Cannabis use and symptom experience amongst people with mental illness: a commentary on Degenhardt et al.
Psychological Medicine July 1, 2007 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291707000359 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Key findings | Argues that tobacco and cannabis use are especially prevalent among people with serious mental illness, particularly psychotic illness, and that this association has implications for health and for debates about cannabis as a possible cause of schizophrenia. Notes that while tobacco use has declined in many high-income countries, other psychoactive drug use has not followed the same pattern. |
Abstract
A high proportion of people who have a serious mental illness also use non-prescribed psychoactive drugs. This association is perhaps most apparent, and possibly also has the greatest implications for health, in relation to tobacco use. In fact recognition of the special relationship between mental illness and smoking was recently reflected in exemption of psychiatric units from legislation to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces in the UK (UK Smoking Law Resource Centre, 2007). The prevalence of tobacco use has generally decreased in most European, North American and Australasian countries, however, use of other psychoactive drugs, has not followed this pattern (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, 2006). Cannabis use in particular is widespread, both in the general population but especially so amongst people with serious and enduring mental illness, particularly psychotic illness. Recognition of the particular coincidence of cannabis use with psychotic illness amongst psychiatric patients was one of the observations that precipitated current debate around the possible aetiological role of cannabis use in relation to incidence of schizophrenia (Thornicroft, 1990; Hall, 2006; Macleod et al. 2006).
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on cannabis, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: examination of the evidence | 2004 | Review | |
| Cannabis sativa: A comprehensive ethnopharmacological review of a medicinal plant with a long history. General (historical and pharmacological review) | 2018 | Review | |
| Psychiatric effects of cannabis | 2001 | Review | |
| Beyond THC: The New Generation of Cannabinoid Designer Drugs | 2011 | Review | |
| Cannabidiol, a Cannabis sativa constituent, as an antipsychotic drug | 2006 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Letter to the Editor: The coherence of the evidence linking cannabis with psychosis Psychological Medicine February 26, 2008
- Cannabis use and psychosis: the origins and implications of an association Advances in Psychiatric Treatment October 31, 2007
- Letter to the Editor: Drawing conclusions about cannabis and psychosis Psychological Medicine February 26, 2008
- Letter to the Editor: Should we advise patients with serious mental illness to stop using cannabis? Psychological Medicine February 26, 2008
- Cannabis and cognitive performance in psychosis: a cross-sectional study in patients with non-affective psychotic illness and their unaffected siblings. Psychological Medicine April 2012
and 1 more in the library