4 ms·
“ Cannabis is involved in approximately 50% of psychosis, schizophrenia, and schizophreniform psychosis cases. Thats significant, wouldn't you say?” Maybe, may
by germinalphrase 4y ago
“ Cannabis is involved in approximately 50% of psychosis, schizophrenia, and schizophreniform psychosis cases. Thats significant, wouldn't you say?”
Maybe, maybe not. Nicotine was (is?) a very common self-medication for schizophrenia. So much so that it became a trope in movies, etc (e.g. “Clean, Shaven”). If a majority of people with schizophrenia smoked cigarettes, would we argue that nicotine is implicated in the development of that condition?
My instinct is certainly that you’re right, but the direction of causality could simply be backwards too.
- goldenkey 4y agoThank you for highlighting the issue of correlation vs causality vs backwards causality. Nicotine is an antipsychotic, so psychosis generally leads to nicotine use as it's much more user-friendly than prescription antipsychotics. About the movie tropes, nicotine is an acetylcholinergic agent similar to caffeine. These agents act as nootropic stimulants hence the movie tropes. Both natural and synthetic insecticides have been known to poison people due to their potent acetylcholinergic activity. [1] THC is a different beast. It's well accepted that THC is psychedelic enough to bring out latent schizophrenia. What most folks don't know about is the temporary psychosis it can cause. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organophosphate_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organophosphate_poisoning