Nutritional Psychiatry Blackballed by U.S. Psychiatric Establishment

By Michael Gottlieb, B.S.

Ask your doctor about minerals and supplements for your mental health

In 1945, two Canadians psychiatrists—Dr. Abram Hoffer and Dr. Humphrey Osmond—began treating Canadian soldiers returning from Japanese prisons in treatment protocols for severe mental illnesses including schizophrenia and depression. They provided a healthy diet including avoidance of sugars and sweets with added minerals. They sought to publish their research and clinical experiences in the U.S. around 1955 but were blackballed by the medical and psychiatric journals who feared losing advertising dollars from the pharmaceutical companies who were bringing out their first generation of psychiatric medications.

By now some three quarters of a million Canadians have been successfully treated via nutritional psychiatry (aka orthomolecular psychiatry). It has virtually no side-effects vs. the metabolic poisons touted here in the U.S. and yet it remains virtually unknown and unused.

The foods we eat and the liquids we drink have a profound effect upon our brain chemistry. Certain supplements of vitamins (some in mega doses) and minerals and amino acids have demonstrated remarkable healing effects upon severe mental illness. Often a nutritional psychiatrist will use nutritional psychiatry along with a sharply reduced dosage of traditional psychiatric medications. But here in the U.S. the psychiatrists and medical doctors have no education, no training in nutritional healing. It would be, alas, the blind leading the blind. And the consequences are severe toxic side effects (Toxic Psychiatry by Dr. Peter Breggin) along with the non-compliance of many patients due to these toxic side effects.

The brilliant, life saving work of Dr. Hoffer and Dr. Osmmond appears to be virtually totally ignored here in the U.S. The consequences are severe.

If the mass media is either ignorant of nutritional psychiatry or muzzled by fears of retaliation from the powerful pharmaceutical industry, what happens to those who desperately need healing? Apparently, making money and profits supersede any priority of bringing healing to the patients.

Short-term use of chemical medications may be appropriate for certain individuals. Dr. Carl Pfiefer added to our knowledge of the biochemistry of Schizophrenia and how to utilize zinc and manganese to control elevated copper levels. Some 70% of schizophrenics have elevated copper levels in their brains, 20% have depressed levels. The 2^nd benefit is that symptoms are alleviated but not suppressed so patients are not drugged into submission.

Editor’s Note: The team at New York City Voices encourages you to talk to your doctor and pharmacist about all possible treatments for your health, including minerals and supplements. Please always consult with your doctor and pharmacist before trying any new treatments.