Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD,
internationally-respected pioneering leader in effective treatment of
schizophrenia, advised natural medicine advocate and Councilmember Kent
Pullen that King County elected officials should demand a better job from
their psychiatrists. At the invitation of Chair Pullen, Hoffer appeared
before the Law, Justice & Human Service Committee of the King County
Council in June. Dr. Hoffer suggested the elected officials ask the County
psychiatrists a simple question: how many of their patients are well? If
not, why not?
Councilman Pullen readily acknowledged the
importance of that telling question. He also opined that the Harborview
board, which is appointed by the County, might also request such information
from the medical officers responsible for treatment of mental illness at the
County-owned Harborview. NOTE: Managed for the County by the University of
Washington, Harborview is an academic teaching hospital for students at the
University’s School of Medicine.
The Terrible Costs of the Wrong Treatment
Families are destroyed, people are killed,
billions of public dollars are wasted because proper diagnosis and treatment
of schizophrenia is not done, reported Hoffer. For example, he told the
Committee that every patient not treated successfully costs the public at
least $2 million over the patient’s lifespan. He felt every community
ought to immediately investigate the cost savings by treating their patients
with the simple and cost-effective orthomolecular protocols developed by
Hoffer and others.
So how many patients are diagnosed
schizophrenic? Dr. Hoffer says that a disturbing trend has taken hold in
mental illness. Schizophrenics are not properly diagnosed.
"Bi-polar" and "borderline personality disorder" are the
more currently promoted diagnoses today. No one wants to use the term
"schizophrenia" any more. Yet if strict diagnostic parameters are
followed, many with such "modern" diagnoses are more properly
suffering with schizophrenia which would lead to the proper orthomolecular
treatment using Vitamin B-3, along with Vitamin C, other parts of the
B-complex.
Orthomolecular Psychiatry is Effective
Besides citing numerous double-blind studies
that have been published in scientific journals, Dr. Hoffer told the
Committee about his own experience since he began using orthomolecular
protocols. He reported he has treated 5000 acute schizophrenics since the
1950’s. He has found 90% recovery for acute patients who stay on the
orthomolecular program for 2 years. With chronically-ill patients Dr. Hoffer
has experienced success but it took longer. He told the Committee not long
ago he randomly-selected 27 patients from the 500 he has treated who met a
certain criteria. The criteria was: the patients had been ill seven years
prior to coming to see Dr. Hoffer, had failed to respond to all other
(conventional) treatments, and who stayed on Dr. Hoffer’s program for 10
years. In that group he found 17 are well. Dr. Hoffer sadly noted the word
"cure" does not appear in any psychiatric dictionary, although the
word does appear in other medical dictionaries.
In closing, Dr. Hoffer said the
orthomolecular treatment is the most effective treatment for the
schizophrenic syndrome today. He hopes institutions will look into the
treatment in order to perfect it. – Merrily Manthey, M.S.