Taraxein is a possibly nonexistent protein isolated from the blood of patients with schizophrenia, claimed by Robert Galbraith Heath to produce schizophrenia-like symptoms when injected into healthy subjects.
[3] The name is derived from the Greek word τάραξις (taraxis), meaning disordered or confused mind.
[1] At the 1956 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association Heath announced that they "had induced full symptoms of schizophrenia" in two nonpsychotic prisoner-volunteers from Louisiana State Penitentiary.
However, the latter was concerned with both the double-blind procedure, the claimed total lack of placebo effect, and a failure by an outside team to replicate the findings.
Heath continued to stand by taraxein, and later reported that it is associated with immunoglobulins, supporting his autoimmune theory of schizophrenia.