Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Marijuana induced psychosis foretells future episodes

A new report on a medical study (out of psychiatry Online) suggests that few individuals who smoke marijuana experience psychosis afterward. However, when marijuana-related psychosis does occur, it may be a warning sign that more psychotic episodes could occur.

Reports from various researchers have suggested that marijuana-induced psychosis is generally short-lived and that total remission can be expected. Such reports, however, have been based on case studies, not on long-term follow-up data, according to the authors of a new, long-term study.

The study found that an episode of marijuana-induced psychosis is not innocuous—it often presages subsequent psychotic episodes and a diagnosis of a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.

Mikkel Arendt, Ph.D., a fellow at the Center for Basic Psychiatric Research at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, and coworkers used the Danish Psychiatric Central Register to identify patients treated for a first marijuana-induced psychotic episode between 1994 and 1999. There were 535 such patients. The researchers then followed those patients for at least three years to determine how many of them experienced subsequent psychotic episodes and how many could be diagnosed with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.

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