Method

Fifty years of clinical data that mainstream psychiatry still hasn't adopted.

The approach we use didn't originate on the internet. It wasn't invented last year. It emerged gradually from the work of several scientists who clinically examined tens of thousands of patients and showed that mental illness follows measurable biochemical patterns. Here's a brief history of why we do things the way we do.

1968 — Linus Pauling introduces the term "orthomolecular psychiatry"

Two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling published an article titled Orthomolecular Psychiatry in the journal Science in 1968. The core idea was radical, yet simple:

In 1968, Linus Pauling wrote that optimizing vitamin and mineral levels could form part of an approach to mental illness being proposed at the time — this is historical context, not today's medical mainstream.
— Linus Pauling, Science, 1968

This article opened the door to an entire generation of researchers who began studying the relationship between biochemistry and mental health. The term "orthomolecular" literally means "the right molecule in the right place" — a principle that remains foundational today.

1950 – 1980 — Hoffer and Osmond: niacin changes the course of schizophrenia

Canadian psychiatrist Abram Hoffer and his colleague Humphry Osmond were the first to conduct double-blind clinical trials of vitamins for mental illness. Their results were dramatic — high doses of niacin (vitamin B3) combined with vitamin C and a B-complex significantly improved the course of schizophrenia and chronic depression.

Over his career, Hoffer treated more than 10,000 patients and published dozens of books. He was also among the first to articulate that psychiatry needed a biochemical classification of patients — not just symptomatic labels.

Hoffer's work has informed part of today's orthomolecular practice in supporting addiction recovery — it is not a standard treatment.

1973 – 1988 — Carl Pfeiffer and the Brain Bio Center

Carl C. Pfeiffer, M.D., Ph.D. was an American physician and pharmacologist who founded the Brain Bio Center in Princeton, New Jersey, in the 1970s. He examined thousands of patients with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and autism — and found that symptoms clustered into recognizable biochemical patterns.

Pfeiffer described three basic biotypes:

Histadelia — high blood histamine, undermethylation,
Histapenia — low blood histamine, overmethylation,
Pyroluria — loss of zinc and B6 through urine under stress sensitivity.

He summarized his work in the book Nutrition and Mental Illness: An orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry (1987). It was the first comprehensive textbook of biochemical psychiatry and laid the foundation for everything that followed.

Pfeiffer's statement remains the field's motto to this day:

"For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect."
— Carl Pfeiffer

1990 — present — William Walsh and the Walsh Research Institute

William J. Walsh, Ph.D. originally worked as a chemist at Argonne National Laboratory. After meeting Pfeiffer in the early 1980s, he took over his work and expanded it into an unprecedented clinical database.

The Walsh Research Institute today holds:

more than 30,000 patients with detailed biochemical histories,
over 3 million biochemical parameters,
unified assessment methods and physician training in 30+ countries.

Walsh expanded Pfeiffer's original three biotypes into five, added mechanisms, and described their biochemical markers:

Histadelia (Undermethylation) — the most common type of depression, accelerated serotonin reuptake,
Histapenia (Overmethylation) — anxiety, panic, paranoid symptoms,
Pyroluria — loss of B6 and zinc through urine,
Copper Overload — postpartum depression, hormonal mood swings, ADHD,
Toxic Metal Overload (heavy metals) — autism, chemical sensitivity.

Walsh's book Nutrient Power: Heal Your Biochemistry and Heal Your Brain (2012, Skyhorse Publishing) is today the most cited text in the field. Even in his 80s, Walsh continues to actively train physicians around the world.

The European line of pyroluria research

Alongside the American line of research, a separate branch focused on pyroluria developed in Europe — especially in the Netherlands and Germany. European orthomolecular laboratories developed a precise laboratory method for detecting pyrrole molecules in morning urine samples.

This laboratory standard is today the basis of the Pyroluria Test (€99) that we offer at PsyLab. The test is used across a network of European orthomolecular laboratories, though it is not part of standard medical diagnostics.

Over the past two decades, the European school has laboratory-confirmed pyroluria in thousands of patients, and its work forms today's European testing standard.

Why mainstream psychiatry hasn't adopted it

Orthomolecular psychiatry never entered the mainstream — not because its data was weak, but because:

vitamins and minerals aren't patentable, so they have no pharmaceutical lobby,
biochemical testing is more expensive and complex than prescribing an SSRI,
the medication-based model is institutionally deeply entrenched,
regulatory authorities generally don't recognize biotype-based diagnostics.

This doesn't mean the approach isn't scientific. It simply means it runs along a parallel track — through functional medicine, orthomolecular medicine, and a network of specialized laboratories in both Europe and the US.

PsyLab draws on these international laboratory capabilities and provides access to them for people in Slovakia.

This isn't theory. It's years of people's lives.

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