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Adversity, cannabis use and psychotic experiences: evidence of cumulative and synergistic effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Craig Morgan ,
Ulrich Reininghaus ,
Abraham Reichenberg ,
Souci Frissa ,
Matthew Hotopf ,
Stephani L. Hatch  and
SELCoH study team
Craig Morgan*
Affiliation:
NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and Section of Social Psychiatry, Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Ulrich Reininghaus
Affiliation:
NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and Section of Social Psychiatry, Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Abraham Reichenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA
Souci Frissa
Affiliation:
Psychological Medicine, Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Matthew Hotopf
Affiliation:
Psychological Medicine, Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Stephani L. Hatch
Affiliation:
Psychological Medicine, Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
*
Craig Morgan, Section of Social Psychiatry, Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. Email: craig.morgan@kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Background

There is robust evidence that childhood adversity is associated with an increased risk of psychosis. There is, however, little research on intervening factors that might increase or decrease risk following childhood adversity.

Aims

To investigate main effects of, and synergy between, childhood abuse and life events and cannabis use on odds of psychotic experiences.

Method

Data on psychotic experiences and childhood abuse, life events and cannabis use were collected from 1680 individuals as part of the South East London Community Health Study (SELCoH), a population-based household survey.

Results

There was strong evidence that childhood abuse and number of life events combined synergistically to increase odds of psychotic experiences beyond the effects of each individually. There was similar, but weaker, evidence for cannabis use (past year).

Conclusions

Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood abuse creates an enduring vulnerability to psychosis that is realised in the event of exposure to further stressors and risk factors.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 204 , Issue 5 , May 2014 , pp. 346 - 353
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NC
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014

Footnotes

This research was supported by the Biomedical Research Nucleus data management and informatics facility at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, which is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London and a joint infrastructure grant from Guy's and St Thomas' Charity and the Maudsley Charity. S.L.H., M.H., C.M. and S.F. receive salary support from the NIHR Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. C.M. is further supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust (Grant Number: WT087417) and European Union (European Community's Seventh Framework Program (grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2009-241909) (Project EU-GEI)).

Declaration of interest

None.

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