marijuana and psychosis?

[nancy145]

ive heard from several different people and websites including a few of my phyciatrists that weed can cause psychosis. Is this a confirmed proven scientific fact, a possibility that hasnt been proven or disproven, or just a myth? also ive never heard anything more specific than just psychosis, which basically just means a warped perception of reality. if it causes psychosis can someone be more specific and clarify what that means? thanks


EDIT: after reading your responses, i started wondering if weed is causing psychosis for me. i never got any hallucinations off weed other than the normal 3-D visions and stuff, but i started mixing weed with adderall a few months ago and had a huge crazy hallucinogenic trip, ill post a link to it. whenever i smoke since then, i see mainly rainbow spirals and tunnels and flashing patterns but sometimes other trippy designs. nothing too big though. i take adderall normally so im always on it when i smoke weed, exept a few times recently when i smoked without taking it for like 2 days, but i got the same effects. i think the combination is hallucinogenic because when my friends are on it they see similar things. im a bit worried though because when im off the adderall and smoke i see the same stuff. i see spirals and flashing patterns when i look at a plain white surface while sober too, but theyre colerless and barely noticeable unless i really focus hard on it. i can kinda control it too, its usually only there when i think about it. i like the hallucinations while high and i dont mind them while sober, but im kinda worried if theyll lead into anything bad.


huge crazy weed and adderall trip report: http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/760982-adderall-and-weed-40mg-and-1-hit-Full-hallucinogenic-experience-powerful-visuals

 

[Germinator]

ive heard from several different people and websites including a few of my phyciatrists that weed can cause psychosis. Is this a confirmed proven scientific fact, a possibility that hasnt been proven or disproven, or just a myth? also ive never heard anything more specific than just psychosis, which basically just means a warped perception of reality. if it causes psychosis can someone be more specific and clarify what that means? thanks

Weed can definetly cause a psychosis, but as far as i know it depends on many factors. It mostly depends on the place you come from, so your genes and you also may have a hidden psychosis, which shows up when you are smoking it. For example: A person who regularly smokes weed is 1,5 times more likely to get schizophrenic. What I am saying is that usually the psychosis is allready there and weed will only enhance it. At least that's what I know about it.
My brother got a psychosis from hashish, so just like weed thc and I can tell you it is not fun. You hear voices and think you can read somebody elses thoughts and other crazy shit. Not trying to scare you but everybody should think about the risks of drug use, even though weed is especially in the media shown as not harmful at all, there are still risks though. my brother however smokes excessively and i think most people should be fine doing it like once a week or so.
maybe somebody else will be able to give you a more specific answer, because i am not an expert in this topic at all.
Take care

 

[Bluesbreaker]

CBD has antipsychotic virtues.

 

[CosmicG]

Speaking of which, my vendor mentioned he is about to release a CBD sublingual solution, perfectly legal as it is not THC.

I believe weed can make certain people lose it, especially with heavy, daily use. Mostly just paranoia and derealization. I couldn't see weed alone causing someone to go legit psychotic, unless they already had underlying issues prior to exposure.

 

[Germinator]

CBD has antipsychotic virtues.

it is very low in most plants

 

[CosmicG]

Which is why I am excited about trying this extracted solution

 

[PotatoMan]

Speaking of which, my vendor mentioned he is about to release a CBD sublingual solution, perfectly legal as it is not THC.

I believe weed can make certain people lose it, especially with heavy, daily use. Mostly just paranoia and derealization. I couldn't see weed alone causing someone to go legit psychotic, unless they already had underlying issues prior to exposure.

Man that's the thing with psychiatry an diagnoses. My friend hit this 5 chamber bong and started having serious conversations in his head about god n shit. He was wondering around the campus talking to himself according to the roommate and they threw 90 x 2mg ativan at him. At that point he claims he started hearing the voices. He came back here and a psych diagnosed him with "Cannabis Induced Psychosis" and threw the m'fer on 300mg Seroquel nightly.

I was absolutely appalled at bold* text. He's tapering now and last I checked I abused his ativan stash for him and he's on 100mg Sero. He's never been the same since.

I'd say as he got back here he was "fried". Couldn't hold conversations, very blank expressions. Couldn't understand me. Classical psychotic symptoms.

So coupled with the meds I'd say it's definitely possible. But he continued to smoke weed. His mental health now to me is unknown as I couldn't stay around him during that time. I check in on him and he's getting better. But that shit can def send you off the walls.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Why do you think schizophrenics smoke a lot? It's not a cause but an effect: they smoke cannabis because it eases their pain. Yes, cannabis can trigger latent schizophrenia, but it can definitely ease it too.

 

[CosmicG]

Yeah psychiatrists are batshit in my experience. I went to in-patient to detox and the first thing they did was slap me with a 300 mgs of seroquel and 2400 mgs of Neurontin a day. After two weeks of that, I checked myself out against medical supervision because they wanted to up my doses.

I quit the seroquel cold turkey and am still cutting back on the Neurontin almost two months later. It's been hell.

Cannabis Induced Psychosis. I could see how the meds would definitely make it worse for him, especially with how quickly doctors like to throw made-up diagnosis at people. I would have to think someone with a reaction to cannabis like that would had to have already had an underlying existing/developing mental condition prior to use.

I have experienced issues similar to this, but not solely from weed alone.

 

[Germinator]

so true man. it seems like doctors these days just put you on some medication because it's an easy fix for them instead of fixing the real issue and taking their time with their patients. It's all about the money ... That is a different topic though.

 

[neurotic]

psychiatrists say a lot of bullshit

the link between cannabis and schizophrenia has been talked about lots of times, but never to any hard conclusion, at least i think so. if you read a lot about it though when paranoid, you can definitely convince yourself that you are going schizo, i know i did.

personally - not scientific - i think that there might be a link between cannabis and schizophrenia. certainly being really fucking high can trigger psychosis in already predisposed individuals, but i take that you are not schizophrenic so not really more predisposed to psychosis than the average individual. also, when i was younger (just a that age when people start to develop schizophrenia) i'd get super fucking high (open eye visuals and such, very psychedelic and mindfuckey, but with a charachter different to serotonergic psychs) and that would leave me feeling WEIRD as fuck for a long long time... paranoid, depersonalized, blank, 'not all there'... i don't know, weird...

also, marijuana and amphetamine sounds like the worst combo ever lol, i'd stay away from that... amphetamines alone can induce psychosis (not chronic, schizophrenia)

anyway if weed is making you feel like that... just stop smoking it man. i don't often see people talking about hallucinations from weed but when i had those i chose it was better to just quit... i'll never know if i had continued i'd go psychotic or something...

 

[dez79]

Regular weed, yes if taken enough of, synthetic cannab.. hell yes!

 

[Nom de Plume]

This is absurd nonsense; unmitigated malarkey.

To say cannabis causes or can potentially cause psychosis is a rather insidious and specious assertion to make; most especially when one comes to realise there is only an incredibly basal and incomplete level of scientific understanding on the etiology of psychosis and psychosis-related disorders.

Moreover, scientists, specialising in a variety of fields of study—including neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, biology, sociology, and innumerable interdisciplinary and subdisciplinary derivative fields of study—haven't even begun to consider the construction of a cogent theory on the elucidation of the actual cause or causes of psychoses.

Instead, we've nothing but conjecture, many irreconcilable hypotheses (to wit: the Glutamate hypothesis; the Dopamine Hypothesis), and a bunch of laymen who don't know shit from shinola yet are absolutely convinced of the veracity of one hypothesis over the other without the slightest idea why.

And the confidence and temerity with which the assertion (that psychosis is a sequela of cannabis consumption) is announced is surprising, seeing as there is an absolute dearth of scientific evidence to corroborate it and warrant such cocksure conviction.

The only real, tangible evidence is that:

1.) psychoses are genetic and that certain individuals possess a genetic predisposition to psychosis, and

2.) certain environmental or social factors, such as frequently partaking in the use of cannabis, have been correlated with an earlier age of onset and greater susceptibility of developing psychosis in those individuals already genetically predisposed to the abnormality.

In other words, cannabis only lowers the age at which one experiences what are known as prodromal symptoms, and it is also implicated in increasing the likelihood of a predisposed individual transitioning from solely predisposed to psychosis to demonstrably psychotic.

To put it succinctly, cannabis is not a cause, but it may possibly serve as an initiator. It's a gene/environment interaction or an epigenetic mechanism at play, in this case. To say cannabis caused the psychosis is tantamount to saying cannabis caused the genes.

 

[noone1]

If you are genetically predisposed then yes it can "awaken" it in you.

If you use enough of it in a short period of time with a low tolerance it can bring on psychosis. This is especially true of edibles. I have a trip report somewhere on here about eating a big piece of brownie with zero tolerance I realized a short while ago that what happened to me was psychosis I lost all contact with reality. You should read it if you want to find out about psychosis, it was the most horrifying thing I've ever gone through. I'm still afraid of cannabis and ever since I've had a panic attack disorder start because of it.

Edibles can eventually start psychosis in anyone if they take enough of it. I'm sure so can dabs, etc. Dose makes the poison. The strength of weed lately is getting ridiculous I used to buy into the whole it's getting stronger which means it's better for everyones lungs but that is b.s. when you meet a pot smoker.

Of course tolerance is supposed to protect you from all this but people are getting nuts with it and overdoing it in the areas where it is accepted.

 

[Nom de Plume]

A long post, indeed. But a misinformed comment typically necessitates a lengthier response to correct its many errors and solecism. How long, I do wonder, could I get a biologist to blather if I told him sincerely that dinosaurs do not exist and implored him to prove me wrong.?

If you are genetically predisposed then yes it can "awaken" it in you.

Erhm...sort of.

If you use it enough of it in a short period of time with a low tolerance it can bring on psychosis.

Absolute bullshit.

This is especially true of edibles.

The route of administration is of no relevance, insofar as cannabis relates to psychosis.

I have a trip report somewhere on here about eating a big piece of brownie with zero tolerance Yes I realized a short while ago that what happened to me was psychosis. I lost all contact with reality.[You should read it if you want to find out about psychosis, it was the most horrifying thing I've ever gone through. I'm still afraid of cannabis and ever since I've had a panic attack disorder start because of it.

1.) Orally administered cannabis (as in brownies, cookies, and other edible media) is strongly psychedelic and much unlike the smoked or vaporized drug.

2.) What you experienced was a bad trip resulting from little to no prior knowledge of cannabis-infused foodstuffs and, as per your own admission, taking more than your level of tolerance or state of mind could handle.

3.) There are several subtypes of psychosis. None of them are transitory, evanescent events of brief lapses in contact with reality.

4.) Psychoses do not present immediately upon the administration of some drug.

5.) Psychoses are permanent and difficult to treat severe mental illnesses(SMIs). Once the individual has one, they will always have one. There is no cure and remission is only a temporary effect from pharmacotherapy, such as with a tranquilizer for some or barbiturates/benzodiazepines for catatonia.

6.) Psychosis is not defined as merely a "loss of contact with reality" (whatever that means), however complete or incomplete it may or may not be.

7.) If anything, you had a relatively mild and short-lived reaction to the drug known as a brief psychotic episode (as with, say, stimulant psychosis and post-partum depression), which is distinguished from psychosis in a number of ways, and is nothing at all like experiencing an actual psychosis.

8.) Psychotics have what is known as poor "insight". Insight basically means self-awareness; that is, how aware the individual is about their mental disorder. One symptom of psychoses, like schizophrenia, is a profound lack of insight or awareness of their disorder (this poor insight is not always the case. But, assuming I recall correctly, roughly 60% of schizophrenics have almost no insight into their condition.). Some other, unrelated disorders also present with poor insight (such as psychopathy/sociopathy, narcissism, Aspergers, and several others). On the other hand anxiety disorders, say, present with heightened insight: most anxious people don't require a shrink or MD to tell them they're too anxious.

The point is that even if you had some hitherto unheard of drug-induced, ephemeral psychosis you'd still deny it due to lack of insight.

9.) And finally, your experience seems very common. You did, after all, ingest a psychedelic drug. 'Psychedelic' , mind you, is synonymous with 'psychotomimetic', which means 'psychosis mimicking'.

 

[noone1]

A long post, indeed. But a misinformed comment typically necessitates a lengthier response to correct its many errors and solecism. How long, I do wonder, could I get a biologist to blather if I told him sincerely that dinosaurs do not exist and implored him to prove me wrong.?



Erhm...sort of.



Absolute bullshit.



The route of administration is of no relevance, insofar as cannabis relates to psychosis.



1.) Orally administered cannabis (as in brownies, cookies, and other edible media) is strongly psychedelic and much unlike the smoked or vaporized drug.

2.) What you experienced was a bad trip resulting from little to no prior knowledge of cannabis-infused foodstuffs and, as per your own admission, taking more than your level of tolerance or state of mind could handle.

3.) There are several subtypes of psychosis. None of them are transitory, evanescent events of brief lapses in contact with reality.

4.) Psychoses do not present immediately upon the administration of some drug.

5.) Psychoses are permanent and difficult to treat severe mental illnesses(SMIs). Once the individual has one, they will always have one. There is no cure and remission is only a temporary effect from pharmacotherapy, such as with a tranquilizer for some or barbiturates/benzodiazepines for catatonia.

6.) Psychosis is not defined as merely a "loss of contact with reality" (whatever that means), however complete or incomplete it may or may not be.

7.) If anything, you had a relatively mild and short-lived reaction to the drug known as a brief psychotic episode (as with, say, stimulant psychosis and post-partum depression), which is distinguished from psychosis in a number of ways, and is nothing at all like experiencing an actual psychosis.

8.) Psychotics have what is known as poor "insight". Insight basically means self-awareness; that is, how aware the individual is about their mental disorder. One symptom of psychoses, like schizophrenia, is a profound lack of insight or awareness of their disorder (this poor insight is not always the case. But, assuming I recall correctly, roughly 60% of schizophrenics have almost no insight into their condition.). Some other, unrelated disorders also present with poor insight (such as psychopathy/sociopathy, narcissism, Aspergers, and several others). On the other hand anxiety disorders, say, present with heightened insight: most anxious people don't require a shrink or MD to tell them they're too anxious.

The point is that even if you had some hitherto unheard of drug-induced, ephemeral psychosis you'd still deny it due to lack of insight.

9.) And finally, your experience seems very common. You did, after all, ingest a psychedelic drug. 'Psychedelic' , mind you, is synonymous with 'psychotomimetic', which means 'psychosis mimicking'.

^ The entire wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis backs up all of my claims especially the first couple of paragraphs. You're just quibbling over the semantics of "psychotic episode" and "psychosis" because you don't personally like how it makes cannabis sound like a scary drug.

My trip report was written before I understood it was psychosis, I too thought it was just a bad trip. I was hallucinating in another world, smacking my head against things I was 100% sure I was dead and believed I was having multiple seizures. It fits the definition of temporary drug induced psychosis to a T.

"The term "psychosis" is very broad and can mean anything from relatively normal aberrant experiences through to the complex and catatonic expressions of schizophrenia and bipolar type 1 disorder"

And yes if you feed anyone the right levels of cannabis eventually they will have psychotic episode like if you give anyone enough morphine eventually they will OD (unless they are incapable for metabolic reasons or something)

 

[neurotic]

IMO people underestimate the psychedelic powers of marijuana and the fragility of sanity

while i don't think marijuana and psychedelic use can change your brain and make you develop a tendency to go psychotic (schizophrenia, chronic psychotic ilnesses, 'psychoses', whatever...) i do believe anyone can go psychotic (acute psychosis, psychotic episode) from too much psychedelics

if OP is like 15-18 i'd say stay away from it... lol come on that can't be good for your mental health

 

[RetiredMedic]

Are we talking about regular weed? I grew up in the 80's and we used to have what we called a "Bong A Thon" to see who was King Bing. We would buy a 1/4 pound of weed put it in a salad bowl and smoke till last one was still there ala he/she was King Bing..Never remember anyone flipping out. I smoked for 20+ years and never saw it once. although not discounting anyone else accounts...

 

[Hear Me Roar]

I don't know how people struggle to understand the link between cannabis and psychosis.

Cannabis in some people causes uncontrollable panic attacks, paranoia, anxiety and can trigger bouts of de-realisation/depersonalisation. How is it such a hard reach to think that cannabis, could bring about psychosis, in someone already prone to developing it. This being most seen to be a genetic disposition.

If the question is can cannabis be the route cause of psychosis, no. Can cannabis cause psychotic episodes, that's debatable. Though if the question is, can it trigger psychosis in someone already genetically disposed to it, yes.

A period of high stress levels in the life of someone predisposed to developing psychosis, can trigger it.

When will people fucking learn. jeez.

 

[Mbanks]

If you smoking regular weed in a regular fashion like blunts, bongs, bowls, joints, etc. You'll be high but not wigged the fuck out. You may get super paranoid which can cause you to probably think you're experiencing psychosis on some shit where like you'll think the station wagon w/a rack on the top behind you is the police. But I smoke everyday & when I first started & even now it's nothing for me to look over & almost jump out my damn skin thinking its a hand but it's the end of a fly swarter hanging down . You don't loose touch with reality . Plus if you bug out & get scared or something makes you extremely one emotion other than happy (mad, sad, etc) like most psychedelic trips do you'll blow your high (which is very easy to do) & it's over lol