Cannabis use
Can schizophrenia be caused by cannabis use?
YES!
Repeated cannabis use in early adulthood could result in hallucinations, and in extreme cases, psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.
Using cannabis can also increase the risk of psychotic episodes returning in someone with schizophrenia, even if they are taking medication.
Schizophrenia is this type of disorder...
A psychotic disorder.
Psychotic disorders are a group of serious mental health conditions that affect a person’s thoughts, emotions, and perception of reality. People with psychotic disorders often experience delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thinking, abnormal behaviour and negative symptoms.
What symptoms of schizophrenia would be amplified by cannabis use?
As well as being caused by cannabis, if a person already has this disorder, it could increase hallucinations, delusions, or disordered cognition.
However, many self-reports indicate it can improve upon many negative symptoms such as social withdrawal or anhedonia (loss of pleasurable feelings)
Name a risk factor for schizophrenia other than cannabis usage
Other risk factors include nutrition, prenatal exposure to influenza, migrant status, childhood trauma, alcohol usage, and genetic predisposition.
Those who have tried cannabis by 18 yrs old were ____ times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. (Answers ± 1)
They are 2.4 times more likely as according to a longitudinal study done in Sweden.
In what year was the term 'schizophrenia' first coined?
Eugen Bleuler first coined the term in 1911 and outlined how the symptoms of schizophrenia can be positive or negative