cannabis and psychosis

does anyone have a link to a trusted, reliable study on the link between heavy cannabis use and psychosis? the ones i've found tend to be somewhat corrupted by the fact that people with pre-existing conditions/ genetic predispositions towards mental health problems are more likely to take drugs than those without.

i've taken an interest because a friend of mine whose been smoking heavily and depressed for most of this year was sectioned last week after a powerful psychotic episode.

cheers,

 

does cannabis make psychosis more likely, or do people with mental illness tend to self medicate with cannabis? chicken and the egg... let us know if you find anything, I'd like to see it.

 

http://ukcia.org/research/TestingHypotheses.pdf this ones interesting.

 

I read a study... Don't remember how I found it... I think it was Swedish... Anyhoo, it linked schizophrenia and cannabis use.

Personally, with my children and me, cannabis definitely triggered psychosis.

 

i think with my friend, it was most likely a mixture of depression as a result of grief and self-medicating for that depression by constantly being stoned, i'll keep lookin'

 

i think if you push anything down and try to drown it , it will eventually surface somewhere.
and when it does its going to come out exploding.

 

I'm studying psychology, and this study was cited in a textbook lately: http://www.livescience.com/5298-marijuana-disrupt-brain-development.html

I also did some digging and found this fairly extensive review of studies into cannabis and its effects on the brain: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786315/
Heavy reading, but informative.

I also have personal experience of this, I quit smoking weed a few years ago after a couple of weeks of intense paranoia and delusions which I believe were brought on by it. Since then I've been fine...

 

What if the psychosis is inevitable and it would happen quicker without the cannabis? I have been more or less curious about that as well.

 

i too experienced fairly intense paranoia and anxiety after about two years of heavy smoking, i attributed it mainly to weed and mephedrone, i'll read those studies with interest once my exams are over, cheers

 

I had a psychotic break at work, which would not cease every minute even at home for months, some years ago.

In my opinion it was not in my case genetic.. Also I think genetic predisposition is incredibly rare, even if a very few are predisposed.

I reach those conclusions due to the fact that Cannabis can on accasion cause a 'whitey' though does not really present much problem, however that feeling can be some of the worst moments you ever experience, emotionally, depending on where you are and who you are with, same goes for LSD.

If those 'whitey's' get worse, cease taking drugs, what happens is the chemicals seem to clog up or damage some part of your brain, then in later years, physical excess or some other trigger can cause the brain to misfire as floodgates of chemical potential alter.

A stable human is a natural human, you take your chances with drugs.
I imagine LSD causes more problems, but mild psychosis later in life due to that from cannabis should not be defended by somthing else being worse.


On top of all that there is the slow decline of the habitual smokers overall emotional sharpness, which gets unnoticably worse as years go by if intake is excessive or increasing.

What I am saying is.. A joint before bed or a party at the weekend is probably ok and the body/brain/mind adapts, too much excess puts you in MK ultra's distant softer branch of emotional developmental contention with your own condition. (Argument is different for LSD, be cautious please)