Link between schizophrenia and cannabis use
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In the last post, we saw how:
- Other subtypes of schizophrenia include Acute Delusional Psychotic and latent schizophrenia that were existing in other countries outside America.
- Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia differ in their clinical features. Schizophrenia appears to be more severe.
- The non response may be very much related to the plasma levels of the medication.
What happens when schizophrenia starts?
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Welcome to Medic Vibes, where we discuss mental health disorders and make sense of them. Dr Ebingo Kigigha is a medical doctor (aspiring psychiatrist) and creative person (illustration and music). This has been our routine for three consecutive months. This month will be dedicated to Schizophrenia. In the first month, we discussed Depression, and in the subsequent month, anxiety. We just finished with Bipolar affective disorder. We are done looking at research work done in Nigeria on schizophrenia.
In this post, we are looking at a Quora. To learn more just keep scrolling down. You can also skip to the key point of the post if you which or go to the conclusion to get the summary.
This refers to a dream state where the patient may be confused and disoriented. This form of schizophrenia is related to the hallucination that leads to the person not knowing what is real or not. The doctor must examine the patient for neurological causes of this condition.
In this form, there is either paranoid schizophrenia or there is a gradual worsening in the symptoms seen in schizophrenia or the patient has marked delusion. because of the term's multiple uses, it has very little meaning.
Schizophrenia and Cannabis
According to Westin Johnson a cannabis educator, the psychiatric and medical communities have not agreed on the relationship between cannabis and psychosis. According to him, the most popular finding is that cannabis has a low chance of precipitating symptoms in people who already have psychosis and psychosis can not start because of cannabis use.
There is a debate about the existence of cannabis-induced psychosis. It was reported after a Swedish study done in 1987 that those who started using cannabis were more likely to develop psychosis.
The data for this study was from poor sources such as self-reported cases from calla and there was very little control placed on the study. There were no environmental factors put into consideration.
Studies continued to report changes in anxiety, heart rate, awareness and other features against the acceptance of the medical doctor's observation of any clear-cut features of psychosis lasting more than a few hours if any.
The psychiatric community has not found any correlation between cannabis and psychosis. A study done by Calgary University in 2015 did not find any relationship between cannabis and psychosis and even went against the narrative stating that cannabis does not cause psychosis. They concluded that many other substances like cannabis induce psychosis in those that already have the condition.
Dr Romina Mizrahi the director of a Youth psychosis preventive program also stands by the fact that cannabis does not cause psychosis. Some clinicians also believe in the reverse causality of cannabis use where those with psychosis are more likely to use cannabis. Many believe that this can progress to schizophrenia if left unchecked.
According to WebMD, several studies have pointed out that the most common substance abused by those who have schizophrenia is cannabis. In the younger population, this appears more so to be the case.
No one understands what this link means but some feel that those who have schizophrenia seek ways to soothe their symptoms but others do not agree with that hypothesis.
According to them, this is one feature that cannabis has in common with schizophrenia. They explain that this symptom which leads to a displacement of reality is seen in both cannabis use and schizophrenia. They confirm that studies show that the psychosis goes away after some time.
Some researchers agree that the active constituent in cannabis that causes psychosis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
When the person abusing this drug already is at risk of schizophrenia, the concern is no longer just psychosis for a short amount of time but the worsening of the symptoms.
The gene, AKT1 has been implicated in the development of schizophrenia in those who abuse cannabis.
It has been found that in both sexes the use of cannabis was found to cause the appearance of symptoms earlier than they typically do. Sometimes, as, much as 3 years too early.
It has also been found that earlier use usually causes the development of schizophrenia. If a person starts using cannabis in their teen years they are at a greater chance of developing schizophrenia.
There is also the influence of close relatives on the fact that a person develops schizophrenia.
While this post has been about the bad effect of this drug, there are the therapeutic effects of this drug that help fight psychosis according to WebMD.
Some people even saw their symptoms reduce in a way that was better than if they took antipsychotics. This was done as a clinical trial and was not a random finding.
The best advice for the use of this drug is:
Young people should avoid this substance till they are old enough.
People who have schizophrenia should also do the same.
Those who have a relative who uses has schizophrenia should also avoid using this drug.
Treatment
Extrapyramidal symptoms, also called drug-induced movement disorders, describe the side effects caused by certain antipsychotics and other drugs.
Extrapyramidal symptoms, also called drug-induced movement disorders, describe the side effects caused by certain antipsychotics and other drugs. These side effects include:
involuntary or uncontrollable movements
Extrapyramidal symptoms are also called drug-induced movement disorder and are the side effects of using antipsychotics and some other medications. These side effects are involuntary movements, shaking tremors, body contractions and difficulty working due to this.
It is important to be aware of these side effects early so that treatment can be given as soon as possible.
Questions
- What did you learn about Schizophrenia?
Conclusion
- Among the subtypes of schizophrenia are Orenoid and Paraphrenia. The paraphrenia type can hardly be described.
- There are so many conflicting ideas on the use of cannabis and how it affects psychosis and schizophrenia
- Extrapyramidal symptoms are common when using antipsychotics
References
- Kaplan-Sadocks-Comprehensive-Textbook-Psychiatry
- Page demarcations made with Inkscape.org
- Healthline
- WebMD