Orthomolecular psychiatry. Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease

This 1968 article presents the idea that the preferred treatment for many mentally ill patients may be the provision of the optimum concentrations of important brain constituents. It seems likely that the brain is more sensitive to changes in concentration of vital substances than are other organs and tissues. The mental symptoms of vitamin deficiency sometimes appear long before any physical symptoms. In some cases it is possible that cerebrospinal concentration of a vital substance is extremely low, while the concentration in the blood and lymph is essentially normal. Decreased integrity of the blood-brain barrier or increased metabolism of the substance in the brain may result in cerebral shortages and ultimately a mental disease. Diseases of this sort may be called localized cerebral deficiency diseases. It has been suggested that the genes responsible for deficiencies in the concentration of vital substances in the brain may also be behind increased expression of the gene for schizophrenia. Additionally, this gene for schizophrenia may itself induce a localized cerebral deficiency in one or more vital substances. [NPID: orthomolecular psychiatry, brain, vitamins, schizophrenia, mental disease, gene expression]

Year: 1968

Reference: Pauling L. (1968). Orthomolecular psychiatry. Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease. Science (New York, N.Y.), 160(3825), 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.160.3825.265