Psychiatry Yesterday (1950) and Today (2007): From Despair to Hope with Orthomolecular Psychiatry Abram Hoffer mo no rrcric)eft cig fr ia ai fe seeteicheta tartar ‘Secmeee ee oe cnegeonn meer Sceereadebegesneeipaeeemet seen et aaa pace Eola eee are at ear are DVR wvesntetcom Tend Kingdom ape sat Sut a ft a Schizophrenia, Yesterday (1950) and Today (2007), From Despair to Hope With Onthomolecular Psychiatry by Abram Hofer Acknowledgments To my daughter Miriam Hoffer for her skiliu,careful editing, {act checking and typing of the manuscrip. Kenneth Whyte, publisher and editor-in-chief of “Macleans Magazine in Canad, defended a cover story from the previous week. In that story, Professor Philip Slayton, a former dean of jaw atthe University of Western Ontario, accused his profession of falling to live up tits cherished ideals and instead working to the detriment of society. ‘Whyte commented, “Mr. Slayton has done the Canadian legal profession a service by going public with his concerns that one of the problems of the Canaclan legal profession is that legal professionals are more interested in maintaining a lucrative status quo than in confronting the need to reform.” Replace the word legal by the word psychiatric and you wil Anticipate the contents ofthis book. Slayton’ wrote “In Canada, lawyers are allowed to run the legal profession as they see fit. The only possible justification 7 Whyte K Counterpoint: Lavy caving Bay The Natoma Tost Toronto, August 2207 2. Stayton Why Should Lawyers be Allmes Regulate ‘emacs? The lobe and Ma Torn, August 20072 for this legislative gift is that itis in the public interest. But is ite” Then alter listing the defects in the present legal system the points out that other countries including Great Britain, are developing a better system which is focused on placing the inteests of the consumers at its centre. The two key ‘changes are that the legal profession will be overssen by a new board witha lay majarity and secondly that complaints ‘will be investigated by an independent office. "Law and the legal system belong o all Canadians.” Slayton’s views are ‘elaborated in is book Liaise the same questions with respect to the medical profession. I's also sel- regulated, through its medical colleges, a legislative gift from the provinces, wth the aim of protecting the public. This it oes toa limited degree, but in ny opinion the medical profession is much more interested in protecting its own turt. | think that when you have read this book you will come to the same conclusion. The medical profession has devoted itself too much to protecting itself and has been so conservative that it has been one of the main hindrances to research and new developments in medicine and in psychiatry. As Mr Slayton suggests forthe legal profession, medicine belongs to all Canadians, not to the ‘medical profession 3 Slayton F. Lawyees Gone Bad. Money Sex and Madness in ‘Canada’ Legal roesson, Viking, Canad, 2007 Section One