orthomolecular Med, 2008. Vol 23, No 2, p 59-61.

13. Saul AW. Review of Vitamins can kill cancer, by Reagan Houston. J Orthomolecular Med, 2007. Vol 22, No 4, p 217.

14. Saul AW. Review of Healing children's attention and behavior disorders: complementary nutritional and psychological treatments, by Abram Hoffer. J Orthomolecular Med, 2006. Vol 21, No 4, 229-230.

15. [Stress and depression: clinical, neurobiological and genetical perspectives.]

Claes SJ.

Tijdschr Psychiatr. 2009;51(8):551-7. Dutch.

16. Choline in anxiety and depression: the Hordaland Health Study.

Bjelland I, Tell GS, Vollset SE, Konstantinova S, Ueland PM.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Aug 5. [Epub ahead of print]