Journal of psychopharmacology
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Jan 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialCannabidiol inhibits THC-elicited paranoid symptoms and hippocampal-dependent memory impairment.
Community-based studies suggest that cannabis products that are high in Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but low in cannabidiol (CBD) are particularly hazardous for mental health. Laboratory-based studies are ideal for clarifying this issue because THC and CBD can be administered in pure form, under controlled conditions. In a between-subjects design, we tested the hypothesis that pre-treatment with CBD inhibited THC-elicited psychosis and cognitive impairment. ⋯ In agreement, post-THC paranoia, as rated with the State Social Paranoia Scale (SSPS), was less in the CBD group compared with the placebo group (t=2.28, p<0.05). Episodic memory, indexed by scores on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Task-revised (HVLT-R), was poorer, relative to baseline, in the placebo pre-treated group (-10.6 ± 18.9%) compared with the CBD group (-0.4% ± 9.7 %) (t=2.39, p<0.05). These findings support the idea that high-THC/low-CBD cannabis products are associated with increased risks for mental health.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Jan 2013
A flicker change blindness task employing eye tracking reveals an association with levels of craving not consumption.
We investigated attentional biases with a flicker paradigm, examining the proportion of alcohol relative to neutral changes detected. Furthermore, we examined how measures of the participants initial orienting of attention and of their maintained attention relate to levels of alcohol consumption and subjective craving in social drinkers. The eye movements of 58 participants (24 male) were monitored whilst they completed a flicker-induced change blindness task using both simple stimuli and real world scenes, with both an alcohol and neutral change competing for detection. ⋯ Thus we conclude that processing biases in the orienting of attention to alcohol related stimuli were demonstrated in higher craving compared to lower craving social users in real world scenes. However, this was not related to the level of consumption as would be expected. These results highlight various methodological and conceptual issues to be considered in future research.