Orthomolecular Treatment for Schizophrenia

I have recently been reading the work of Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D, F.R.C.P, and am most impressed with his work and research into the causes of Schizophrenia. Firstly, he describes Schizophrenia not as something to be suppressed with drugs, rather he calls it a disease which needs to be cured, and as it is a syndrome there are multiple factors which need to be addressed. For example, in his book 'Orthomolecular Treatment for Schizophrenia ’ he describes a number of factors which contribute to the symptoms of Schizophrenia: allergies known as cerebral allergies, vitamin B-3 and B-6 dependencies, vitamin deficiencies such as scurvy or pellagra, essential fatty acid deficiencies, mineral deficiencies such zinc deficiency, toxic reactions to lead or to drugs, LSD and similar hallucigins, infections such as rheumatic fever, syphilis, and many others. He also goes into how he has cured many Schizophrenics using vitamins such a Niacin, Vitamin C, water fasting them if they are allergic, etc.

I highly recommend his work if you have loved ones suffering from the disease, best of luck, God bless.

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There are vitamins and supplements that are helpful for schizophrenia - but not the stuff that Hoffer thought would work 40 or 50 years ago. I recommend you read our section on complementary treatments for schizophrenia:

http://schizophrenia.com/treatments.php

Also this:

Niacin and Nicotinic Acid - the marketing of niacin (also known as vitamin B3 and Nicotinic Acid) as a “cure” for schizophrenia began over 30 years ago by Dr. Abraham Hoffer. In what must surely be classified as one of the most “optimistic” viewpoints ever to hit the field of schizophrenia Dr. Hoffer continues to push this approach despite significant amounts of research to the contrary. We believe that this is a very good reason to be skeptical when anyone claims any cure for schizophrenia. When a cure is finally discovered for schizophrenia, you should expect to see it on the covers of every major newspaper and magazine in the world. Dr. Irwin David Irwin of Vancouver, Canada summarizes the current view of Dr. Hoffers Theories - which even now still gets covered in newspapers and public forums - in this statement in a letter to the Editor of the Vancouver Sun newspaper:

"At a time of real progress in treatment of schizophrenia, Dr. DeMarco has written about an approach which Dr. Abram Hoffer and others developed in the 1950s, but which by the 1970s was proven to be fruitless. The work of Dr. Hoffer and others is discussed in detail in the American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report, July 1973, which points out methodological flaws in the early work and reviews later studies which failed to show any benefit for such treatments.

In recent years, new medicines, with improved side-effect profiles and techniques to overcome problems with social and occupational functioning, have been well proven advances for the treatment of schizophrenia. Early intervention programs should prevent some of the serious dysfunction of the disease.

Serious illnesses like schizophrenia require proven treatments. Vitamin treatments as “alternative” therapy for schizophrenia should not be recommended.

David Irwin, MD
Department of Psychiatry
Vancouver General Hospital
Source: The Vancouver Sun, January 23, 1998 "