Violence May Go to The Head: Root Causes
by Recent studies indicate that violent and antisocial behavior can be caused by chemical imbalances in the body…How did this line of investigation start? Surprisingly enough, with a chess game…Other games followed, and friendship between the two sides sprang up. One of the scientists, chemist William J. Walsh, began to wonder “why such nice people could have done such terrible things.”
The breakthrough came in 1976, when the Walsh team began to use hair analysis, a method also being employed by scientists at McGill University in Montreal. Convinced that hair was the ideal medium for his work – he believed that it would retain a higher concentration of trace metals than blood would – Walsh and his colleagues spent several years collecting hair samples and analyzing them in terms of their metal content.
When funds from the Argonne Laboratory ran out in 1980, Walsh and his fellow scientists set up their own specialized unit, the Health Research institute. Their first experiment was a controlled study involving 24 pairs of brothers, ages 8 to 18. Each pair consisted of one delinquent and one nondelinquent boy. All the subjects lived with their parents and ate the same food, so environmental distinctions were minimized.
Hair samples were taken from each of the 48 boys and tested for 11 elements: calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, phosphorus, lead, and cadmium. Concentrations of these trace metals were found to be 10 to 100 times higher in hair than they had been in blood or in urine.
Violent Patterns
The violent subjects had far higher levels of metals in their hair than the nonviolent ones, as had been anticipated. But the results of further tests were extremely surprising.
Expecting to find two patterns of behavior, one for the violent and one for the nonviolent, the scientist instead uncovered two patterns for the violent brothers alone. Those in the Type A category (also observed in hyperactive children) appear to be law-abiding until something snaps, and they can commit vicious violence. The Type B pattern was different. Those with this behavior are antisocial and chronically in conflict with authority.
Armed with these results, the Walsh team decided on a more complex experiment involving 96 former convicts, prison inmates, and delinquent youths with extremely violent histories, and 96 nonviolent males. This time the results were consistent with those of the previous experiment.
Hair analyses divided the violent group into either Type A or Type B personalities, supporting the theory that these people suffer from two types of chemical imbalances. Since that time Walsh has added a Type C and a Type D category to include patterns found among the mildly violent.
The Gentle Approach
The implications of Walsh’s analysis were far-reaching. If a link was found between chemical imbalances in the hair and violence, a similar correlation might exist between such imbalances and hyperactivity, alcoholism, or learning disabilities, for example. Biochemical screening in conjunction with other methods might, therefore, be used to diagnose such problems.
Walsh has now turned his attention to the therapeutic possibilities of his work. At the Brain Bio Center, near Princeton, New Jersey, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer has been combining Walsh’s data with his own therapy, prescribing vitamin and mineral supplements in place of drugs to correct chemical imbalances in criminals.
Although no formal study of the results has been made, encouraging reports have come back from those treated for violence. As interest in Walsh’s pioneer work grows, science may one day help transform violence into constructive behavior.
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Post CommentAlmaG
On December 11, 2009 at 6:02 am
That’s a very interesting post! thanks
diamondpoet
On December 11, 2009 at 6:18 am
Well researched article, you provided us with wonderful answers, and the article was also well written. You make sure your homework is completed and provide the most accurate pic to go with your work, great job.
Starpisces
On December 11, 2009 at 8:16 am
Good researched and well presented!
MMV Abad
On December 11, 2009 at 9:00 am
Good post. Something new but quite frightening. I hate violence
cutedrishti8
On December 11, 2009 at 9:45 am
Very interesting and well-researched article…
Susan
On December 11, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It is true that if the body has heavy metal toxicity or mineral deficiencies, it will create a state of pain or even agony. The only treatment is vitamins and minerals to correct that problem.
Unfortunately, most people, especially children, are being treated with addicitng, mind-altering drugs that destroy vitamins and minerals and create more violence. A person trying to get off of these drugs becomes more violent because a) the root causes — nutritional deficiencies — are never handled, and b) the withdrawal symptoms are so intense people become violent and/or suicidal from the withdrawal.
What kind of society do we live in that would allow such a thing to occur?
Excellent and important article, Mr. Ghaz.
Kate Smedley
On December 11, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Fascinating article with some very important information, I learned a lot, thanks mrghaz.
Sherry Wallace
On December 11, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Your article was very interesting, mrghaz.
ken bultman
On December 11, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Interesting concept but a lot of theory with little fact. Good post. I don’t look for much to come of this except for lawyers to become interested for defense purposes.
abhishek40914
On December 11, 2009 at 1:43 pm
interesting post
Idazalee
On December 12, 2009 at 12:40 am
very interesting article. well presented and very informative too. Thanks Mr Ghaz!
STEVE666
On December 14, 2009 at 10:52 am
Interesting article—well presented.
hollynoel001
On December 19, 2009 at 2:29 pm
this is very interesting information because i like many people do not always believe that enviroment and violent video games and tv shows make people do the wrong thing chemical imbalances in the body account for many things and bring out violence tendencies is just a start