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Schizotypy and psychosis-like experiences from recreational cannabis in a non-clinical sample

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2008

E. Barkus  and
S. Lewis
E. Barkus
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
S. Lewis*
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor S. Lewis, University of Manchester, University Place (3rd floor East), Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. (Email: shon.lewis@manchester.ac.uk)
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Abstract

Background

The relationship between cannabis use and psychosis is still a matter for debate. Accounting for the individual differences in subjective experiences to recreational cannabis use in the general population may hold some clues to the aetiological relationship between cannabis and psychotic symptoms. We hypothesized that schizotypy would account for the individual differences in subjective experiences after cannabis use but not in patterns of use.

Method

In a sample of 532 young people who had used cannabis at least once, we examined the relationship between the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ) and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Additionally, we examined the psychometric properties of the CEQ.

Results

We replicated our previously reported findings that schizotypy was associated with increased psychosis-like experiences and after-effects, but also found that high-scoring schizotypes reported more pleasurable experiences when smoking cannabis. Using new subscales derived from principal components analysis (PCA), we found that the psychosis-like items were most related to varying rates of schizotypy both during the immediate use of cannabis and in the after-effects of cannabis use. High-scoring schizotypes who used cannabis experienced more psychosis-like symptoms during and after use.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that cannabis use may reveal an underlying vulnerability to psychosis in those with high schizotypal traits.

Keywords

Cannabispsychosis pronenessschizotypy
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 9 , September 2008 , pp. 1267 - 1276
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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