El consumo de cannabis como precursor de la psicosis: su relación con la esquizofrenia

Abstract

Introduction: schizophrenia is a chronic mental pathology that affects about 24 million people in the world, within this disease it is common to find the consumption of psychoactive substances by patients in which cannabis tops this list, this drug has particular relationships with schizophrenia through the effect of the plant’s own cannabinoids. Objective: to determine the relationship between cannabis consumption and schizophrenia. Methodology: a narrative literature review was carried out; for the search of information, Scopus and PubMed databases were used with MESH/DECS descriptors using keywords, taking into account articles since 2014, in English and Spanish and with inclusion and exclusion criteria of the articles to be analyzed. Results: in a study conducted in London where we evaluated how cannabis use could trigger a psychotic episode in vulnerable individuals, we found that the transition to psychosis occurred among those who started using cannabis before the age of 15 years and continued with frequent use. Despite this, in the overall sample cannabis users were no more likely to develop psychosis than those who had never used Conclusion: cannabis use is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for the development of psychosis, as it acts as a component cause for the development of a psychotic event within the schizophrenia spectrum