A Biochemical Concept of Mental Disease

Abstract

Evidence strongly favors an abnormal serotonin metabolism as an etiologic factor in some forms of mental disease, and it is possible that under certain circumstances a harmala alkaloid, endogenously produced, could cause a psychotic state; such a state would tend to be chronic because of a chemical feedback mechanism. Although only a theory, this hypothesis provides the fascinating motivation to fulfill Thudichum's dictate to study the normal brain chemistry “to its uttermost detail” so that eventually we may be able to isolate the “poisons fermented within the body” which are responsible for insanity.