A schizophrenia doesn’t have a split personality – he or she has no personality at all. Schizophrenics usually think and perceive things unrealistically. They have little social life and few outside interests. Quite often, they feel that someone or something is directing their actions.

The closest a schizophrenic comes to having a ”split” personality is that he or she tends to act unpredictably, doing odd things for no rational reason. A touch of schizophrenia may produce a great artist like Vincent van Gogh. Full fledged schizophrenia, on the other hand, can produce a deranged killer like Son of Sam (both van Gogh and Berkowitz are considered to have been schizophrenic).

But most schizophrenics are more likely to be unexceptional people who act according to a bizarre sets of rules they make up (and break) as they go along. Psychiatrists say that schizophrenia is the most common type of psychosis. But few schizophrenics ever recover from the disorder.

Drugs can help the individual to think rationally, but they produce serious side effects when used for months or years. Schizophrenia is like cancer in that there are not only various kinds of the disease but various causes, most of which are not clearly understood.

Besides genetic and psychological factors, some experts have tied schizophrenia to viruses, toxins in the air and water, and nutritional deficiencies. And one school of thought holds that allergies to foods or inhalants may be responsible in some cases.

A wheat schizophrenia link was first suspected as a result of studies done by F. C. Dohan, M.D., in Philadelphia. Dr. Dohan found that when schizophrenics who had celiac disease (an inability to absorb the gluten protein in wheat and other cereal grains) ate a gluten free diet, their schizophrenia began subside.

They got much worse when they once again ate wheat or other gluten containing cereals [rye, oats, rice or barley] (American Journal of Psychiatry, May, 1979). Later studies, by Man Singh, M.D., of Memphis, Tennessee, showed that schizophrenics improved when placed on a diet free of both wheat and milk (Science, January, 1976).

Considering that milk frequently aggravates celiac disease, that discovery meshes well with the gluten intolerance observation. James R. Rice, M.D., and associates report a schizophrenic who had been hospitalized for more than 13 years, but who improved substantially on an eight week gluten free and milk free diet, after which she was discharged.

Another woman, hospitalized with schizophrenia for 14 years, improved considerably on a gluten free and milk free diet, and lapsed back into schizophrenia when she once again ate gluten (American Journal of Psychiatry, November, 1978). Most recently, A. Arthur Sugerman, M.D., of Belle Mead, New Jersey, found that 80 percent of the schizophrenics he tested were allergic to eggs (Annals of Allergy, March, 1982).

Drinking too much caffeine, it seems, can accentuate schizophrenic behavior. One woman, diagnosed as schizophrenic, noted that she felt very strange and paranoid if she drank more than four or five cups of coffee a day. The effect was so dramatic that she decided to do without coffee altogether, and felt much better (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, September, 1978).

Airborne allergens can add to the problem. William Philpott, M.D., a psychiatrist who’s probably done more research on the link between allergy and emotional illness than anyone else, tells of several individuals whose schizophrenia was aggravated by fumes of natural gas, cigarette smoke, auto exhaust or other pollutants.

”Approximately one third of my patients react to various chemicals common to our environment,” says Dr. Philpott. Reducing their exposure to chemicals alleviates their schizophrenia, reports Dr. Philpott (Brain Allergies: The Psycho Nutrient Connection, Keats Publishing, 1980). Nearly all of us eat wheat or eggs or drink milk, though.

Most adults drink coffee or other caffeine containing beverages. And we all breathe fumes and odors. Yet few of us are schizophrenic. Evidently, those items have a disorienting effect on certain people predisposed to schizophrenia – possibly in the form of allergic reactions. You might think of allergy induced schizophrenia as ”hives” of the brain.”

”Rotary Diets,” gives very detailed guidelines for avoiding wheat, milk, eggs, caffeine and other foods. Clearing the Air, offers similar guidelines for dealing with airborne allergens. See also Alcoholism, Anxiety, and Depression.