E. Fuller Torrey - Scientific Research and Views

Scientific Research and Views

In the 1950s, it was commonly thought that schizophrenia was caused by 'bad parenting'. Torrey has argued that this theory had a toxic effect on parents. His sister had severe schizophrenia and spent most of five decades in hospitals and nursing homes until her death.

Torrey has been a fierce opponent of the influence of Freud and psychoanalysis. He has also argued that psychiatry should focus only on severe mental illness, conceived as neurological disorders, rather than other mental issues that he viewed as non-medical.

Torrey was principal investigator of a NIMH Schizophrenia/Bipolar Disorder Twin Study conducted at the Neuroscience center of St Elizabeth's Hospital in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and copublished more than a dozen studies on structural brain differences between affected and unaffected siblings. He differed from his collaborators in arguing that the genetic heritability of schizophrenia was lower than typically estimated. A review of Torrey's data analysis, however, suggested he had erroneously compared different sorts of concordance statistics.

In the early 1970s, Torrey became interested in viral infections as possible causes of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, particularly a parasite Toxoplasma gondii whose definitive host is the cat, but whose intermediate host can be any mammal, including humans. Up to one third of the world's human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection. Since then he has published, often with Robert Yolken, more than 30 articles on seasonal variation and possible infectious causes of schizophrenia, focusing especially on Toxoplasma gondii. He is involved in five or six ongoing studies using anti-Toxoplasmosa gondii agents (e.g. antibiotics such as minocycline and azithromycin) as an add-on treatment for schizophrenia. He believes that infectious causes will eventually explain the "vast majority" of schizophrenia cases. Some of his collaborators have disagreed with the emphasis he has placed on infection as a direct causal factor. Many of the research studies on links between schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii, by different authors in different countries, are funded and supported by the Stanley Medical Research Institute. The hypothesis is not prominent in current mainstream scientific views on the causes of schizophrenia, although infections may be seen as one possible risk factor that could lead to vulnerabilities in early neurodevelopment in some cases.

Torrey has generally been in favor of antipsychotic drugs. He has claimed that taking antipsychotics reduces the risk of violence, homelessness and prison. He has argued that "noncompliance" in about half of cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is due to lack of "insight" into the illness because the part of the brain for self-awareness has been affected; and that in some who are aware it is due to adverse effects ranging from tremors or sedation to sexual dysfunction to substantial weight gain. He has also reported that at least some antipsychotics cause medical conditions in some people that can be fatal, especially African Americans. He has also argued that pharmaceutical companies have too much influence over psychiatric organizations and psychiatrists, effectively buying them off.

Torrey has advocated in favor of a flexible well-funded range of community mental health services, including Assertive Community Treatment, clubhouses (staffed by professionals with consumers as members), supported housing and supported employment, emphasizing illness and medication compliance throughout.