Psychiatric Disorders

PTSD, Intentional Self-Harm, Eating Disorders, Bipolar and Schizophrenia

May 09, 2024

This article will be on the topic of certain “mental disorders” or “mental health conditions” which I am using as a very broad term that should encompass “psychiatric disorders” such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, things like post-traumatic stress disorder “PTSD”, eating disorders and self-harm disorders (nonsuicidal self-injury)“NSSI”.

I’ve already written articles about conditions that can be considered to be anxiety disorders, neurological disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders. It’s often difficult to draw a line between what is a “neurological”, “psychiatric” or “behavioural” disorder, but these labels are largely not important and are simply just an exercise in categorizing.

For example, I currently already have specific articles on:

I also have a series on neurodegenerative disorders called “Maintain Your Brain”. It has three parts and so far Part I on ALS, MS and HD and Part II on Parkinson’s Disease are out. Part III will be on Dementia.

Excess cortisol can lead to psychosis. A high cortisol-to-testosterone ratio in men is common in men with PTSD. Similarly, excess cortisol is thought to be involved with psychosis in general, such as with the psychosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Georgi Dinkov blog post: High cortisol and low testosterone likely drive PTSD

There are many reasons why someone could have excess cortisol, and, more specifically, excess cortisol in relation to other hormones. For example, useful ratios would be the cortisol: DHEA, cortisol: progesterone, cortisol: testosterone ratios and so on. Be that as it may, a classic root cause of excess cortisol in relation to other hormones is often related to the metabolism/metabolic rate/thyroid function. I have written about this phenomenon in many of my articles, such as the article on PCOS. The information in that article is relevant for men and women and I think everyone who is interested in the topic of stress hormones, “adrenal fatigue” and so on should read the article.

The crux of the argument is that when thyroid, liver and gonadal (testicular or ovarian) function is down, or “down-regulated” then other systems, the stress systems, will ramp up their activity to “compensate” for the lower activities of the thyroid, liver and gonads. This can look like excess activity of the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenals leading to a large amount of stress hormones, and few “protective” hormones. For example, if your ovaries are not functioning well then you will have less progesterone, and if your ovaries are not functioning well then your adrenals will ramp up the production of adrenaline and cortisol (and DHEA to protect against the excess cortisol) as compensation. This often can lead to an “overcorrection” where someone is dealing with a massive amount of “untamed” cortisol, as it were.

The overall solution to lessening this is to do things that improve the function of the thyroid, liver and ovaries so your body does not feel the need to overproduce stress hormones via the pituitary and adrenals.

“Thyroid gland or progesterone, or both, can produce a complete disappearance of mental symptoms when those symptoms result from any biochemical imbalance that can be rectified hormonally, because these two substances have very generalized regulatory functions. I feel that any "diagnosis" (naming in Latin) of a "functional mental disturbance" is at best irrelevant, and may be very destructive. People with diagnoses of "schizophrenia," "epilepsy," "manicdepressive psychosis," "Parkinsonism," "myasthenia gravis," "involutional psychosis," "neuritis," "sclerosis," etc., have reported that they felt normal or improved after taking progesterone, often within 40 minutes. Magnesium, as epsom salts or magnesium chloride or carbonate, can relieve some cases or irritability and tension, even when something else, such as hypothyroidism, is the basic cause. “
“Pfeiffer has investigated the relationship of porphyria to certain forms of "schizophrenia," but I don't think he has mentioned that a good dose of glucose, or of an anti-estrogen hormone, such as testosterone or progesterone, will make the symptoms go away…”
- Ray Peat, Ph.D. in his book Nutrition for Women

Supplementation with the protective hormones, pregnenolone, DHEA and progesterone, can be very protective against mental disorders. Part of this may be their ability to block the effects of certain stress hormones. Progesterone can be very calming and opposes excess estrogen which can be involved in many mental disorders. Men can safely use progesterone (dissolved in vitamin E), however, it is more of a female hormone. Pregnenolone, which is the very first steroid hormone to be produced from cholesterol, is a very safe and useful “antistress” hormone that can probably be used by anyone to counteract the symptoms of a mental disorder. DHEA is a classically anti-cortisol hormone, but it can easily turn into estrogen. It’s best to use DHEA in low doses, 1-15mg a day, and it’s best to combine it with either pregnenolone or progesterone. I think pregnenolone is likely one of the best hormonal supplements for schizophrenia, and progesterone is likely the best for PTSD but they are both very powerful. DHEA can be useful, but as an add-on to either pregnenolone or progesterone, in my opinion.

These hormones can be used topically, or taken orally. Pregnenolone is typically ingested as a powder (Health Natura brand linked at the end of the article), but there is also a pregnenolone cream from Onas (also linked at the end of the article). Progesterone dissolved in vitamin E oil is the best way to orally take progesterone, but this formulation can also be used topically. There are also progesterone creams. I’ve written about the use of these hormones in many of my previous articles, such as the one on PMS and the one on PCOS. You can find them using the archive of my articles.

Ammonia and lactate/lactic acid in excess can lead to psychiatric disorders. One of the reasons why lithium seems to be beneficial for mental disorders is that it can help get rid of excess ammonia

Ammonia and lactate are increased to excessive amounts when someone cannot utilize glucose well. When we can oxidize glucose effectively we produce a lot of CO2 (carbon dioxide) as opposed to a lot of lactate. So, if you aren’t using glucose well you will likely have a high amount of lactate. Similarly, CO2 is needed for turning ammonia into urea, where urea is beneficial and ammonia is toxic. So, if you aren’t oxidizing glucose well then you will have less CO2, and thus you will have too much ammonia.

“Hypothyroid people, with low production of CO2, are very susceptible to stress-induced hyperventilation, and they are often in a state of physiological hyperventilation. They are susceptible to over-production of ammonia (De Nardo, et al., 1999; Marti, et al., 1988) and lactate (Zarzeczny, et al., 1996), and to psychosis, especially depression and mania. The low metabolic rate that defines hypothyroidism has often been reported in psychoses and dementia (Wolberg, 1935; Gibbs and Lemcke, 1923).”
“Since carbon dioxide has stabilizing effects in the brain, including the relaxation of blood vessels, the loss of carbon dioxide causes vasoconstriction, deficient delivery of oxygen and glucose to the brain, leading to a decreased metabolic rate. Schizophrenia, bipolar (manic depressive) psychosis, and Alzheimer's dementia involve a generally reduced metabolic rate, but in Alzheimer's disease the brain's use of sugar is decreased more than that of oxygen. Energy deprivation, caused by insufficient glucose or oxygen, causes immediate swelling of cells, and is associated with excitation; the ammonia associated with energy deprivation and excess excitation contributes to swelling (Kline, et al., 2012; Bosoi, et al., 1990; Mrsulua, et al., 1990; Kogure, 1984). “
Several types of mental problems are associated with edema of the brain-an excess of water, or the presence of water that is functionally abnormal, less constrained, as measured by MRI. MRI can also directly measure the redox balance, NAD/NADH, of the brain, and it has been found that schizophrenics and manic depressives have lower ratios, that is, their cells are less well oxidized. Before any mental impairment develops, people who later develop Alzheimer's disease, experience reductive stress (Lloret, et al., 2016).
-Ray Peat, Ph.D

This means that people with mental disorders should try to improve their oxidation of glucose. I went into this in detail in my article “How to Utilize Glucose Well”. A quick note here, thiamine (vitamin B1) and magnesium are very helpful nutritional supplements for increasing the proper oxidation of glucose. Niacinamide can also be very helpful here. Also, Ceylon Cinnamon seems to be able to get rid of excess ammonia, making it a useful spice to use for preventing mental disorders.

Low levels of uric acid seem to be related to certain mental disorders such as schizophrenia. “Antioxidants, including uric acid, are deficient in schizophrenics.” - Ray Peat, Ph.D. Molybdenum is a mineral that is important for uric acid production, so it is possible that a molybdenum deficiency could exacerbate schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Molybdenum also helps with glutamate issues and sulphite issues, which makes it a prime candidate for mental health disorders. Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is also important for uric acid production.

“At normal, healthy levels, however, uric acid is an antioxidant that specializes in protecting everything circulating in our blood from wear and tear.” -Chris Masterjohn Ph.D

Many people consider marijuana to be very beneficial and tobacco/nicotine to be very harmful. Be that as it may, nicotine seems to be protective against schizophrenia and marijuana seems to be a risk factor for developing schizophrenia. This does not mean tobacco products are “healthy” but it seems that nicotine can be a useful tool to use for people who have or are scared of developing schizophrenia. Smoking cigarettes can be very harmful for many reasons other than simply smoking the tobacco. For instance, these cigarettes have many chemicals, and pesticides and are often contaminated with heavy metals like lead and cadmium. Occasionally and reasonably utilizing a nicotine patch or nicotine gum may be useful. If someone is scared of developing schizophrenia, they should probably avoid cannabis.

It seems that excess serotonin is potentially a contributor to many psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia. Serotonin antagonists have been shown to have positive effects on schizophrenia. It would be advisable to avoid having excessive serotonin, and as such it is advisable to avoid using SSRIs and serotonin-boosting supplements like St. John’s Wart and 5-HTP.

Some blog posts from Georgi Dinkov

Vitamin D deficiency seems to be linked with many mental disorders. For example, high PTH and low vitamin D are associated with bipolar disorder. Vitamin D deficiency is also linked to schizophrenia and is thought to increase the chances of developing PTSD. Further to this, people with eating disorders are often low in vitamin D. Lastly, self-injurious behaviour seems to be decreased with vitamin D supplementation. When vitamin D levels are too low, the parathyroid hormone “PTH” is increased. PTH is involved in osteoporosis and seems to increase one’s chance of developing bipolar disorder. Keeping PTH down is an important goal to have for anyone who cares about their mental health, and the best ways to do this are to consume enough calcium, to have enough vitamin D and to make sure you are getting enough magnesium as well.

Many people know about the use of lithium for bipolar disorder, but lithium can be useful for a wide variety of health conditions, especially psychiatric and mental disorders. Lithium carbonate is the prescription high-dose lithium and it is used primarily for bipolar but has been used as an adjunct treatment for many other disorders such as schizophrenia. Having said that, there is quite a bit of evidence of the efficacy of over-the-counter low-dose lithium orotate for many of these disorders. This is described in great detail in the book “Nutritional Lithium, a Cinderella Story”. In that book, the author Dr. Greenblatt MD describes, in detail, how lithium helps with so many mental disorders including eating disorders, and bipolar. Dr. Greenblatt has also spoken about how lithium orotate can help with the impulsivity, irritability and instability of borderline personality disorder.

Lithium orotate seems to be very safe, and very useful for these disorders. It seems to generally be considered a “mood stabilizer” and it’s great for reducing irritability and aggression. There is also evidence that it can help with OCD, tics (as seen in chronic tic disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome), depression and most neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There are many reasons why lithium is helpful, some of which are that it helps normalize glutamate levels, it can increase the utilization of vitamin B12, increases BDNF, it lowers PUFA levels which helps lower inflammation and so on. Lithium seems to be even more effective when combined with the amino acid agmatine.

Lithium for schizophrenia

“Several of the known biochemical effects of lithium are similar to those of progesterone, including antagonism to aldosterone, modification of serotonin metabolism, elevation of nerve thresholds, and facilitated disposition of ammonia.”
-Ray Peat Ph.D.

Vitamin B6 also seems to be very beneficial for mental disorders. One main reason for this is that vitamin B6 is needed by the enzyme which converts glutamate into GABA. This is important as too much glutamate is anxiety-inducing and can worsen mental disorders, and too little GABA is an issue because GABA is a calming neurotransmitter. So, since vitamin B6 lowers glutamate and increases GABA it is a prime candidate to help with psychiatric disorders. Further to this, vitamin B6 lowers the production go quinolinic acid, and quinolinic acid is indicated in many mental disorders, so lowering its production is very helpful. I go into vitamin B6 in far more detail in the Dance of Glutamate and GABA. In that article, I also mention the best form and dose.

Great blog post from Georgi Dinkov: Vitamin B6, lowering stress, may treat schizophrenia

Vitamin B3, Niacin, has long been thought to be protective against schizophrenia. Dr. Abram Hoffer discussed this in great detail in many of his books and such. However, when it comes to the form of vitamin B3, people like Ray Peat Ph.D and Georgi Dinkov often suggested using Niacinamide, as opposed to regular Niacin. In addition to Abram Hoffer’s work, I would also suggest checking out the work of doctors Linus Pauling, and Carl Pfeiffer and the book “Nutrient Power” by William Walsh.

Dietary niacinamide (B3) deficiency may be a cause of schizophrenia

Excess copper is often noted to be involved in psychiatric conditions. This is sometimes referred to as “copper toxicity” and is often made in reference to an imbalance between copper and zinc. Copper is a very important nutrient, so I do not recommend avoiding copper in foods. However, if someone has a mental disorder it’s probably best to avoid supplementing copper, and they may need to consume more zinc either from food (oysters, lamb, beef, cheese…) or from a zinc supplement like zinc carnosine. It’s also important to consume enough vitamin C, as a vitamin C deficiency can potentially lead to copper toxicity. Furthermore, vitamin C supplementation has been shown to be helpful in certain types of schizophrenia.

“ Excess estrogen causes the body to accumulate copper, and copper poisoning itself (often caused by water that is contaminated, for example by plumbing, a hot water heater, or utensils) is known to cause symptoms of schizophrenia. “
-Ray Peat, Ph.D.

Some have said that in order to “use” copper effectively you need to consume vitamin A. I have not been able to confirm this, but I do consider vitamin A to be an extremely important nutrient. So, whether vitamin A helps with copper utilization or not, it is a great idea to consume enough vitamin A as retinol. In fact, the best source of vitamin A, beef liver, is very high in copper as well. Selenium is also very high in liver, and selenium is a very important mineral for people with mental disorders, especially bipolar disorder. Zinc is needed to utilize vitamin A effectively.

Ray Peat has written about how good thyroid function is necessary for the correct assimilation of copper. So copper “toxicity” may possibly be a result of poor thyroid levels, which leaves the person unable to use the copper, leading to an excess.

“Copper, which is the co-factor for the cytochrome C oxidase enzyme, activated by thyroid, is essential for bone formation and maintenance, and is consistently deficient in osteoporosis. Thyroid hormone increases the body's ability to assimilate copper.” -Ray Peat, Ph.D.

Ray Peat also considered consuming enough protein (typically 70-100g a day of protein at least) to be important for dealing with psychiatric conditions.

“Adequate dietary protein, and the ability to use it efficiently, should have the highest priority in the treatment and prevention of nervous and emotional problems, regardless of whether the diagnosis is "bipolar disorder," "depression," "schizophrenia," "multiple sclerosis," "obsessive-compulsive disorder," or other official psychiatric category.”

Different orthomolecular physicians such as Dr. Carl Pfeiffer have categorized the general diagnosis of “schizophrenia” into four distinct types. He noted that a schizophrenic is not confined to only one type of schizophrenia, and may have some degree of multiple types of schizophrenia. When he suggested the use of vitamin B6, he often noted that the right dose was the dose that allows for dream recall. He seemed to be very against copper supplementation and was under the impression most people have too much copper. He described the types of schizophrenia as:

high histamine schizophrenia (in need of zinc, manganese, calcium, methyl donors and vitamin B6)
low histamine schizophrenia (caused by excess copper, need more vitamin B6, zinc, niacin/niacinamide, folate and vitamin C)
Pyloric schizophrenia (need for more zinc and vitamin B6)
Cerebral allergy (advice was to avoid food allergens such as wheat gluten and A1 dairy protein)

There is some evidence that non-suicidal intentional self-injurious behaviour may be a result of systemic inflammation. I have an inkling that this involves excess substance P which causes pain. I think agmatine and vitamin B6 should be able to help for a few reasons, but one such reason is both of these nutritional supplements have an analgesic (anti-pain) effect. Vitamin E has strong anti-inflammatory effects and may be useful here. Also, progesterone is an anti-inflammation hormone so it can likely be helpful as well, as is pregnenolone. Clonidine is also helpful for this condition and is known to lower stress hormones while also being a pain reliever.

When it comes to amino acid supplements for psychiatric conditions I think the best ones are glycine, agmatine, taurine and theanine. But out of all of these glycine is likely the best. For example, glycine is known to help decrease the startle response, and thus it is very useful for PTSD. Furthermore, there is evidence that glycine is beneficial for other conditions such as schizophrenia. NMDA antagonists are useful for mental conditions and agmatine (like magnesium) is a natural NMDA blocker. This makes agmatine very useful for any mental health-related condition. GABA is very beneficial for these conditions and as such taurine and theanine are very useful amino acid supplements to utilize.

I talk about glutamate and GABA, and NMDA antagonisim in detail in my article (linked earlier) on the Dance of Glutamate and GABA

NAC may be useful for certain conditions. It’s well known to be useful for OCD but it seems like it can also be useful for eating disorders, such as bulimia.

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) decreases binge eating in a rodent model

There are several case studies that zinc supplementation can help those dealing with anorexia nervosa. Dr. James Greenblatt in his book “Finally Focused” described how when he would give zinc supplements to his anorexic patients they would improve.

When it comes to medications I think clonidine can be very useful for certain mental disorders. Clonidine is a pretty safe drug that’s primarily used for high blood pressure, but it is also used for anxiety and panic attacks, tics and Tourette’s, ADHD and sometimes OCD. Furthermore, it can be very helpful for PTSD, self-injurious behaviour and other mental conditions as well.

Amantadine (an NMDA antagonist, among other things) can also be a good option for some of these conditions such as bipolar disorder.

Possibility of a New Indication for Amantadine in the Treatment of Bipolar Depression—Case Series Study

List of useful substances

Pregnenolone, Progesterone and (maybe) DHEA
Lithium Orotate
Vitamin B6 (P5P)
Niacinamide
Magnesium
Glycine (can also get a lot of glycine from collagen and bone broth)
Agmatine, taurine, theanine
Molybdenum supplement (if cannot get enough from food)
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin B1
Ceylon cinnamon (to get help rid of excess ammonia)
Zinc carnosine (if cannot get enough zinc from food)
Manganese and selenium supplements (if cannot get enough from food)
NAC
possibly the use of nicotine via patch or possibly gum - use with caution

Refer a friend

*None of this is medical advice. I am not a medical professional, always talk to your doctor*

If you enjoyed this article, please consider checking out the other articles I’ve written. Also, please feel free to subscribe (it is free to do so) and share the articles with others. Thank you!

BTW: I am a frequent guest on the podcast “Stuff Your Doctor Should Know”.

Discount code DEAN works at:

Ona’s Naturals (progesterone oil, topical progesterone and pregnenolone creams)
LifeBlud (Magnesium products, Taurine, Theanine, B vitamins, Methylene Blue)
Health Natura (oral pregnenolone, Methylene Blue)

amanda

Nov 5

Hi Constantine. Thank you that was very interesting. Am I right to assume that, if I have low uric acid levels in a blood test, taking a molybdenum supplement may help to raise them?

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2 replies by Constantine Kanargelidis and others