Community | February 09, 2011 | 4 comments

Pot Use Speeds Up Psychosis, Research Says

source: http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archgenpsychiatry.2011.5#YMA05005T1

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frank_runyeon
Researchers now think that if you are going to go crazy...smoking weed may speed up the process.

The study is here: http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archgenpsychiatry.2011.5#YMA05005T...

The NPR article follows:

"Can marijuana use lead to mental health problems popping up sooner?

The question weighs on the minds of parents and doctors. Now there's more evidence, culled from more than 80 different studies, that marijuana can speed up development of serious psychotic illness.

Australian researchers found that marijuana users who developed psychosis were 2.7 years younger than nonusers who became psychotic. Other sorts of substance abuse sped up psychosis by 2 years, but alcohol alone showed no effect. The result were published online by the Archives of General Psychiatry.

What's going on?


The researcher say the results point toward a strong effect for marijuana in vulnerable people:

This study lends weight to the view that cannabis use precipitates schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders...."

**More at link**


http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/02/09/133615747/researchers-link-marijuana-...
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4 comments // Pot Use Speeds Up Psychosis, Research Says

  • good_stuff
    • +1
      good_stuff  
    • Image

    • We've talkied about this many times before. Let me give the rundown:

      1) Only 1-6% of the population has phychosis, so I guess the other 99-96% shouldn't have anything to worry about.

      2) More importantly, cannibis is considered a hallucinagenic drug, so to say that it "speeds up psychosis" is akin to saying that a coffee speeds up someone becoming and insomniac. What is good for the goose is not neccissarily good for the gander, and vice versa. Psychosis and cannibis have very similar "effects"... distorted perception, anxiety attacks and/or paranoia, etc., and there is no physical test for any psychological disorder. In fact, 28% of Americans claim to have had a psychotic episode at some point in their life ( http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/42/11/16.1.full ). See the graph above for some typical questions to determine if you're psychotic. I know that I am a people watcher in public, so when they ask whether "you beleive people are watching you", you should answer yes. Propoganda has been proven effective, so certain people can control your thoughts. And finally, if you keep a diary, other people could certainly be aware of our "private thoughts". Holy crap, I hope I'm not psychotic, because I answered the affirmative in every situation. I could just being having an episode though.

    • 1 year ago
  • littlwarrior
    • +1
      littlwarrior  

    • Look it doesn't cause it but yes it can exacerbate existing problems but another thing to consider is that almost all mentally ill patients self medicate, pot may speed up the process but its use may just be a symptom of a quicker onset. But caffeine can also be used to self medicate, my bro is a paranoid schizophrenic and he still uses caffeine to self medicate, he also uses things like vitamin b and other over the counter vitamins and supplements to self medicate. Our mom runs each one by the doctor before she lets him get carried away, turns out too much b-12 can cause issues, who knew, but the point is many things are used but lets not jump to say they cause when they may just be a symptom.

    • 1 year ago
  • bundlebear
  • littlwarrior
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