Comments on: A whiff of madness

By: Susanne

Susanne — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 02:35:40 +0000

My mother has suffered from fairly extreme schizophrenia all my life, she is now in her early 70′s. Her clothes have always had a very strong odour even when she was young. It is a smell that I have never smelt on anyone else and does increase in intensity when she is close to an episode. I thought that this could be down to the fact that her hygiene is not the best as is often the case with those who have a mental illness, but even now that she receives hone care nursing she has the same smell. I have also heard comments from other people that people with extreme depression give off a strange smell as well. It is something that I have always remembered about my mother from my childhood so it could just be her or there is something in the research.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 05:01:13 +0000

I have been intrigued by this subject for decades since my teenage son definitely emitted this odd pungent smell after school and work. The GP couldn’t explain it. He was subsequently diagnosed as schizophrenic and has been on drugs ever since. I wrote to Abram Hoffer who replied that it was a common “mousy” smell in the old wards, but couldn’t explain it either.
I have always wished for more serious research into this phenomenon as it may hold some answers. But then – the drug companies wouldn’t be interested in finding such answers – could threaten their stronghold on the drug market.

By: Raine

Raine — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:37:50 +0000

I found this interesting article on the web: url pasted below… It’s not making me rush off to a Doc, but it is a couple of points of view: (ps, didn’t copy the whole article, so you have to go to the url for the complete goodie…)

“By all means, a phantom smell could mean something serious,” says the psychiatrist and nationally recognized smell and taste expert. “It absolutely needs to be evaluated. It could be a tumor – that’s on the top of your list of things to rule out – but it could also be a cyst or some infectious agent housed in the area of the brain where the smell is processed.”
Brief episodes of phantom smells or phantosmia – smelling something that’s not there – can be triggered …”

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/11/10/4380036-phantom-smells-may-be-a-sign-of-trouble

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By: Raine

Raine — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:49:28 +0000

…been pondering… it must always be kept in mind that in controlled environments, the patients have hardly much choice as to their intake of breakfast, lunch and supper, and so they consume and exhude the same protein and vegetation… like the smells from individuals who consume onions after a long abstinence from the veg/fruit, or garlic or rum… it all plays a big role. There’s also the rumour that some institutions put “drugs” directly into the foods that are consumed by the patients… well, those are my thoughts up to date on this subject… warmest wishes…

By: Raine

Raine — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:34:02 +0000

me love mindhacks totally – i’m sure herein lies the cure to many ailments, imaginary; hereditary; real-but-not-verified; scary and downright out of this particular world… I would love it if there is some stuff out there for discussion here under subject: SYNCRONICITY… I find it totally fascinating how I seem to go in circles so that I recognise that I’m in a particular cycle again and sometimes I am even able to recognise the “symptoms” or “signs” of the cycle to know what to do next or what NOT to do next, rather…. please keep mindhacks going and please, don’t charge us ever, coz i have NO MONEY… and I need to be able to “read” other people’s thoughts, whether they are top of the class or backseat drivers… I need so much to be able to relate to others and find similarities in thought so that I am able to deal in a better fashion with “daemons” (which I believe are just old, very old, spirits having a badhairday! LOL!)… anyways, this steers from the subject… on with the mind… :-}

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:58:03 +0000

Fantastic article w/(mostly)thoughtful responses. As a hyperaware and hypersensitive individual with mental illness (as well as an entire family of mentally ill peoples) I can affirm that not only does schizophrenia have a distinct scent, I believe and would postulate that all mental illness creates its’ own smell. My sister, who is schizo-effective and has disassociative disorder/PTSD (along with a bevy of personality disorders) has an acrid vinegary scent that I have also detected while staying as a patient in a psych ward. Depression smells overly yeasty, like too much bread in too small a space. My own anxiety kicks up something much like celery and acid. Diet, genetics, ethnic background and environment probably due contribute as well, but in my experience, there does seem to be a commonality, regardless of diet or ethnicity. The import of this does not strike one at first until you consider that if a specific chemical is released through the pores as it breaks down, then that chemical had to originally come from somewhere else. If that “somewhere else” can be found, perhaps we will see new and improved treatments for mental illness. I am one of the lucky ones in that I can monitor and take care of my own mental flaws. True, I am constantly tormented, but I deal with that with lots of exercise. But I digress. Great article, I absolutely love mindhacks.

By: Raine

Raine — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:17:33 +0000

Hi, I’m back… Been reading all the entries and what a lot of information: it sure is interesting, and I’m thinking about the dogs they have that can sniff out cancer, and drugs and stuff… What I’d like at this moment is a pack of wolves that could smell out the cruel and horrible “people” and rush them straight into a cell… sorry, but, working for an animal charity and hearing about yet another bludgeoning of an animal just because it peed on a couch has me inscensed… (my spelling is atrocious!) and I bet I have a different smell to me now than when I’m cool, calm and collected… i know that there are certain smells that when I smell them or remember them, or when they “suddenly” come into my nostrils, they bring memories, and I guess my smell would depend upon whether I am happy or sad or frightened by that smell… I know I can’t stand hospital smells and avoid them like the plague… so, smells can also be triggers for certain behaviour, as in lavender to calm the nerves in some people, and ether to knock one totally out… I do hope that you all carry on this discussion as it is very interesting. I was intrigued when a nursing sister at the institution I was in said that schizophrenics could be identified by something in their blood… Yeah, must get on with my stuff… Warmest wishes, Raine

By: Emmy

Emmy — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:58:43 +0000

I’m a researcher as well (animals, not people) I think it’s clear that I did not mean all researchers. I think we have to ask ourselves if people with serious mental illness are able to consent to such an experiment. The idea that this could lead to a cure is stretching it. Is the experiment inherently unethical? No, but if I were involved I’d make sure the idea did not get out into the public eye unless it yielded important results, which it obviously did not. When you’re working with a population who are this vulnerable to public degredation I think it’s obvious you have to be more careful what you announce. It amazes me how supposedly intelligent researchers could be so clueless.

By: murfomurf

murfomurf — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:25:55 +0000

Please don’t classify researchers in this way- I was a researcher for many years and I have also been mentally ill. We never treated anybody in an inhumane manner, always asked permission before talking about personal information and always gave people the option of not answering or of asking us to leave. Researchers are usually hunting for some characteristic of people with a diagnosis which would enable a medicine to be developed. Then the medicine could maybe “neutralise” some chemical in the body which makes people ill/not function in the usual way. The clues are obviously very hard to find as we haven’t invented any drugs that work without side effects. However, it’s far better to have a mental illness these days than in the past when people were chained up and hosed down. Researchers HAVE found some drugs that help some people and I’m personally very grateful for modern antidepressants.