Relationship To Mainstream Psychiatry
Orthomolecular psychiatry has been rejected by the mainstream medical community. Critics have noted that the claims advanced by its proponents are unsubstantiated, and even false. Authoritative bodies such as the National Institute of Mental Health and American Academy of Pediatrics have criticized orthomolecular treatments as ineffective and toxic.
A 1973 task force of the American Psychiatric Association charged with investigating orthomolecular claims unanimously concluded:
This review and critique has carefully examined the literature produced by megavitamin proponents and by those who have attempted to replicate their basic and clinical work. It concludes in this regard that the credibility of the megavitamin proponents is low. Their credibility is further diminished by a consistent refusal over the past decade to perform controlled experiments and to report their new results in a scientifically acceptable fashion. Under these circumstances this Task Force considers the massive publicity which they promulgate via radio, the lay press and popular books, using catch phrases which are really misnomers like "megavitamin therapy" and "orthomolecular treatment," to be deplorable.
Studies since then have tended to confirm that while other medical conditions may respond to diet and/or vitamin treatments, psychiatric conditions do not respond to them at all.
Read more about this topic: Orthomolecular Psychiatry
Famous quotes containing the words relationship and/or mainstream:
“It would be a fallacy to deduce that the slow writer necessarily comes up with superior work. There seems to be scant relationship between prolificness and quality.”
—Fannie Hurst (1889–1968)
“We in the South were ready for reconciliation, to be accepted as equals, to rejoin the mainstream of American political life. This yearning for what might be called political redemption was a significant factor in my successful campaign.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)