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Weed causing psychosis?

E

euphorically

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
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I have just watched a british program about effects of smoking ALOT of weed while a teenager.

Some people bileve that very heavy smoking at a young age can cause psychosis later on in life, this has NOT been proven. What is agreed apon is that if you have had psychosis before, that smoking pot can bring back on a serious relapse.

They have seen changes in the dopimine system within the brain, which is the scientific explanation to what causes psychosis. They also feed poor little rats (probably very young too) THC, no dout in irrelative HIGH amounts! Then they claim it caused a change in brain chemistry in the rat, what does that really prove??

Having too much of anything is not good for you of course, but if you think alot deeper, beound what science can explain. Maybe smoking alot of weed can fuse some switches in your mind, so you have this un explained link with the world, which some people just can't handle, as it's not considered "normal".
 
As the research currently stands, no causative link between cannabis use and psychosis has been either proven or disproven.

The latest issue of Erowid Extracts (Number 8, June 2005) has a very interesting article by Earth Erowid called "Cannabis and Psychosis: A Guide to Current Research About Cannabis and Mental Health."

Unfortunately it's not yet available online but I'll retype the salient bits.

A Correlation Exists
The first thing to know about this topic is that it is indisputable that there is a correlation between the repeated use of cannabis and a variety of mental health issues.

Many large-scale studies conducted in the last 30 years have found that people who have clinically-meaningful symptoms of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders tend to use cannabis more often than apparently similar members of the general population.

The same data can be read to suggest the opposite, that cannabis users are more likely to have psychotic symptoms than the general population. "Drug abuse" is said to be "comorbid" with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, which means that these two problems occur in the same person at a higher than average rate. Comorbitiy does not imply any causal linkage, although comorbid conditions may be causally related. Unfortunately, from there, it gets very complicated very quickly.

Correlation Is Not Causation
This bears repeating: correlation does not imply, and should not be assumed to mean, causation. This is especially true in epidemiological surveys, which are based on self-reports. The indirect nature of these studies - sompared to controlled experimental designs - makes it infeasible to show actual causation with much certainty.

Does Cannabis Cause Psychosis <-- Conclusion
All of the recent research into this issue has found that cannabis is neither necessary nor sufficient to cause schizophrenia by itself. Rather, it is most likely a component factor when combined with a variety of other potential issues such as genetic predisposition or difficult childhood. Cannabis use, along with its attendant lifestyle and subculture, probably worsens symptoms in some of those vulnerable to psychotic disorders. The same is commonly said of the psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin. As we don't know what causes schizophrenia, determining how important a factor cannabis use is cannot be determined.
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I hope I didn't violate any copyright laws there. The full version will be available online from the above link pretty soon anyway.
 
I still prefer bush to hydro, I have heard hydro is the stuff that messes you up. (I've still tried it though, but I like my old hy better)
 
ive heard the word "psychosis" coined alot on this site, but never really understood what i means. can someone explane?

and dont just quote dictionary.com. been there
 
Ok, more from the same article:

What is Psychosis
"[T]here is no single definition of what constitutes "psychosis." The DSM-IV (the standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for psychiatry) defines a variety of psychological problems as "psychotic disorders." Psychotic symptoms include hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions, which are characteristic of schizophrenia, the most common and widely known of the psychotic disorders. However, there is no universal method for diagnosing psychotic disorders, and each of the surveys related to cannabis and psychosis used different diagnostic methods. This makes simple comparisons difficult.
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Yes. Like any drug marijuana affects everyone differently. You cannot generalize what drugs will do you to, especially with weed, and especially talking about "psychosis". IMO, it's just a myth, or some people who are really fucked up. Also, doing a lot of acid/x could probably mess with you.
 
Having symptoms of schizophrenia do not mean you're experiencing schizophrenia, cannabis tends to make people paranoid and anxious, but that's not a "cannabis psychosis", it are some of the (side) effects of cannabis.
 
True, but remember it affects everyone differently. Paranoia is just maybe...a statistic of how people get affected by weed. I know someone who smokes weed to calm them down.
 
Heavy use from what I understand is smoking up everyday.

"Mind over matter",If you think your fucked up in the first place and take weed to help with your issues, then it's understandable that it could make matters worse, BUT maybe it has the potential to make matters better, I dunno??

Science I think has a long way to go to explain how the brain really works, we are fighting a biased world, "drugs are bad" sorta attitude. So OF COURSE they are going to find any evidence they can to support that statement.
 
Here's a little personal info on psychosis and weed:


Lasy year my girlfriend and I had gone through a period of frequent recreational drug use. We'd also both had some prety traumatic experiences. After one of these (being assaulted and threatened to be killed in a road rage incident) we went on a bit of a bender on a road trip to see Radiohead in Melbourne. We were stoned for three days, took e's and benzos the whole time.

When we got back, she starting freaking out about the road rage incident. This paranoia got worse and worse, until she smoked a joint a week later. That marked the beginning a psychotic episode which lasted two months.

To be as blunt as possible, she was completely insane, she'd lost all touch with reality. From the outside it seemed as if she was stuck in a permanent bad trip. I can't imagine what was going on in side her head.

The variety of doctors her parents and I saw attributed the psychosis to the traumatic road rage episode and our drug use. The factor that ignited all these causes was that joint she smoked one week later.

So, essentially, while a lot of events conspired to put her in a certain head space (including fairly heavy use of weed), it was smoking that one joint that sent her over the edge.

Though the doctors could do nothing to help her except sedate her (which just fucked her up more) and there was nothing we could do except suicide watch, she everntually came through the psychosis is well to this day, over a year later.

Anyone who says weed is safe and has never been PROVEN to cause mental illness is merely being semantic. While I acknowledge weed was not the sole cause of my then-girlfriend's illness, the simple fact of the matter is that if she had not smoked a joint she, her family and myself would not have had to go through the most horrible experience of our lives.


Respect and Peace
 
^^thankyoufor clearing that up, i have now stopped smoking weed for 1 month, 1 week and 2 days and im damn proud, i dont care what anybody says weed makes you think differently and i know some people say yeah i can handle it but believe me it will come around some day and you will believe me, i myself only smoked for 3 years but within the first year i pulled a knife on my father for 10 bloody dollars (now i think that is the dumbest thing i have ever done) i know even after 50 years of smoking very few of you will try to physically harm somebody, but alot of it is mental harming too, now i can not go anywhere without being paranoid about getting diseases, mainly hepatits, AIDS and meningococcal but i know in my head that there is absolutely no reason to get paranoid about these things but it is still bugging me in the back of my head every day, i get scared that animals will harm me (i absolutely love animals though? i want to work with some of the most dangerous reptiles) i am forced not to surf over reef (for those who dont know reef breaks always have the best waves) and surfing is my absolute passion in life, sorry if im getting a bit or alot off topic here but im just trying to say although you may not get psychosis there are many, many other problems that can occur from smoking weed, im not saying everyone will develop problems but i can safely say that 80% of people will develop problems whether its physical, mental, emotional or finantial i can assure you every day use is doing no good for you in the long run. just be careful and listen to what i said, just because YOU dont have problems doesnt mean you or others wont develop problems. i hope i dont sound to much like god here just trying to help. if you want any help on quitting just email me at [email protected], one more thing i dont have paranoia/mental/anxiety problems with psychedelics either mainly pot,amphetamines (including extacy) and alcohol.
 
Bludda said:
Anyone who says weed is safe and has never been PROVEN to cause mental illness is merely being semantic. While I acknowledge weed was not the sole cause of my then-girlfriend's illness, the simple fact of the matter is that if she had not smoked a joint she, her family and myself would not have had to go through the most horrible experience of our lives.
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This is an extremely important point. The basic semantic point that "cannabis use has never been proven to cause mental problems" is only true when 'mental problems' are understood as substantive chemical imbalances in the brain (such as permanent schizophrenia). From this (narrow) definition of mental problems, it is true that there is nothing in the known pharmacology of cannabis that proves causation with these problems.

However, as in the case of Bludda's ex-girlfriend (and a close friend of mine), 'mental problems' do not have to be substantive chemical imbalances, but can merely be extreme subjective psychological responses to trauma. And most cannabis users I know, myself included, admit that cannabis use makes them especially sensitive to psychological trauma. So while it's probably an overstatement to say that "cannabis causes psychosis," that does NOT mean that cannabis use is safe, as Bludda rightly points out. Nor does it mean that you will not develop mental problems if you choose to smoke cannabis.

Of course, this applies to many other drugs too. My feeling is that when it comes to cannabis, what's most important is to know your own mind. When I was a regular cannabis smoker, I became all to aware of how clouded my mind was becoming, and how impaired some of my faculties were becoming. Thankfully I listened to my mind and quit the stuff. Others seem to be fine. But I say that if you suspect that cannabis use is a mental hindrance, then chances are that for you, it IS!
 
Bludda said:
Anyone who says weed is safe and has never been PROVEN to cause mental illness is merely being semantic.
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No, that's where you're wrong. Cannabis is not the causative factor, that's your girlfriend probably being predisposed to mental ilnesses. Cannabis HAS never been proven to be the causative factor, correlation does not mean causation..
 
Anyone with mental disorders who smokes weed will probably agree that cannabis helps (whatever the problem) aleviate the symptoms of the disorder.
 
StagnantReaction said:
Anyone with mental disorders who smokes weed will probably agree that cannabis helps (whatever the problem) aleviate the symptoms of the disorder.
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What the hell..? SOME, I repeat, SOME people who are bipolar benefit from it, but that's not ALL mental disorders, suggesting that their problems will be alleviated is fucking ridiculous, it might just make it worse.
 
even though smoking weed would possibly increase the chance of psychosis symptoms in the predisposed, i still think there would have to be some sort of stressor, whether its related to some form of childhood trauma, or a social stressor, or both.
 
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