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Cannabis use by people with severe mental illness – is it important?

Zerrin Atakan

The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Saturday 01 Nov 2008

Zerrin Atakan worked as the lead consultant in the National Psychosis Unit at the Maudsley & Bethlem Royal Hospitals in London until August 2007, when she retired from NHS duties. She currently holds an honorary contract at the Institute of Psychiatry (De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK; email: Zerrin.Atakan@iop.kcl.ac.uk), where she is doing research on the effects of cannabis compounds on brain functioning and development of an intervention model for cannabis-using patients with psychosis. As a consultant psychiatrist she gained extensive expertise treating severe mental illness. She has advised the Home Office, voluntary mental health organisations and local councils on cannabis use, and written for cannabis websites to inform young people about the effects of the drug on mental health.

Cannabis use is more common among people with severe mental illness than in the general population. It has detrimental effects on the course of the illness, physical health and social life of users, as well as being a financial burden on health services. It is important to understand why some people with severe mental illness continue to use cannabis, despite experiencing its effects on their condition. This article reviews research on the scale of cannabis use by such patients, the effects on the course of their illness, possible reasons to explain why they use it, and how they can be assessed in clinical settings, as well as providing some assessment tools to measure various characteristics related to cannabis use.

http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/6/423

 

 

 

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