Cannabis use disorder may raise your psychiatric illness risk
- Cannabis use disorder has been linked to an increased risk of developing several psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a new study published in Nature Mental Health.
- The study analyzed genome-wide association analyses (GWAS) data to examine the relationship between cannabis use disorder and psychiatric illness, revealing bidirectional causal relationships between the two conditions.
- Researchers found that having a psychiatric condition can increase the risk of developing cannabis use disorder, while also finding that having cannabis use disorder can increase the risk of developing certain psychiatric disorders.
- The study’s findings suggest that cannabis may not be as effective in treating mental health disorders as previously thought, and that more research is needed to determine its potential utility as a treatment for these conditions.
- The researchers emphasize the need for randomized clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of cannabis as a medication for various psychiatric conditions, rather than relying on anecdotal evidence or observational studies.
New research evaluates the relationship between cannabis use traits and psychiatric disorders.
The results in Nature Mental Health show that cannabis use disorder places people at increased risk of developing several psychiatric disorders, providing beneficial guidance that public health professionals can use to gauge the potential utility of cannabis for their patients.
“Sometimes in the news, you can read an article that says cannabis can benefit mental health disorders, or it can be used to try to mitigate the effects of some other substance use disorders,” says Marco Galimberti, associate research scientist at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and first author on the study.
“In our study, we show that people who develop cannabis use disorder can actually have a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders.”
A 2021 report by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the United States found that 52.5 million people (aged 12 or older) have used cannabis in their lifetime. And studies have found that an estimated 30% of people who use cannabis have cannabis use disorder, a mental health condition characterized by a problematic pattern of cannabis use that leads to significant impairment or distress.
In the new study, researchers analyzed previously published genome-wide association analyses (GWAS) to examine relationships between cannabis use disorder and psychiatric illness. GWAS datasets are used to identify genetic variations associated with a specific disease or trait by examining millions of genetic markers across the entire genome.
The datasets included in the study addressed cannabis use disorder, cannabis use, and numerous major psychiatric traits. The GWAS datasets informed how genetic variants might relate to disease and the researchers were then able to perform analyses that measured whether and to what degree the genetic risk for one disease or trait affected the genetic risk for another disease or trait.
The researchers uncovered several bidirectional causal relationships, in which not only did having a psychiatric condition put people at greater risk of developing cannabis use disorder, but also having cannabis use disorder put people at greater risk of developing a psychiatric disorder.
Their results supported previous research that identified bidirectional causal relationships between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They also, for the first time, established bidirectional relationships between cannabis use disorder and anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“People might suggest cannabis use can be a useful treatment for, say, PTSD, but this analysis indicates otherwise,” says senior author Joel Gelernter, a professor of psychiatry and professor of genetics and of neuroscience at YSM.
“We show that over time, cannabis is more likely to cause PTSD than to treat it. When medications are approved for a particular condition, we generally require strong scientific evidence that the treatment works, but clinical trials are lacking for cannabis for many of these traits.”
The results from this study offer a fact-based approach that public health professionals can use to gauge the potential utility or harm of cannabis use by people with certain mental health disorders, say the researchers.
“With medical marijuana becoming increasingly legalized, many clinicians have been willing to prescribe cannabis for a range of disorders,” says Gelernter.
“Our study shows that this may not be the best practice. We need randomized clinical trials to show whether cannabis works in order for it to be reasonably considered a medication.”
Support for the research came from the National Institutes of Health and Yale University. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The study was also supported by funds from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development.
Source: Yale
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