History
Orthomolecular psychiatry began with Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond in the 1950s and was continued by Carl Pfeiffer of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center, although proponents of orthomolecular psychiatry say that the ideas behind their approach can be traced back to the 1920s and '30s. Orthomolecular psychiatry's goal of weaning patients from conventional neuroleptic drugs follows "Pfeiffer's Law", "For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect". In 1968, Linus Pauling used the term "orthomolecular".
The assertions by proponents of orthomolecular psychiatry were rejected in 1973 by a panel of the American Psychiatric Association. Orthomolecular psychiatry has subsequently found little support in mainstream psychiatry. After 1975, orthomolecular psychiatry research was primarily reported in Orthomolecular Psychiatry, now the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, a fringe publication founded by Abram Hoffer to counter what he considered to be a medical conspiracy against his ideas.
Read more about this topic: Orthomolecular Psychiatry
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