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In 1977 David Horrobin proposed his theory that schizophrenia was a result of prostoglandin deficiency based on a few observations;

(1) all effective antischizophrenic drugs stimulate prolactin secretion and prolactin is a potent stimulator of prostaglandin synthesis; (2) schizophrenics are resistant to pain and inflammation and are free of rheumatoid arthritis and there is increasing evidence that prostaglandins play important roles in pain, inflammation, and rheumatoid arthritis; (3) high doses of drugs recently shown to be prostaglandin antagonists cause schizophrenia-like syndromes

This and other evidence supporting this theory is interesting. I doubt prostaglandin deficiency is the only factor in schizophrenia, but it may be a factor. I'm unsure at this point.

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions and evaluations of this theory.

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I found something for you - not sure how helpful it is, but it is very solid. content.karger.com/produktedb/… I read one of the Jurgen Gallinal's articles - quite impressive and it makes some sense. Not sure how else to contact you so I am posting it here. – VB Jun 26 at 9:34
Thanks for the link, this looks like a really good paper. – Mscott Jun 28 at 5:20

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I wonder if mental illness is not diet related, or a neurotransmitter deficiancy myself.

Studies have suggested (sorry didnt read these studies myself), bipolars are high in glutamate, and low in acetylcholine, and schizophrenics are high in acetylcholine, and low in glutamate. Both those neurotransmitter systems relate to memory and conciousness.

Glutamate lowering drugs are disassociatives, like ketamine and PCP. Choline lowering drugs are delirients like datura. Bipolars treated with choline respond as effeciently as they do with anti-psychotics (did read these studies) 30% of people are low in choline (choline is in eggs and meat). There have been several studies on bipolar and choline, and the link seems completely plausible, when you consider what choline lowering drugs do, and that people in society are generally low in choline.

There are no studies that I know of that attempt to rectify the balance in schizophrenics with glutamine supplementation, but thats something that really should be tried.

I personally have no idea about your prostaglandin deficiency theory, and sorry to use this as a chance to share the theory Ive considered, but thought u might be interested.

The other unpopular theory worth considering with mental illness is that of psychic conflict, that emotional pressures in the persons mind, or particularly world, or world veiw cause the person to experience things in metaphor, in an attempt to re-organise the mind (roughly).

This is the model that Jung proposed, and there have been a few cases of schizophrenics being successfully cured using this model (trying to understand what the delusions and hallicinations mean, being in a supportive, safe and comforting enviroment).

I think there is some merit in this concept, as there is clearly metaphorical content in mentally ill peoples ideas and experiences, much like that in dreams. Youd need to be blind not to see that these delusions and hallicinations arent random. They fall into clear symbolic patterns. And there is also a high degree of emotional disatifaction and trauma in mentally ill peoples lives.

I tend to beleive that a combination of these two factors (diet/lifetysle, and emotions) could resolve/cure mental illness - ie a tailored eating pattern, excercise, and corrections to the conditions which the person lives in, and context for their emotions.

At the very least, these are two links - dietary neurotransmitters levels and underlying emotions behind mental illness that are underexplored and considered.

Why is it that rather than assume a person has issues they need context for, we assume something is radically broken? Children 'hallucinate'. 60% of people hear voices, usually there own name. Traditional people have long talked to their anscestors. These experiences are perfectly within normal experiences, they are just under-recognised in our materialistic, scientific, and emotionally stoic society. (and the stoicism of our society probably doesnt help "mentally ill" people at all IMO)

Anyway, in my mind, the current accepted theories of mental illness, are so unfounded, so unevidenced, so counter intuitive, so poor at giving treatment, and quite inhumane either way, that I personally veiw them as pure primitive superstition, that is the result of a society in strong denial.

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Jamie, thanks for your comment. I've become fascinated with in this topic and am reading what I can about it. I appreciate your perspective. – Mscott Jun 19 at 6:50
Jamie, you have not watched the link I have posted (a lecture by Robert Sapolsky). He tells a story that proves the occurrence of mental illness in hunter-gatherers and animals. So much for the diet/lifestyle/emotion hypothesis. No, mental illnesses are not the norm and I believe they are chemical imbalances. The condition of the patient can be improved with diet and lifestyle, but the genes cannot be eradicated. There is no cure. – VB Jun 19 at 8:59
All people are afflicted with schizophrenia. I don't know who spread the story that the hunter-gatherers are immune from the disease. It is possible that there will be more environmental stresses that will kickstart the retrovirus in a Neolithic environment, however. But schizophrenia goes back to time immerorial. Most American Indian tribes had shamans and others who behaved like schizophrenics. – Mambo Jun 19 at 14:21
Well these two theories are just theories, and they are probably oversimplified. Its worth noting that in primitive societies "schizophrenia" is highly culturally regarded. And veiwing schizophrenia as a disease does not account for the prevelance of hearing voices in normal populations, nor the prevelance of talking to ancestors in primitive societies. I continue to beleive that mental illness is an extreme manifestation of normal experience, the metaphorical subconcious that exists within all of us. – Jamie Jun 20 at 1:31
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 Jamie, interestingly in the video VB posted a professor tells a story about meeting a schizophrenic Maasai woman who, among other things, heard voices. The professor said he asked why this was strange, since the Maasai are known to hear the voices or their elders, for example. They said that she heard voices at the wrong times. It's an interesting story. – Mscott Jun 20 at 21:30
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I have to disagree with this theory.

  1. Please watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEnklxGAmak

  2. Schizophrenia is 100% heritable and it has a very weird genetic pattern. It is a recessive gene that follows an atypical pattern of heredity.

EDITED: by 100% heritable I mean that the gene/genes responsible are inherited by 100% of all offspring. It does not mean that the child develops schizophrenia, but all children carry the genes and pass them on. Those genes will manifest themselves in future generations following a particular pattern. No quotes - personal observations.

  1. I believe in dopamine-receptor theory. Why? I know too many schizophrenics, unfortunately, and observed them in a very close environment. It is not true that schizophrenics are resistant to pain. Some of them - yes, some of them - definitely no.

http://mancpsychsoc.blogspot.com/2011/10/schizophrenia-is-arguably-80-heritable.html

I disagree with the author. Definitely 100% heritable.

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Why is this mutually exclusive? – Jay Jun 18 at 19:19
In the letter I linked to David Horrobin wrote that his hypothesis "is not necessarily inconsistent with current transmitter theories of schizophrenia since prostaglandins modify transmitter secretion and action". – Mscott Jun 18 at 19:49
They don't have to be mutually exclusive, but... Horrobin's hypothesis is trying to answer the question "how", instead of "why". Once you know "why", you will get to "how". – VB Jun 18 at 20:22
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 100% heritable? Seriously? – Nasty Brutish and Short Jun 18 at 20:38
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 Still waiting for that citation supporting the "100% heritable" claim... – Nasty Brutish and Short Jun 18 at 22:10
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That's a 1977 article, eons ago in terms of medical research. Schizophrenia research has since advanced far beyond RA and prostoglandin. The latest flavor of the month pins the blame on pathogens.

Actually, this time, the flavor of the month seems to have some staying power: The latest thinking is that schizophrenia may be linked to MS and bipolar disorder, and that the culprit is HERV-W, a retrovirus which entered our DNA 60 million years ago, when human being were lemur-like mammals. Infections trigger HERV-W to awaken shortly before or after birth: properly activated, the new born now has a death sentence and a destiny with either schizophrenia, MS or BD.

Some of you may laugh but the retrovirus theory explains the frequence of schizophrenics being born in colder months. Well, guess what, the same thing happens in MS and BD. Whether you contract schizophrenia, MS or bipolar disorder may depend on the state of your immune system, which is weakend in colder months. Again, no brainer since those with autoimmune problems know that the gut and the brain seem to be tightly linked when it comes to moods, even psychosis.

Read more about it here. It's a detective story. And someone who cracks the schizophrenia puzzle will be a health detective, not someone at the treatment end clueless and unaware of the role of infections in kickstarting just about every disease there is. PHD seems to be right -- infections cause not only chronic and degenerative diseases but other, even mental, illnesses as well.

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus

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The HERV theory is interesting. Thanks for the link. I definitely need to read up on it a bit more, but I'm wondering if it necessarily pushes the prostaglandin theory out the window. I can think of some connecting explanations, but I'll need to become a bit more informed about the retrovirus theory. – Mscott Jun 19 at 7:06
They're already conducting clinical trials with mice. A couple of more of these and I believe the infection model of schizophrenia will take hold. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18845557?dopt=Abstract – Mambo Jun 19 at 14:30
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I can't answer your question directly, but you may find some great info at Dr. Emily Dean's blog:

Evolutionary Psychiatry

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 Indeed, Emily Dean's blog is awesome. Her writing about this subject is actually what got me interested in researching schizophrenia. – Mscott Jun 19 at 17:22

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