Orthomolecular psychiatry

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Orthomolecular psychiatry is a branch of orthomolecular medicine, an alternative medicine known for its claims that dietary supplements and other unorthodox nutritional treatments can be effective in treating mental illness. The approach uses unorthodox forms of individualized testing and diagnosis to attempt to establish an etiology for each patient's specific symptoms, and claims to tailor the treatment accordingly, using a combination of nutrients, dietary changes and medications that are claimed to enhance quality of life and functionality as well as to reduce or eliminate symptoms and the use of xenobiotic drugs.

The origins of orthomolecular psychiatry date to the 1920s, and the work of Abram Hoffer in the 1950s established the orthodoxy of the field. Hoffer's therapies focused on using niacin, among other nutrients, to treat acute schizophrenia, which was identified using the Hoffer-Osmond test. In 1973, a task force of the American Psychiatric Association examined and rejected the practice and it has been considered an alternative therapy since that time. However, the conclusions of this APA report were strongly criticized by proponents of orthomolecular psychiatry for being politically motivated and scientifically unfounded.[1] Currently there is a clinical trial being conducted on the basis that previous trials were done without taking into account Hoffer's distinction between acute and chronic schizophrenia.[2]

Since Hoffer's early work, other possible nutritional treatments for mental illnesses from both inside and outside the orthomolecular community, and some mainly preliminary current scientific research is consistent with some the hypotheses advanced by orthomolecular psychiatrists,[3] but most orthomolecular practices have not been extensively tested by conventional clinical trials, instead practitioners rely on their interpretations of biochemical research, case reports and clinical series. Continue Reading >>

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Could you be as sane (or crazy!) as what you eat?

Could you be as sane (or crazy!) as what you eat? This new (and fiercely controversial) arm of psychiatry contends that even the ultimate mind bending horror of schizophrenia is nothing more than a problem of vitamins and minerals. Our Cosmo investigator takes a searching, objective look.

Joanie, a 28-year-old legal secretary, began to have temper tantrums directed at Tom, the man she'd been living amiably with for three years. During these outbursts, Joanne became physically violent, something she had never done before, once even chasing Tom out of their apartment with a butcher knife. These fits of rage would depart as inexplicably as they arrived, leaving Joanie distraught and sobbing. Shaken, particularly by the knife episode, she began seeing a psychiatrist. For several months, the analyst had Joanie explore her emotions about Tom, her parents, her job, her goals and expectations, but the puzzling rages continued. Joanie quit the psychiatrist and went instead to a clinic specializing in orthomolecular psychiatry, a new branch of medicine that treats mental disorders mainly through nutrition. In less than two weeks Joanie's devastating tantrums vanished and have not reoccurred. Continue Reading >>