Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:35:33.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cannabis use and outcome of recent onset psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Anton Grech ,
Jim Van Os ,
Peter B. Jones ,
Shon W. Lewis  and
Robin M. Murray
Anton Grech*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Carmel Hospital, Malta
Jim Van Os
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Peter B. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK
Shon W. Lewis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, UK
Robin M. Murray
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry, Mount Carmel Hospital, Attard, Malta. Tel.: +356-21-415183.E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Grech).
Get access

Abstract

Purpose

To test the hypothesis that recent onset psychotic patients who use cannabis will have psychotic symptoms that are more severe and more persistent than those who do not use cannabis.

Subjects and methods

We carried out a 4-year follow-up study of a cohort of 119 patients with recent onset of psychosis. The patients were divided into four groups according to duration of cannabis use, taking index admission and follow-up as reference points.

Results

Those subjects who persisted in the use of cannabis had more positive (but not negative) symptoms and a more continuous illness at follow-up.

Limitations

The main limitations of the study were: the relatively small sample size, and that the excess of male subjects and the presence of cannabis induced psychosis could have a confusing impact on the interpretation of the results.

Conclusion

It is possible that psychotic patients who use cannabis are at a greater risk of a more continuous illness with more positive symptoms than those who do not.

Keywords

CannabisPsychosisOutcome
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , June 2005 , pp. 349 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasson, S, Alleback, P, Engstrom, A, Rydberg, UCannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of Swedish conscripts. Lancet. 1987;2:1483–1486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arseneault, L, Cannon, M, Poulton, R, Murray, R, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TCannabis use in adolescence and risk for adult psychosis: longitudinal prospective study. BMJ. 2002;325:1212–1213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspari, DCannabis and schizophrenia: results of a follow-up study. Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci.. 1999;249(1):45–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Degenhardt, L, Hall, WThe association between psychosis and problematic drug use among Australian adults. Psychol. Med.. 2001;31:659–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, L, Haas, G, Weiden, PJ, Sweeney, J, Frances, AJDrug abuse in schizophrenic patients: clinical correlates and reasons for use. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1991;148(2):224–230.Google ScholarPubMed
D’Souza, C, McDonald, C, Schulze, K, Murray, RM, Wright, P, Dunitz, M‘Gone to pot’: pharmacological evidence supporting the contribution of cannabinoid receptor function to psychosis. Schizophrenia: challenging the orthodox. 2004.127–136.Google Scholar
Duke, PJ, Pantelis, C, McPhillips, MA, Barnes, TREComorbid non-alcohol substance misuse in people with schizophrenia. Br. J. Psychiatry. 2001;179:509–513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fowler, IL, Carr, VJ, Carter, NT, Lewin, TJPatterns of current and lifetime substance use in schizophrenia. Schizophr. Bull.. 1998;24(3):443–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, EL, Lowinson, JHMarijuana’s interaction with brain reward systems: update 1991. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.. 1991;40:571–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iager, AC, Kirch, DG, Wyatt, RJA negative symptom rating scale. Psychiatry Res.. 1985;16:27–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khantzian, EJThe self-medication hypothesis of substance use disorders: a reconsideration and recent applications. Harv. Rev. Psychiatry. 1997;4:231–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kovasznay, B, Fleischer, J, Tanenberg-Karant, M, Jandorf, L, Miller, AD, Bromet, ESubstance use disorder and the early course of illness in schizophrenia and affective psychosis. Schizophr. Bull.. 1997;23(2):195–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leroy, S, Griffon, N, Bourdel, MC, Olie, JP, Poirier, MF, Krebs, MOSchizophrenia and the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1): association study using a single-base polymorphism in coding exon 1. Am. J. Med. Genet.. 2001;105(8):749–752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linszen, DH, Dingemans, PM, Lenior, MACannabis abuse and the course of recent-onset schizophrenic disorders. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1994;51:273–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, GW, Wilkinson, A, Kapur, BMValidation of self-reported cannabis use by urine analysis. Addict. Behav.. 1988;13:147–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathers, DC, Ghodse, AHCannabis and psychotic illness. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1992;161:648–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGuffin, P, Farmer, A, Harvey, IA poly-diagnostic application of operational criteria in psychotic illness: development and reliability of the OPCRIT system. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1991;48:764–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menezes, P, Johnson, S, Thornicroft, G, Marshall, J, Prosser, D, Bebbington, Det al.Drug and alcohol problems among individuals with severe mental illness in South London. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1996;168:612–619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueser, KT, Yarnold, PR, Rosenberg, SDet al.Substance use disorder in hospitalised severely mentally ill psychiatric patients: prevalence, correlates, and subgroups. Schizophr. Bull.. 2000;26:179–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patel, V, Borysenko, M, Kumar, MSEffects of delta THC on brain and plasma cathecolamine levels as measured by HPLC. Brain Res. Bull.. 1985;14:85–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peralta, V, Cuesta, MJInfluence of cannabis abuse on schizophrenic psychopathology. Acta Psychiatr. Scand.. 1992;85:127–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rolfe, M, Tang, CM, Sabally, S, Todd, JE, Sam, EB, Hstib, NJBPsychosis and cannabis abuse in The Gambia. A case–control study. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1993;163:798–801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneier, FR, Siris, SGA review of psychoactive substance use and abuse in schizophrenia. Patterns of drug choice. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis.. 1987;175(11):641–652.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spencer, CR, Castle, D, Michie, PTMotivations that maintain substance use among individuals with psychotic disorders. Schizophr. Bull.. 2002;28:233–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanda, G, Pontieri, FE, Di Chiara, GCannabinoid and heroin activation of mesolimbic dopamine transmission by a common u1 opioid receptor mechanism. Science. 1997;276:2048–2050.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Os, J, Bak, M, Hannsen, M, Biji, RV, Graaf, R, Verdoux, HCannabis use and psychosis: a longitudinal population-based study. Am. J. Epidemiol.. 2002;156(4):319–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Os, J, Fahy, T, Jones, Pet al.Increased intra-cerebral CSF spaces predict unemployment and negative symptoms in psychotic illness: a prospective study. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1995;166:750–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Os, J, Fahy, T, Jones, Pet al.Psychopathological syndromes in the functional psychoses: associations with course and outcome. Psychol. Med.. 1996;26:161–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, JK, Cooper, JE, Sartorius, NThe measurement and classification of psychiatric symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1974.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. WHO Coordinated Multicenter Study on the Course and Outcome of Schizophrenia Geneva: WHO; 1992.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.