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Comment by a0-prw | Hacker News Reader

So do latent schozophrenics disproportionately seek out cannabis or does cannabis cause schizophrenia? Also, did these people start with cannabis, or did they start with tobacco and alcohol ?

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Right, the fact that there's significant correlation between schizophrenia and cannabis use is well known, but I not aware that there's any decent evidence for or against causation. Schizophrenics have generally higher rates of substance use/abuse so a higher rate of cannabis use is not not odd, per se.

IIRC, there's also a very high correlation between schizophrenia and early substance abuse/overuse in general (such as high alcohol/caffeine use). Are these substances causal too?

there is casual evidence that alcohol and caffeine increase hospitalisations for schizos. With marihuana its a harder riddle, what is a cause of another, I guess you can ask the same about other substances and origin

It is, but also there is a thing called 'self-medication'*.

As we know, global warming has a positive corellation with a decline of a pirate activity, but nobody yet discovered the cause.

* as a person who at least read some things on it - it should be really described as 'attempts at s.m.' but here we are

My understanding is cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in those with a predisposition. Some people will have this triggered in their lifetime, and others will not. Some things like stress can trigger this, as well as some drugs like cannabis

> as well as some drugs like schizophrenia.

If someone offers you schizophrenia at a party, don't take it

Lol good catch, I was in a waiting room and didn't get to check grammar. Fixed

This makes sense.

Also it's known(both by researchers and users) that cannabis can increase/create paranoia in some people. And paranoia is stressful so that can lead to schizophrenia(and paranoia is a part of the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia).

Anecdotal evidence, but I didnt seek marihuana, I actively avoided it, but had a crazy addict cousin who tried to force it on me for weird reasons. One time I was pretty drunked and tried it, got psychosis the next day finally ended in a psych ward. I am on meds till today

Smoking your first cannabis while drunk was indeed a bad idea! Hopefully the experience made you think about the abuse of alcohol and its consequences.

bro, I was 17 at the time. Wasted the next 10 years living with schizophrenia. Smoke your weed but dont preach about alcohol abuse

Please stick to the site guidelines and don't be unkind here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

The first is an interesting question, especially considering the potential length of the prodrome of some mental illnesses.

Would be incredibly hard to test though, requires going back and forth with a time machine. Would be cool, though.

isn't that like asking do latent diabetics seek out unhealthy foods?

No, because people with mental health issues like bipolar or schizo or even ADHD tend to self medicate with drugs before seeking help, if they ever do.

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