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Hofmann’s Potion

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

This documentary offers a compassionate, open-minded look at LSD and how it fits into our world. Long before Timothy Leary urged a generation to “tune in, turn on and drop out,” the drug was hailed as a way to treat forms of addiction and mental illness. At the same time, it was being touted as a powerful tool for mental exploration and self-understanding.

Featuring interviews with LSD pioneers, beautiful music and stunning cinematography, this is much more than a simple chronicle of LSD’s early days. It’s an alternative way of looking at the drug… and our world. (National Film Board of Canada, 2002)

Filed Under: Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Tagged With: ,

Feed Your Head

September 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Psychiatrists Abram Hoffer (1917 – 2009) and Humphry Osmond (1917 – 2004) met in Saskatchewan in 1951, and embarked on a quest to do what traditional psychiatry deemed impossible: to find a cure for schizophrenia. Their work spawned a number of directions for research, many of which are only gaining acceptance in wider circles now.

Their primary contribution to psychiatry was a theory about treating people suffering from mental illness using nutrition. Hoffer and Osmond set out to prove that the symptoms of schizophrenia could be controlled with healthy, unprocessed food and large doses of vitamins.

Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994) was an American scientist, peace activist, two-time Nobel Prize winning author and educator. Pauling & Hoffer became friends and together advocated for mega-doses of niacin, vitamin C and other nutrients in the treatment of all kinds of disease. Pauling came up with the name “Orthomolecular” for this new, yet ancient, form of treatment. Orthomolecular means “the right molecules in the right amounts.”

Hoffer, Osmond and Pauling were way ahead of their time. Their work coincided with a general movement towards de-institutionalization in mental health, releasing patients back into the community with no real support system. At the same time, economic changes were bringing budget cuts to all aspects of health care in North America.

This was also the dawn of the age of Big Pharma. Multi-national pharmaceutical corporations sprung up in the 1950s and 60s, introducing new anti-psychotic drugs that made it possible to control, if not actually help, the mentally ill. Consumers put their faith in the idea of the “magic bullet” and since then, psychiatry has been largely controlled by the pharmaceutical industry.

For their efforts, Hoffer, Osmond, Pauling & hundreds of like-minded doctors were condemned by their peers.

The tide is turning: a growing wave of consumer demand is driving an orthomolecular resurgence. Doctors and patients are being slowly won over by a simple idea that makes more sense every day: WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. Documentary from 2010.

Watch the full documentary now:

Filed Under: Mental Disorders, Mental Disorders, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Tagged With: ,

Masks of Madness: Science of Healing

September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A Documentary on the Orthomolecular Treatment of Schizophrenia: 

Masks of Madness: Science of Healing (1998) explores the orthomolecular approach to treating mental illness, chronicling the experiences of patients and physicians who have gone beyond the inadequacies of conventional psychiatry to find real hope in orthomolecular medicine. Hosted by actor Margot Kidder, who herself suffered from bipolar disorder, the film recounts her journey to recovery using orthomolecular medicine.

Joining Margot, other patients participate in a candid roundtable discussion of their individual descents into mental illness, their difficulties in getting answers from conventional psychiatry, and their final recoveries using alterations in diet, vitamin and mineral supplementation, and a minimum of pharmacological intervention. Well known doctors and health professionals also share their experiences.

Abram Hoffer, Hugh Riordan, Hyla Cass, Bradford Weeks, Michael Janson, Patrick Holford and others describe the elements of their therapeutic approach, their satisfaction at seeing patients recover from the “incurable,” as well as the professional resistance they faced when incorporating orthomolecular treatment into their medical and psychiatric practices.

The major orthomolecular building blocks for optimal mental health are introduced in a comprehensive way to demonstrate that orthomolecular medicine is a real answer for people suffering from mental illness and for physicians who long to make significant changes in the lives of their patients. Everyone will benefit from seeing this absorbing, informative and inspiring documentary. (Excerpt from orthomed.org)

This video is produced by Sisyphus Communications in conjunction with the International Schizophrenia Foundation.

Filed Under: Disease Videos, Health Conditions, Mental Disorders, Mental Disorders, Nutrition, Nutrition (videos), Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Tagged With: , ,