Abstract

Cannabis Induced Schizophrenia-Like Psychosis: A Comparative Study between Cannabis and Cocaine Use Disorder

Author(s): Maurizio Coppola* and Raffaella Mondola

Introduction: Psychosis can be defined as a combination of psychopathological symptoms including delusions and/or hallucinations without insight. Psychotic disorders may configure a primary psychiatric illness or represent the result of a functional/structural brain damage induced by substance use, neurological diseases or other medical conditions. They are multifactorial disorders in which genetic, environmental and gene-environment interaction factors contribute to the manifestation of symptoms. Among the environmental factors, psychotropic substances represent the most important removable facilitators of psychosis.

Methods: In our study, we compared the prevalence of substance induced schizophrenia-like psychosis between a sample of patients affected by cannabis use disorder and a sample of patients affected by cocaine use disorder analyzing retrospectively the data of outpatients without personal or family history of psychiatric illnesses.

Results: Our analysis have shown a prevalence of schizophrenia-like psychosis of 4.6% and 3.5% in patients affected by cannabis use disorder and cocaine use disorder, respectively, with no statistical significant differences between groups.

Conclusion: No differences between samples was found in the prevalence of schizophrenia-like psychosis after five or more years of chronic substance use.

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