The Insanity Virus
By: Tess Thompson & Maddison Webster
What is the Insanity Virus?
Similar patterns of inflammation in the brain of people diagnosed with
schizophrenia. Inflammation is commonly attributed to illness, infection, or
heightened immune response. Torrey began studying over 100 volunteers. His
theory states that an infection or illness can trigger the insanity virus, leading
to the development of schizophrenic symptoms that last for longer periods of
time.
The images on top show cross sections of the brains of identical twins,
one of which has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Both have enlarged ventricles (the dark area at the center) and
differently shaped corpus callosum (surrounding the ventricle),
even though only one shows symptoms of the disease.
The images below show the brains of normal identical twins.
Courtesy of the Laboratory of NeuroImaging, David Geffen School of Medicine
History
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The word Schizophrenia is less than 100 years old,however the disease was described as a
mental illness by German physician Dr. Emile Kraepelin in 1887. Schizophrenia can be traced
back to Pharaonic Egypt. Depression, dementia and disturbances are typical for schizophrenia.
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A large part of the ‘insanity Virus’ theory is Fuller Torrey, Director of Stanley Medical research
institute in Maryland. His sister spent 40 years in hospitals suffering schizophrenia, and he has
spent 30 years researching it.
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Torrey and Miller state that around 1750, the British author Samuel Johnson claimed that
insanity was increasing. One chart in their book shows that between 1840 and 1955, the
number of "mentally ill" in the United States soared from 2,561 to 558,922.
Factual information
❏ Schizophrenia is usually diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 25,
although is usually more forgetful or shy or clumsy as a child.
❏ People born in winter or early spring are more likely than others
to become schizophrenic later in life. It is a small increase, just 5
to 8 percent, but it is consistent, showing up in 250 studies.
❏ The insanity virus is not contagious, it’s something we are all born
with
The Elmore Twins
Elmore
Steven and David Elmore were born identical twins, but their first days in this world could not have
been more different. David came home from the hospital after a week. Steven, born four minutes
later, stayed behind in the ICU. For a month he stayed near death in an incubator,with a fever from
what doctors called a dangerous viral infection. Even after Steven recovered, he lagged behind his
twin. He lay awake but rarely cried. When his mother smiled at him, he stared back with blank eyes
rather than mirroring her smiles as David did. And for several years after the boys began walking, it
was Steven who often lost his balance, falling against tables or smashing his lip.
Once they entered grade school they were back to their identical twins,
Steven had overcome the rough patches and was on the basketball team;
although at age 17 he began hearing voices.
Steven ended up in a psychiatric hospital, and ending up being diagnosed
with schizophrenia.
The Torrey’s
Torrey’s connection to schizophrenia began in 1957. As summer ended that year, his younger sister, Rhoda, grew
agitated. She stood on the lawn of the family home in upstate New York, looking into the distance. She rambled as
she spoke. “The British,” she said. “The British are coming.” Just days before Rhoda should have started college, she
was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Doctors told the grieving family that dysfunctional household relationships
had caused her meltdown. Because his father was no longer alive, it was Torrey, then in college, who shouldered
much of the emotional burden.
In 1970 Torrey arrived at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D.C., having finished his training in
psychiatric medicine. At the time, psychiatry remained under Freudian psychoanalysis, an approach that offered
little to people like Rhoda.
Fuller Torrey
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A large part of the ‘insanity Virus’ theory is Fuller Torrey, Director of
Stanley Medical research institute in Maryland. His sister spent 40 years
in hospitals suffering schizophrenia, and he has spent 30 years
researching it.
Schizophrenics show signs of inflammation in their white blood cells,
white fight infection, and they lose brain tissue as the disease
progresses.
Hervé Perron, made a breakthrough discovery, learning that everyone
carries the virus that causes multiple sclerosis. It’s in our DNA, the legacy
of a rare virus in a human, snf in people with MS, this “viral stowaway”
has been switched on to cause MS symptoms. Torrey, Yolken, and others
now think schizophrenia works in much the same way, caused by a
retrovirus called HERV-W.
The Discover Magazine
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The implications are enormous. Torrey, Meyer, and others hold out hope that they can address the root cause
of schizophrenia, perhaps even decades before the delusions begin. The first clinical trials of drug treatments
are already under way. The results could lead to meaningful new treatments not only for schizophrenia but
also for bipolar disorder and multiple sclerosis. Beyond that, the insanity virus (if such it proves) may
challenge our basic views of human evolution, blurring the line between “us” and “them,” between pathogen
and host.
Cures/ Treatments
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Torrey began treating many schizophrenic patients with antibiotics and
antiviral medications, and his studies have had astounding results. Each
time that immune response is diminished through the use of these kinds
of drugs, symptoms in schizophrenic patients began to improve, and
inflammation declined. The theory of the insanity virus has still not
thoroughly been proven. There is considerable research left to do.
Schizophrenia
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a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and
behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and
personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.
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Symptoms: Hallucinations -- hearing or seeing imaginary things, Delusions -- wildly false beliefs, Paranoia -the fear others are plotting against you
Troubles organizing thoughts, or organizing connections
Get agitated, and appear stone faced
begins 16-30
genes and environment both play a role in Schizophrenia
Therapies may help
No lab tests can detect, so history is looked at
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Schizophrenics often carried antibodies for toxoplasma,
a parasite spread by house cats
Doctors words
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Schizophrenia, they say, does not begin as a psychological disease.
Schizophrenia begins with an infection. (Torrey)
Work Cited
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Davidson, Keay. "Insanity Virus -- a Crazy Idea? / Mainstream Psychiatric Outcast Ponders Parasitic Mental
Illness." SF Gate. SF Gate, 5 Aug. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.
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Douglas Fox. "The Insanity Disease." Discover. Kalmbach, June 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
Fox, Douglas. "The Insanity Virus." 3 Quarks Daily. Disqus, 18 June 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.
Goetzman, Keith Goetzman. "In Search of the Insanity Virus." UTNE Reader. Oaden Publications, Mar. 2011.
Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
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Goldberg, Joseph. "Schizophrenia Health Center Slideshow: A Visual Guide to Schizophrenia." Web MD. Web
MD, 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.
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Martinez, Rosa. "Schizophrenia A Disabling, Complex, and Chronic Disease Doctors Don't Know the Cause For."
Insanity Virus. N.p., 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
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Wenner, Melinda. "Infected with Insanity: Could Microbes Cause Mental Illness?" Scientific American. Scientific
American, May 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.