Relationship between cannabis and psychosis: Reasons for use and associated clinical variables

Abstract

The mechanism underneath the relationship between cannabis and psychosis remains controversial, for which several hypotheses have been proposed, including cannabis as self-medication and cannabis as a risk for the development of psychosis. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between cannabis and psychosis in first-episode psychosis cannabis users and non-users, and non-psychotic cannabis users. The age at the first psychotic episode, duration of untreated psychosis, psychopathology and reasons for cannabis use were assessed. First-episode psychosis cannabis users showed an earlier age at psychosis onset than non-user patients. No significant differences in symptomatology were found. The distinguishing reasons to use cannabis for patients with first-episode psychosis with respect to non-psychotic users were to arrange their thoughts and deal with hallucinations and suspiciousness. These findings are in agreement with both hypotheses: self-medication and secondary psychosis hypothesis. However, longitudinal prospective cohort studies assessing reasons for cannabis use are needed to investigate both hypotheses and their complementarity.

Keywords: Cannabis; First-episode; Reasons for use; Schizophrenia; Self-medication.