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Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

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Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#171

Post by TN1ck »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #99
whats_a_quasar wrote: post #41

There's a really interesting line of research that suggests Schizophrenia is a spectrum, rather than a binary. Lots of people have personality traits that are similar to schizophrenics or have genetic risk factors for the condition. Some of those people develop the full disorder, and some don't. There's evidence that the reason for the split is that psychosis is itself damaging. Once someone has a psychotic episode,…

Psychosis can do a lot of damage. I had a 4-month-long psychotic break that eventually led to me being diagnosed bipolar. It several years to recover from but I think some of the damage is permanent. I feel like I've lost a lot of memory function but I can't remember what things were like before. And it's difficult to separate that out from medication side-effects at this point. What I do know is caffeine gives me pa…

First person that I read about also having a problem with coffee and even with decaf. For me it started inducing anxiety like effects and gives me insomnia now if I accidentally eat a tiramisu or something containing a bit of it. Haven’t found anything that one can get an acquired caffeine sensitivity, but I guess there is not much research. I didn’t have an episode, but it did start during some more mentally challenging times.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#172

Post by Amezarak »

mikrl wrote: post #109
denton-scratch wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Empirically (based on my own observations) I've known for decades that weed induced episodes in schizophrenic people. I didn't know it was helpful for autistic people. On the same (personal observation) basis, I'd say that schizophrenic people are drawn to cannabis. I have no idea why; perhaps because they're often very marginalized and precarious.

One of my stoner friends in high school 10-15 years ago was dating an autistic girl, and he mentioned that it had some medical benefit for them. Obviously it was ‘pothead science’ without a mechanism etc but it has been a thing anecdotally for at least as long as the medical push has existed.

To be fair, I've yet to hear of a disease stoner science doesn't say weed treats.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#173

Post by xupybd »

Mike_12345 wrote: post #155
progmetaldev wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very much for individual freedom when it comes to drug use, assuming you aren't hurting others. I think in the push for cannabis legalization, many people have forgotten that cannabis is a psychedelic drug. While it's not the same as LSD or psilocybin, it can definitely change perception and thinking. In 1996 I had a psychotic episode from LSD, and developed generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. I alwa…

> I firmly believe that psychedelics are triggers and not the cause of mental disorders If a neurotoxic drug such as cannabis causes psychosis in someone who would otherwise never have become psychotic without the drug, then whether you call it a cause or a trigger is quibbling over semantics.

That's an interesting question. Could someone have a serious mental health disorder that would never manifest without certain triggers.

I'm not qualified to guess but I suspect it would be possible. Then if it's possible the rate that it happens would be important. If it's rare then it might not be important in the discussion of causes of mental health problems.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#174

Post by Mike_12345 »

xupybd wrote: post #173
Mike_12345 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I firmly believe that psychedelics are triggers and not the cause of mental disorders If a neurotoxic drug such as cannabis causes psychosis in someone who would otherwise never have become psychotic without the drug, then whether you call it a cause or a trigger is quibbling over semantics.

That's an interesting question. Could someone have a serious mental health disorder that would never manifest without certain triggers. I'm not qualified to guess but I suspect it would be possible. Then if it's possible the rate that it happens would be important. If it's rare then it might not be important in the discussion of causes of mental health problems.

Isn't that the entire point of the article and study that we are commenting on?

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#175

Post by csomar »

josephcsible wrote: post #167
denton-scratch wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Empirically (based on my own observations) I've known for decades that weed induced episodes in schizophrenic people. I didn't know it was helpful for autistic people. On the same (personal observation) basis, I'd say that schizophrenic people are drawn to cannabis. I have no idea why; perhaps because they're often very marginalized and precarious.

> schizophrenic people are drawn to cannabis This sounds a lot like saying that people with a predisposition to lung cancer are drawn to cigarettes.

My understanding is that schizophernia is a predisposed condition. Cannabis can trigger it but not really cause it. (That's at least what I got from talking to a professional). One clue to find out whether you are predisposed is if you have someone in the family (related genetically) who has at-birth mental health issues. Then stay a gazillion miles clear of any drugs.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#176

Post by Waterluvian »

Amezarak wrote: post #172
mikrl wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my stoner friends in high school 10-15 years ago was dating an autistic girl, and he mentioned that it had some medical benefit for them. Obviously it was ‘pothead science’ without a mechanism etc but it has been a thing anecdotally for at least as long as the medical push has existed.

To be fair, I've yet to hear of a disease stoner science doesn't say weed treats.

If the definition of disease is any condition that puts you in a state of dis-ease, then a drug that promotes a state of ease would be a valid treatment!

Therefore marijuana is a cure-all. ;)

Pliny the Elder would be so proud of me.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#177

Post by spicyusername »

Can we please stop making marijuana so strong.

I already cut my marijuana with 50% CBD, and that's still plenty strong that I only need a single hit to be plenty high.

I can't for the life of me understand why there's a race to the highest imaginable THC percentage, when it so clearly has an adverse effect on the experience.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#178

Post by bheadmaster »

josephcsible wrote: post #167
denton-scratch wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Empirically (based on my own observations) I've known for decades that weed induced episodes in schizophrenic people. I didn't know it was helpful for autistic people. On the same (personal observation) basis, I'd say that schizophrenic people are drawn to cannabis. I have no idea why; perhaps because they're often very marginalized and precarious.

> schizophrenic people are drawn to cannabis This sounds a lot like saying that people with a predisposition to lung cancer are drawn to cigarettes.

I think it's just that schizophrenic people are often depressed, and depressed people are drawn to drugs in order to alleviate the negative feelings, one of the drugs being cannabis.

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#179

Post by phil-m »

simulator5g wrote: post #28
Analemma_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more important than that is capping the THC/CBD ratio. The first time I took an edible it was pure THC, and even at 15mg it almost gave me a panic attack. For a long time I was baffled that anyone could actually enjoy marijuana, until I tried something with three times as much CBD as THC, and then I got the same enjoyable experience as others seem to. Which makes sense: biologically, THC is the psychosis agon…

Just because you had a low tolerance and got too high doesn't mean you need to take weed away from other people. Settle down bud.

Huh? They never said that, just warned that the THC/CBD ratio is important to avoid schizophrenia or other psychiatric conditions (which is scientifically backed btw.)

Re: Heavy marijuana use increases schizophrenia in men, study finds

#180

Post by electrondood »

n=1, in high school I was smoking a lot of weed, and started having what I discovered years later are called "ideas of reference," where you start getting the sense that the people around you are talking about you, but secretly. At face value, there's nothing you can point to as evidence of this, because it all appears to be normal conversation, but there's a secret meaning that only you can hear. You're basically projecting your unconscious onto random stimuli, like the conversations of bystanders.

If you start believing that this is reality, then it becomes "delusions of reference."

I later learned this can be related to low folate or B12, and suspect that was also a cause.

Interestingly enough, I'm also fairly confident I'm autistic.

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