Discerning The Mauve Factor part 1
Woody R. McGinnis, MD, Tapan Audhya, PhD, William J. Walsh, PhD; James A. Jackson, PhD; John McLaren-Howard, DSc, FACN;
Allen Lewis, MD; Peter H. Lauda, MD; Douglas M. Bibus, PhD; Frances Jurnak, PhD; Roman Lietha, MD; Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD
Here is an excerpt from the paper
“Mauve Factor,” or “Mauve” (mōv) for brevity, first was detected in the urine of psychiatric patients by the Hoffer group in 19581-4 and named for its appearance on paper chromatograms.
Irvine extracted the compound from urine,1,5 correctly assigned the structure to the pyrrole family,1,6 and conferred the common name.1 Early technology permitted only qualitative assay.2,6-8 Hoffer observed that recovery from acute schizophrenia associated with disappearance of Mauve from the urine, regression with reappearance.2,4,7 Large doses of vitamin B3 suppressed Mauve in schizophrenics.6,7,9 Pfeiffer reported superior clinical results with combined vitamin B6 and zinc, which suppressed Mauve and improved symptoms in many neurobehavioral disorders.10-17
The Pfeiffer group introduced a colorimetric quantitative assay for Mauve,18 which utilizes kryptopyrrole (KP) as standard. Structural similarity affords the use of KP as standard for HPL assay, but the 2 molecules are distinct (Figure 1). Mauve was identified mistakenly as KP by Irvine in a high-profi le scientifi c journal in 1969 and again by Sohler in 1970.20 A flurry of research on the experimental effects of KP eventuated.3,10,21-33 Improved technology demonstrated that KP is not found in human urine,34,35 and Mauve was identifi ed indisputably by synthesis as HPL.36-41
To read the whole article download the attached PDF
Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:08
Child Maltreatment and Psychosis
Child Maltreatment and Psychosis: A Return to a Genuinely Integrated Bio-Psycho-Social Model
John Read 1, Paul Jay Fink 2, Thom Rudegeair 3,
Vincent Felitti 4, Charles L. Whitfield 5
For several decades the conceptualization and treatment of mental health problems, including psychosis, have been dominated by a rather narrow focus on genes and brain functions. Psychosocial factors have been relegated to mere triggers or exacerbators of a supposed genetic predisposition. This paper advocates a return to the original stress-vulnerability model proposed by Zubin and Spring in 1977, in which heightened vulnerability to stress is not, as often wrongly assumed, necessarily genetically inherited, but can be acquired via adverse life events. There is now a large body of research demonstrating that child abuse and neglect are significant causal factors for psychosis. Ten out of eleven recent general population studies have found, even after controlling for other factors, including family history of psychosis, that child maltreatment is significantly related to psychosis. Eight of these studies tested for, and found, a dose-response. Interpreting these findings from psychological and biological perspectives generates a genuinely integrated bio-psycho-social approach as originally intended by Zubin and Spring. The routine taking of trauma histories from all users of mental health services is recommended, and a staff training program to facilitate this is described.
Please download the following PDF to read the whole paper
Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 22:46
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Can Attachment Theory Help Explain the relationship between childhood Adversity and psychosis?
The following is an excerpt of an article of research by John Read and Andrew Gumley.
Dominance of the medical model
For several decades our efforts to understand the causes of human distress,despair, and confusion have been impeded by the dominance of a simplistic, reductionist paradigm interested primarily or exclusively in genes and neurotransmitters (Bentall, 2003; Read, Mosher, & Bentall, 2004). This ‘medical model’ has been enthusiastically supported by the pharmaceutical industry, which has much to gain from promulgating an ideology that minimizes psycho-social causes (Mosher, Gosden, & Beder, 2004; Read, 2008). Although the dominance of this model pervades all categories of psychiatric diagnoses,nowhere has it been stronger or more damaging than in the field of psychosis.
Since the invention of the supposed illness ‘schizophrenia’ a century ago (Bentall, 2003; Read, 2004a), millions of people worldwide have been condemned to the pessimistic, self-fulfilling, and stigmatizing belief that they are suffering from some kind of irreversible brain disease. This disease, which has wrongly been presented as largely genetically determined, supposedly has little or nothing to do with one’s life history or circumstances.
It is important to realize that the public, all over the world, have never accepted the illness model of mental health problems in general, or of ‘schizophrenia’ in particular. In virtually every country where surveys have been conducted, the public believes that madness is primarily a reaction to bad things happening to people rather than bio-genetically based illnesses(Angermeyer & Dietrich, 2006; Read, 2007). Everywhere ‘schizophrenia’ is seen by the public (including patients and family members) to be caused by poverty, isolation, family problems, child abuse and neglect more than by faulty genes or brains. This is despite millions of dollars, often donated by drug companies,being spent ‘educating’ the public that ‘mental illness is an illness like any other’. Studies repeatedly show, however, that the illness paradigm makes attitudes worse (Read, Haslam, Sayce, & Davies, 2006).
TO READ IN IT S ENTIRETY, PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE ATTACHED PDF
Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 22:59
Angels at my table- A NZ research paper on Hearing Voices
Angels at our tables: A summary of the findings from a 3-year research project into New Zealanders’ Experiences of Hearing Voices
Vanessa Beavan1, John Read2 and Claire Cartwright3
In 2003, researchers at the University of Auckland began developing a project to investigate the experience of hearing voices in the general New Zealand population. The idea for the project was based on international research suggesting that hearing voices is a relatively common experience, reported by approximately 5 to 10% of the general population. Findings from these international studies also demonstrated that voices could be experienced in many different ways, from positive and enriching to negative and distressing.
Rationale and objectives of the research
The New Zealand study had 4 main objectives.
1. To map the range of hearing voices experiences in the general population. This included investigating topographical characteristics such as content, form and identity of voices, as well as the impact the experience has on people’s lives.
2. To explore voice-hearers’ own explanatory models and analyse how these relate to the ways in which their voices are experienced.
3. To increase knowledge about effective ways of managing voices. This included identifying coping strategies that voice-hearers use and evaluating their effectiveness, as well as exploring voice-hearers’ experiences with mental health agencies and other support services.
4. To seek out and describe the essential structure of the phenomenon of hearing voices, in an attempt to provide a definition of this phenomenon that will fit across the range of different voice-hearing experiences.
To read in its entirety,please download the pdf below.
Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 22:35
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Research
