Authors: J. Christian Gillin, Jonathan Kaplan, Richard Stillman, Richard J. Wyatt
Published: [American Journal of Psychiatry, 133 (2): 203–208 (1976) ](- 10.1176/ajp.133.2.203)
Affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington D.C.
Overview
- The paper reviewed all research on N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) as a possible endogenous psychotomimetic—a “schizotoxin” that might explain schizophrenia through internal overproduction of hallucinogenic tryptamines.
- It was the culmination of two decades of “transmethylation” research following Stephen Szára’s early DMT studies (1950s) and the discovery of trace DMT in human tissue.
- The authors systematically applied a set of criteria (adapted from Koch’s postulates) to evaluate whether DMT met the requirements of a disease-causing agent.
Main Findings
- Psychoactive validity: Confirmed that DMT produces strong, short-lived psychedelic effects in humans similar to LSD or mescaline.
- Endogenous presence: Acknowledged sporadic detection of DMT in blood and urine, but no consistent elevation in schizophrenic patients.
- Biochemical feasibility: Recognized that enzymes such as indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (INMT) exist in human tissue and can synthesize DMT in vitro, but in-vivo synthesis was not demonstrated conclusively.
- Tolerance and pharmacology: Showed incomplete tolerance and extremely rapid metabolism—factors that made DMT an unlikely cause of chronic psychosis.
- Conclusion: While biochemically plausible, DMT failed to meet key criteria for a schizophrenia model; the theory was described as “plausible but unproven.” The authors recommended giving the hypothesis “a decent burial.”
Tone and Subtext
- The review was written by federal researchers during the early U.S. War on Drugs, a time when psychedelic research faced political pressure and shrinking funding.
- Its rhetoric—judicial, conclusive, even funerary—served to close the DMT-as-schizotoxin line of inquiry, aligning with institutional efforts to end psychedelic studies rather than encouraging further exploration.
- The phrase “a decent burial” effectively performed a bureaucratic dismissal, signaling that the topic was scientifically settled and no longer fundable.
- This stance contrasts with the classical scientific ethos: falsified or unsupported hypotheses normally invite new experiments, not programmatic abandonment. The data themselves—endogenous presence, enzymatic synthesis, rapid clearance—were fertile leads that could have opened new biochemical or neuropharmacological questions.
Historical Impact
- The paper became the definitive “closure document” of the endogenous psychosis era. After its publication, most DMT and tryptamine studies ceased within government institutions.
- When Rick Strassman revived DMT research in the 1990s, he cited this review as emblematic of how political climate, not data quality, froze an entire scientific field.
- In retrospect, the review is both a rigorous summary and a case study in scientific gatekeeping—illustrating how institutional context can shape what is considered “finished science.”