PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Megan Rodway
AU  - Annette Vance
AU  - Amany Watters
AU  - Helen Lee
AU  - Elske Bos
AU  - Bonnie J Kaplan
TI  - Efficacy and cost of micronutrient treatment of childhood psychosis
AID  - 10.1136/bcr-2012-007213
DP  - 2012 Nov 09
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - bcr2012007213
VI  - 2012
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2012/bcr-2012-007213.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2012/bcr-2012-007213.full
AB  - Psychosis is difficult to treat effectively with conventional pharmaceuticals, many of which have adverse long-term health consequences. In contrast, there are promising reports from several research groups of micronutrient treatment (vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids) of mood, anxiety and psychosis symptoms using a complex formula that appears to be safe and tolerable. We review previous studies using this formula to treat mental symptoms, and present an 11-year-old boy with a 3-year history of mental illness whose parents chose to transition him from medication to micronutrients. Symptom severity was monitored in three clusters: anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis. Complete remission of psychosis occurred, and severity of anxiety and obsessional symptoms decreased significantly (p<0.001); the improvements are sustained at 4-year follow-up. A cost comparison revealed that micronutrient treatment was <1% of his inpatient mental healthcare. Additional research on broad-spectrum micronutrient treatment is warranted.