In fact, one of Canada' s former research directors for mental illness, the psychiatrist Dr Abram Hoffer, has treated 5,000 patients in this way and claims a very high success rate using nutritional approaches.

I strongly recommend you take your son to see a clinical nutritionist trained in this area. There are many avenues for them to explore. For instance, Dr Iain Glen of Aberdeen University' s mental health department has found that 80 per cent of schizophrenics are deficient in the essential fatty acids found in oily fish, nuts and seeds. A lack of the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E could be a factor, as could allergies, blood sugar imbalances or high levels of histamine, a body chemical released during allergic reactions that is high in some people with schizophrenia.