How cannabis affects the bipolar brain

How cannabis effects the bipolar brain

It makes you hallucinate! We knew that.

From the above article

Clinicians have hypothesized several contributing factors including “heavy usage, length and age of users, and psychotic vulnerability.”6 In the report by Johns,3 it was felt that adolescents are more vulnerable to the mental effects of cannabis because they may “experience emotional problems that cue cannabis use” and secondly, regular use may “interfere with learning and personal development.” Although our patient had no genetic predisposition with a negative family history of any psychiatric illness, he did start smoking cannabis during his adolescence. As there is an increase in the use of cannabis among younger individuals and a rise in schizophrenia in this younger population, we must be aware of the potential harm of cannabis abuse.23 During his first psychotic break, he presented to the clinic with delusions of being persecuted, auditory hallucinations, and grandiosity, which have been well documented as prominent symptoms secondary to cannabis abuse. He soon recovered without any use of medications. The only insightful data we could gather about his vulnerability, aside from age of onset with cannabis use, was from his MMPI. The report gave evidence as to the nature of his personality. This was an individual who had elements of paranoia, grandiosity, risk of addiction, and antisocial traits. According to Regier et al,15 83.6 percent of individuals with antisocial personality disorder also have comorbid drug misuse. It seems that Mr. X’s cannabis use heightened these personality characteristics and may have been a contributing factor to his psychotic break. After his first discharge, he was nonadherent and did not follow up with the university psychiatrist. Review of literature has shown that cannabis use was consistently associated with relapse and nonadherence to treatment in psychotic patients.24 This makes it difficult to manage these types of patients with increasing relapses, hospitalizations, and progressive worsening of symptoms.