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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: One in 20 'experiences psychosis'
The Guardian
Friday 01 Oct 2004 More than one in 20 people has experienced psychotic symptoms such as paranoid delusions or hallucinations, according to research published today. A study of 8,580 people found that 5.5% had experienced one or more of the five psychotic symptoms measured, including feeling their thoughts were being interfered with or suffering strange experiences. The researchers, from King's College London, found that psychotic symptoms were linked to drug and alcohol dependence, recent stressful life events and lower intellectual ability. In terms of drug dependence, they concluded that the relationship between cannabis and psychotic symptoms was the strongest. Researcher Louise Johns, from the Institute of Psychiatry, said: "We looked at factors associated with these symptoms, and it was cannabis dependence that was most linked to psychosis. "What we don't know is the direction - whether cannabis dependence leads to psychosis or psychotic symptoms lead to cannabis use." The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, said that psychosis was generally thought of as an "all-or-nothing" phenomenon, where people either had it or did not. But the researchers said there was increasing evidence that psychosis existed in the population as a continuum rather than a categorical diagnosis. This meant that most people who reported one or more psychotic symptoms were not clinically mentally ill. The study was based on findings from the British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity, involving people aged 16-74. Those who scored one or more psychotic symptoms were interviewed by a clinician and only one in 250 adults was diagnosed as mentally ill with a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia or manic depressive psychosis. Dr Johns said their finding that 5.5% of the population reported psychotic symptoms was lower than found in other studies in the Netherlands and US. But she said these studies had looked at a much wider range of symptoms and over the lifetime of the respondents, whereas her team had focused on five symptoms seen in the last year. The researchers said that neurotic symptoms may contribute to the development of psychotic symptoms, and could be a target for intervention in people with early warning signs of serious psychosis. "Lots of people will have mild symptoms and some people will have more symptoms and a need for care," Dr Johns said. "It's important what you make of the symptoms. If you have a lot of symptoms and a low mood, there is a higher chance that it will lead to psychosis that needs treatment. "Some people will be able to cope with them while other people will find them harder to cope with and come up with more bizarre explanations for what is going on which may develop into psychosis."
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