Teenage Girls And Depression
Researchers have also found further evidence the drug can significantly
increase the risk of schizophrenia.
The risks are outlined in three papers in the latest issue of the British
Medical Journal.
Researchers say their findings highlight the need for measures to reduce
frequent and heavy use of cannabis.
The first paper, by doctors in Australia, found frequent cannabis use among
teenage girls in particular can trigger depression.
Their seven-year study of 1,600 teenage girls found girls who used the drug
everyday were five times more likely to become depressed and suffer from
anxiety compared to those who did not use the drug.
Those who used the drug at least once every week were twice as likely to
develop depression compared to non-users.
A second study, by doctors in Sweden, confirmed previous research suggesting
that cannabis can increase the risk of developing depression.
Their study of more than 50,000 men found those who had smoked the drug in
the late 1960s were 30% more likely to have developed schizophrenia.
The authors said their results suggested that as many as one in eight cases
of schizophrenia in the UK could be prevented by stopping people from using
cannabis.
The third study, by British scientists, suggests the risks of developing
schizophrenia are highest for those people who use the drug when they are a
teenager.
Their study of more than 1,000 people in their early twenties in New Zealand
suggested that one in 10 people who used cannabis as a teenager have since
been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
All of the researchers said the ill-effects were linked to cannabis and not
to any other drugs.
They also said there was little evidence to suggest that occasional use of
cannabis had a similar effect.
I wish this research woudl alo have answred a different quesiton: do people
who are more likely to develop schizophrenia or depression have a bigger
need for cannabis? I mean, there is such a correlcation between smoking
tobacco and schizophrenia. And apparently smoking changes the exact same
part of the brain as antidepressants do.
So the correlation established in this research may be one that indicates
some cannabis users are self-medicating.
I think there is a lot of truth in this. Wild animals are
attracted to marijuana and it is not unusual to see a lot of
stoned possums out on the Coromandel Peninsular where most of
Aucklanders grow their dope. Cows will happily eat it as well.
There is something that attracts you to smoking dope if you have
a certain personality. As I have been smoking more lately
(without depression) and as I could not smoke when I was really
depressed, I can only say it doesn't make me depressed. It makes
me non multi-functional but for me that is a bit of an advantage.
Having said that, I gave up yesterday, cold turkey. I decided to
do it now rather than wait till I leave. Gives me time to deal
with any adjustment in my emotional/mental attitude.
You inspired this decision... and I am glad of it. Of course I
had another bad night's sleep last night because of it. My sleep
patterns are always what gets screwed up when I stop smoking
weed... wonder if I'll get depressed?