40% of smokers mentally ill

[Luke Skywalker]

Or perhaps just smoke pot?

 

Linking drug use, of any kind, to mental illness is fraught with dangerous assumptions. Keep in mind that psychiatry and psychology are both to a large degree subjective not objective sciences. There's a lot we know about the human mind and what is going on when it doesn't quite work right, but we're only just barely scratching the surface.

 

You could come up with a reasonable argument that adding chlorine to the water is causing mental illness too....

[WantDaChronic]

i think you may be on to something luke, but maybe its that 100% of people with mental illness have flouride in their bodies from drinking tap water

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Grr...meow...huf huff...mental? wha?

 

Really though, if 40% of smokers have some mental disorder, wouldn't that check out with the adds that the depression awareness people were running on Tv saying about 50% of people you know have or will have depression or some other mental illenss in their lives?

 

And if of 100% of people with mental illness, only 40% of them smoke grass, wouldn't that also check out with stats that something like of 100% of the population at large, around half smoke or have smoked pot?

 

Isn't it just a "norm", we'd expect to find in a sampling of people in any section of the community, say 40% of church going people, 40% of people who join the army, 40% of people who do macrame,...40% of those who draw breath basically?

 

I dunno for sure, just thinkin aloud.

 

rob

[Luke Skywalker]

Indeed, a co-relation is not necessarily evidence of cause-effect relationship.

 

You could find a strong co-relation between being a politician and chances that your an asshole, but it doesn't necessarily mean that all politicians are assholes, or that becoming a politician makes you into an asshole.

 

It's more likely that assholes are attracted to politics.

 

Another example, although a little different.... Simply because you have an increasing rate of "mental illness" in society (whatever that's defined as), doesn't mean that there are more "mentally ill" people out there. It could just be that we're better at identifying and labelling them as such.

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

"Whatever mentally ill means"..I agree luke.

 

I mean I grew up in the height of smokin in this country, come from a family of smokers, spent much of my life living in Byron Bay region, and have grown, bought and sold pot since I was 16.

And I disagree that 40% of those I've known are mentally ill. In all that time, I've known just three people to freak out. A combo perhaps from excessive smoke, but in each case other influences were present and large enough to cause a spin out in their own right. Like one bloke's wife was sleeping around, another guy had 13 charges of fraud agaist the commonwelath gov (dole fraud) to face, doing so to support his wife who had a hell of a heroin addiction...I mean why the pot? Are these things not enough to send someone over the top? But both cases ended up in physc wards, and pot was listed as the problem.

 

The third was my father. He went into a skitsophrenia bend.In truth, he's the only one I know I actively try to keep away from pot. After a life of heavy smoking, it's somthing that he just can't be involved with anymore. But gee, that's one person out of thousands, and he's had a long, long history of depression going right back to when they didn't believe men could have such a thing. So it went untreated all his life.

 

cheers

rob

[roid]

i've been saying for years that smoking bans discriminate against the mentally ill.

In Australia something like 70%-90% (i forget the figure) of Schizophrenics smoke tobacco.

 

That means that 90% of Schizophrenics can't take their 'meds' around public places in Australia.

 

I have to say, since i started researching about how many mentally ill ppl smoke tobacco, i have begun to seriously consider starting smoking myself. It must be effective, so i'm weighing the pros against the cons in my mind.

(maybe i'll try some gum)

Edited December 31, 2007 by roid

[DrDee]

Hi guys,

Roid, as a general rule I think it's best not to pattern your behavior on mentally ill people. But that's just me.

 

And nicotine does have specific receptors in the brain. They're actually called nicotinic receptors and they're stimulated by nicotine or sometimes other drugs.

 

I've worked for years in mental hospitals. It's a crushingly boring place for the patients and if they didn't smoke before they got there, the temptation to start is very strong once they're there. Prisons are like that too. (worked in prisons as well) Excluding mild depression which is almost epidemic in US society, many mentally ill patients are also poly-drug abusers. Given an opportunity, they will do almost anything to feel good. I've seen people save up their nicotine gum till they have maybe 5 pieces and then chew the hell out of it to get a buzz from the nicotine. I don't think much valid information can be gathered from observing mentally ill patients behaviors. Especially schizophrenic patients. Other then it's usually fairly odd.

 

I don't know if any of this fits into this thread, but there it is.

Cheers,

Dee

[pipeman]

hey Dr.Dee do you reckon that cannabis can have a calming effect on some schizophrenics?

[melbournes/eboy]

is that 40% mentally ill BECAUSE of smoking, or just mentally ill people that smoke coincidentaly? or just some people that decided to smoke because they where mentally ill? general public thinks if you smoke full stop you are mentally ill..

[DrDee]

Pipeman,

That's a tough question. You have to look at the clinical picture of the patient. First off Schizophrenia doesn't mean a split personality which was a common misunderstanding. They have a truly altered view of reality. I remember one patient who was watching the space shuutle launch on TV. He had to fart and he leaned over and let it out exactly as the shuutle appeared to be turning. He bacame totally convinced that he had caused the space shuttle to turn with his fart. I kid you not, they have no real grasp of true reality. (as if we do, but that's another issue )

So if a scizophrenic is well medicated, they won't really need pot, they have loads of drugs already. And if they aren't medicated properly, adding pot to their already screwed up take on reality could be dangerous. So Id say no, it's a bad idea. Now a patient with anxiety, depression or one of many other mental illnesses may benefit. And of course you'd have to be very careful about the strain. You wouldn't want to give an anxious or paranoid patient a pure haze or other intense sativa. You'd give them an indica with some sedative effect.

For what it's worth dudes,

Dee