OF CANNABIS USE AND MENTAL ILLNESS

A couple of posts ago a reader of mine actually asked to know about the link
between cannabis and mental illness.I promised to give him as candid an
opinion as possible.I had been distracted by a couple of incidences since
then.However, seeing the patients on rehabilitation at the Vom Christian
hospital brought back my consciousness to my responsibilty of educating
the young one out there,who get into the habit of using drugs either by
curiousity or peer pressure only to set themselves on the part of
self-destruct.

There are evidences to the fact that cannabis use has a strong link to mental illness.The mental effect of cannabis can be grouped into the following;
1.Psychological effect such as panics,anxiety,depression and Psychosis.These are also called 'toxic' effects because they result from exccessive consumption of the drug.
2.The effect of cannabis as a risk factor for mental illness and its effect on pre-existing mental illness.
3.Dependency or withdrawal effects

Of need for further consideration is the association of cannabis with psychosis.The partinent question is ;did cannabis merely precipitate an underlying psychosis or is there a cannabis psychosis?
Cannabis use may precipitate a psychosis in the following ways;

1.Acute use of large doses of the drug may induce a toxic or organic psychosis with symptoms of confusion and hallucination, which remit on abstinence.

2.Cannabis use may lead to an acute functional psychosis, similar to an acute schizophrenia-like state and lacking the organic features of a toxic psychosis.

3.Cannabis use may lead to a chronic psychosis, which persists after abstinence.

4.Long-term cannabis use may lead to an organic psychosis which only partially remits after abstinence, leaving a residual deficit state, sometimes called an amotivational syndrome, which is thought to be analogous to the chronic organic brain syndrome seen after prolonged misuse of alcohol.

5.Cannabis use may be a risk-factor for serious mental illness such as schizophrenia.

There are also acute toxic psychotic symptoms like disorientation,impaired memory, confusion, reduced attention span and disordered thinking with labile effect and hallucinations. These symptoms may  resolve within a week.

Another condition worth nothing is the ' amotivational syndrome’ described as personality deterioration with loss of energy and drive to work.

There is also a lot of arguement on whether cannabis worsens the symptoms of schizoprenia or not,but a lot of studies have confirmed that cannabis worsens positive symtoms of schizophrenia.

There is also the issue of dependence with all the social,psychological and financial sequelae and consequenses.
However,not all people who smoke cannabis will come down with any of the above mentioned.Other factors that influence the vulnerability to develop a mental illness include :
1.Age of the patient with the possibility increasing with the younger the patient is.
2.Use of other psychoactive substances.
3The personality of the patient.
4.The genetic pre-disposition.

In conclusion,there are overwhelming evidences to show that cannabis has a lot of psychiatric complications resulting from its use.