Schizophrenia and cannabis use: new evidence measures risk of relapse

Over 20% of cannabis users experience a psychotic relapse within 24 months of treatment.

In her debut blog, Sally Turner considers a recent study on cannabis use and clinical outcomes in people with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders over 24 months of treatment.

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Can contingency management help people with psychosis give up cannabis? The CIRCLE trial

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Ian Hamilton summarises the recently published CIRCLE trial, which looks at the clinical and cost-effectiveness of contingency management for cannabis use in early psychosis.

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Daily skunk cannabis use associated with a 5-fold increase in psychosis risk

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Luke Sheridan-Reins explores a recent paper on the contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe.

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What can genetics tell us about the link between cannabis and schizophrenia? #MHQT

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Suzi Gage summarises a recent GWAS of lifetime cannabis use, which reveals new risk loci, genetic overlap with psychiatric traits, and a causal influence of schizophrenia. Interesting new evidence ahead of our Mental Health Question Time #MHQT event in London tomorrow.

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Is Cannabidiol (CBD) an effective antipsychotic?

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Luke Sheridan Rains publishes his debut blog on a recent multicentre RCT of Cannabidiol (CBD) as an adjunctive therapy for people with schizophrenia, which suggests that CBD had a beneficial, but modest impact on positive psychotic symptoms and severity of illness when used alongside existing antipsychotics.

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Joint risks? Tobacco and cannabis and psychotic symptoms

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James MacCabe appraises a recent study, which looks at the association of combined patterns of tobacco and cannabis use in adolescents who go on to experience psychotic symptoms.

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Adolescent cannabis use increases risk of an adult psychotic diagnosis

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Thomas Richardson looks at a recent prospective cohort study in the British Journal of Psychiatry on adolescent cannabis use, baseline prodromal symptoms and the risk of psychosis.

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What do we know about women, cannabis and psychosis?

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Ian Hamilton and Suzi Gage explain why we know so little about the relationship between cannabis and severe mental illness in women.

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Risk factors and peripheral biomarkers for schizophrenia spectrum disorders

This 'umbrella review' aimed to systematically appraise the meta-analyses of observational studies on risk factors and peripheral biomarkers for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Marcus Munafo considers the findings of a systematic review of meta-analyses of observational studies, which looks at risk factors and peripheral biomarkers for psychotic disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum.

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