Treatments for Mental Diseases

This is a very controversial subject. There are many different treatments, but few with a logical rationale. The drugs have many bad side effects (Ref. 1). This is not a problem with psychotherapy, but often psychotherapy is ineffective. There is a new treatment involving magnetic brain stimulation. My view is that this treatment does not get to the biochemical errors causing these diseases.

In orthomolecular treament you try to figure out what is wrong and try to correct it. This makes a lot of sense, but money is a big factor in psychiatry. The drug companies feel that there is no money in orthomolecular treatments. I think that they are wrong, but that is their view. They feel that they can't patent natural substances. However, they might be able to patent a synthetic food or a combination of natural ingredients.

Linus Pauling

In 1968 when he published his famous paper "Orthomolecular Psychiatry", Pauling had been working on "molecular medicine". After studying sickle cell anemia and finding that it was molecular, Pauling decided that many diseases were also molecular. Pauling was right. He decided that psychiatric diseases were molecular after studying them. Then he coined the term "orthomolecular", which soon became popular but controversial. What he meant was that treatment should be the right amounts of the right molecules.

This may be an oversimplification because schizophrenia may be caused by an endogenous toxin. It may be useful to destroy this toxin.

PKU

PKU is an aminoacidopathy caused by a metabolic error in phenylalanine metabolism. Phenylalanine accumulates in the brain and poisons it. Other parts of the body are not affected as much. It seems that the brain is sensitive to amino acid excesses. Phenylalnine is high in the following foods:

Almonds, avocado, bananas, beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, cheese, corn, cottage cheese, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, lima beans, meat, nuts, ovalbumin, peanuts, pickled herring, pumpkin seeds, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, whey, whole grains.

This disease presents with psychiatric symptoms and can result in mental retardation if not treated from birth. The treatment is to avoid the above foods as well as other high protein foods. This disease is a food allergy in which the brain is allergic to certain foods. There is a mistaken belief that food does not affect the brain. This belief is wrong. The brain is made from, fueled by, and repsired by the food that we eat.

Sprue

This known physical disease also presents with psychiatric symptoms. Again the treatment is a diet. Gastrointestinal symptoms are also seen. The amino acid glutamine must be avoided in the diet. This amino acid is high in dairy products and wheat gluten.

A more complete list is shown below:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole grains. Hydrolysis of gluten, beet root or other proteins.

Conclusions

Where there is smoke, there is likely to be a fire. Various disorders of amino acid metabolism present with psychiatric symptoms. Therefore it is highly likely that mental diseases that are not yet understood may also be errors of amino acid metabolism. Another example is hyperargininemia, which is an error of arginine metabolism in which arginine is too high in the blood. This disease is treat with a low protein diet because arginine is in protein.

Arginine is high in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, carob, caseinate, chocolate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, oatmeal, popcorn, raisins, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, sunflower seeds, whey, whole grains.

There are patterns in the amino acid content of foods. Animal products tend to be complete proteins (except for gelatin). That means that they have all the essential amino acids. Plant products can have some of these but can be low in others.

My theory is that a diet low in protein may benefit the various types of mental illness because these various types of illness involve excess in amino acids in the brain.

References

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Aripiprazole-induced agitation after clozapine discontinuation: a case report.

Cho DY, Lindenmayer JP.

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2. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/823035/fruits_vegetables_their_value_and_composition.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1593193/amino_acids_in_psychiatry.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1568350/advances_in_biochemical_psychiatry.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1557123/proof_that_schizophrenia_is_organic.html

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7. Pauling, Linus. "Orthomolecular Psychiatry." Science, New Series 160, no. 3825. (April 19, 1968): 265-271.

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