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Orthomolecular psychiatry is a branch of orthomolecular medicine that believes that specific dietary supplements and measures may be effective in treating mental illness.

Specific techniques commonly employed include individual biochemical workup, dietary measures, juice fasting, supplementation of essential nutrients especially vitamins C and B-3, minerals and identifying allergies.

It has used such techniques, including megadoses of vitamins, in the treatment of alcoholism, drug addiction, anxiety, autism, depression, hyperactivity, ADHD, Alzheimer's Disease, retardation, senility, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Pioneered in the 1950s by psychiatric physician-biochemists, Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond in Canada, the embryonic field of orthomolecular psychiatry was further advanced by the efforts and support of Carl Pfeiffer and Linus Pauling.

Potentially impacting (then) conventional psychiatric markets and methodologies such as extended analysis, indefinite hospitalization, invasive procedures (e.g. electroshock) and neuroleptics, orthomolecular psychiatry is controversial. Some studies claim to it to be of no use. Mark Vonnegut discusses this regimen in his memoir The Eden Express. Vonnegut, a Harvard-trained pediatrician who practices in Boston, Massachusetts, once advocated the use of orthomolecular psychiatry but later disavowed such certainty after medical school.

However, critics note that the claims of proponents are considered unsubstantiated by conventional psychiatry, and leading scientific bodies such as the National Institute of Mental Health^{[citation needed]} and American Academy of Pediatrics^{[citation needed]} have criticized orthomolecular treatments as ineffective and potentially toxic. A task force of the American Psychiatric Association investigating orthomolecular claims concluded:

This review and critique has carefully examined the literature produced by megavitamin proponents and by those who have attempted to replicate their basic and clinical work. It concludes in this regard that the credibility of the megavitamin proponents is low. Their credibility is further diminished by a consistent refusal over the past decade to perform controlled experiments and to report their new results in a scientifically acceptable fashion.

Under these circumstances this Task Force considers the massive publicity which they promulgate via radio, the lay press and popular books, using catch phrases which are really misnomers like "megavitamin therapy" and "orthomolecular treatment," to be deplorable.
Proponents consider the APA studies highly politicized and that it failed to use similar methods and subjects as the orginal work^{[citation needed]}.
Many orthomolecular physicians still prescribe neuroleptics, initially. However, the long term avoidance of neuroleptics is the main goal. Pfeiffer's Law, actually a dictum, states, "For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect."
References
Abram Hoffer, Morton Walker (2002) Smart Nutrients: Prevent and Treat Alzheimer's, Enhance Brain Function, CCNM Press, ISBN 189061226X

Abram Hoffer (July 2004) Healing Schizophrenia: Complementary Vitamin & Drug Treatments, CCNM Press, ISBN 1897025084

Abram Hoffer (2004) Healing Children's Attention & Behavior Disorders: Complementary Nutritional & Psychological Treatments, CCNM Press, ISBN 1897025106

Eva Edelman (2001) Natural Healing for Schizophrenia: And Other Common Mental Disorders, Borage Books; 3rd Rev ed, ISBN 0965097676

Eric Braverman, Carl Pfeiffer, K. Blum, R. Smayda (2003) The Healing Nutrients Within: Facts, Findings, and New Research on Amino Acids, 3rd ed, Basic Health Publications, ISBN 1591200377

Carl C. Pfeiffer (1988) Nutrition and Mental Illness : An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry, Healing Arts Press, ISBN 0892812265

Birkmayer JGD & Birkmayer W, "The coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) as biological antidepressive agent. Experience with 205 Patients.", New Trends in Clinical Neuropharmacology, 5:19-25, 1991.

Melvyn R. Werbach (1999) Nutritional Influences on Mental Illness, 2nd edition, Third Line Press, ISBN 0961855088
External links
Orthomolecular Medicine Online

[1] Linus Pauling (1967) "Orthomolecular Psychiatry"

Dr Reading
See also
Orthomolecular medicine

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 Potentially impacting (then) conventional psychiatric markets and methodologies such as extended analysis, indefinite hospitalization, invasive procedures (e.g. electroshock) and neuroleptics, orthomolecular psychiatry is controversial.  Some studies claim to it to be of no use.  [[Mark Vonnegut]]  discusses this regimen in his memoir ''[[The Eden Express]]''.  Vonnegut, a Harvard-trained [[pediatric]]ian who practices in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], once advocated the use of orthomolecular psychiatry but later disavowed such certainty after medical school.
+However, critics note that the claims of proponents are considered unsubstantiated by conventional psychiatry, and leading scientific bodies such as the National Institute of Mental Health{{fact}} and American Academy of Pediatrics{{fact}} have criticized orthomolecular treatments as ineffective and potentially toxic. A task force of the American Psychiatric Association investigating orthomolecular claims concluded:
+:<i>This review and critique has carefully examined the literature produced by megavitamin proponents and by those who have attempted to replicate their basic and clinical work. It concludes in this regard that the credibility of the megavitamin proponents is low. Their credibility is further diminished by a consistent refusal over the past decade to perform controlled experiments and to report their new results in a scientifically acceptable fashion.<i>
+:<i>Under these circumstances this Task Force considers the massive publicity which they promulgate via radio, the lay press and popular books, using catch phrases which are really misnomers like "megavitamin therapy" and "orthomolecular treatment," to be deplorable.<i>
+Proponents consider the APA studies highly politicized and that it failed to use similar methods and subjects as the orginal work{{fact}}.
 Many orthomolecular physicians still prescribe [[neuroleptic]]s, initially.  However, the long term avoidance of neuroleptics is the main goal.  Pfeiffer's Law, actually a dictum, states, "For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect."