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.
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.
For more information:
Well-Mind Association 205-547-6167
Dr. Abram Hoffer 250-386-8756
King County Councilmember Kent Pullen 296-1009