Schizotypy and psychosis-like experiences from recreational cannabis in a non-clinical sample

The relationship between cannabis use and psychosis is still a matter for debate. Accounting for the individual differences in subjective experiences to recreational cannabis use in the general population may hold some clues to the aetiological relationship between cannabis and psychotic symptoms. We hypothesized that schizotypy would account for the individual differences in subjective experiences after cannabis use but not in patterns of use.

In a sample of 532 young people who had used cannabis at least once, we examined the relationship between the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ) and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Additionally, we examined the psychometric properties of the CEQ.

We replicated our previously reported findings that schizotypy was associated with increased psychosis-like experiences and after-effects, but also found that high-scoring schizotypes reported more pleasurable experiences when smoking cannabis. Using new subscales derived from principal components analysis (PCA), we found that the psychosis-like items were most related to varying rates of schizotypy both during the immediate use of cannabis and in the after-effects of cannabis use. High-scoring schizotypes who used cannabis experienced more psychosis-like symptoms during and after use.

Our results suggest that cannabis use may reveal an underlying vulnerability to psychosis in those with high schizotypal traits.