Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug in the western world and its use seems to be strongly associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Its use can induce transient psychotic symptoms in healthy individuals and increase rate of subclinical psychotic symptoms in the general population. Subclinical psychotic experiences (also called Psychotic Like Experiences: PLEs), such as magical thinking, paranoid ideation or hallucinations, could be considered as a phenotype qualitatively similar to the symptomatology of psychotic disorders but quantitatively less severe in terms of intensity, frequency and impairment. They are fairly common in the general population and usually transitory and self-limiting but they could become abnormally persistent and evolve to a full-blown psychotic disorder, especially if combined with certain environmental risk factors, such as trauma, urbanicity, cannabis use. PLEs may be considered as an early marker of a latent psychosis vulnerability and the frequently good outcome of subclinical psychosis can be turned in negative outcomes by the association with environmental risk factors, such as cannabis use. We focus our attention on aberrant salience, a peculiar psychotic experience, frequently reported during the prodromal phase that precede the onset of full-blown psychotic illness. Aberrant salience is the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience or significance to innocuous stimuli; it has been hypothesized to be an important mechanism in the development of psychosis.
CANNABIS USE, PSYCHOTIC-LIKE EXPERIENCES AND ABERRANT SALIENCE IN A SAMPLE OF BELGIAN STUDENTS
Moretti P.;Tortorella A.;
2018
Abstract
Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug in the western world and its use seems to be strongly associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Its use can induce transient psychotic symptoms in healthy individuals and increase rate of subclinical psychotic symptoms in the general population. Subclinical psychotic experiences (also called Psychotic Like Experiences: PLEs), such as magical thinking, paranoid ideation or hallucinations, could be considered as a phenotype qualitatively similar to the symptomatology of psychotic disorders but quantitatively less severe in terms of intensity, frequency and impairment. They are fairly common in the general population and usually transitory and self-limiting but they could become abnormally persistent and evolve to a full-blown psychotic disorder, especially if combined with certain environmental risk factors, such as trauma, urbanicity, cannabis use. PLEs may be considered as an early marker of a latent psychosis vulnerability and the frequently good outcome of subclinical psychosis can be turned in negative outcomes by the association with environmental risk factors, such as cannabis use. We focus our attention on aberrant salience, a peculiar psychotic experience, frequently reported during the prodromal phase that precede the onset of full-blown psychotic illness. Aberrant salience is the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience or significance to innocuous stimuli; it has been hypothesized to be an important mechanism in the development of psychosis.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
