Cannabinoid Use and Depression: Comparison of Natural and Synthetic Cannabinoids

Abstract

Purpose: Patients who predominantly used marijuana (natural cannabis) and patients who predominantly used synthetic cannabinoids in their history were evaluated as two separate groups in our study which aimed to compare the sociodemographic characteristics and depressive symptoms of these two groups. Method: The sample of our study consisted of those patients who referred to the Polyclinic of Psychiatry at Ardahan State Hospital and were diagnosed with substance addiction. 30 polyclinic patients who defined predominant use of marijuana and 20 polyclinic patients who defined predominant use of synthetic cannabinoids (bonzai, Jamaika, etc.) (SC) were included in the study. The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants were determined, and the depressive symptoms were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory. Results: Our study determined the socio-demographic characteristics of the marijuana-using group and the synthetic-cannabinoid-using group as similar. The depression score of the group using synthetic cannabinoids was found to be significantly higher. Discussion: In our study, findings pointing to the fact that cannabinoid use increases depressive symptoms and that synthetic cannabinoids have a strong depressive side effect have been obtained. The cross-sectional characteristic of the study and the low number of subjects constitute the limitations.

Cannabinoids—Perspectives for Individual Treatment in Selected Patients: Analysis of the Case Series

“…Authors of the study additionally advise caution in the long-term cannabis use, due to alternations in the endocannabinoid system, which paradoxically may increase patients’ susceptibility to depression and reverse the positive effects of the therapy [ 62 ]. Moreover, a number of participants enrolled in other trials experienced negative results of the treatment, such as paranoia, irritation, dysphoria, demotivation or depression [ 11 , 53 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. Additionally, the abuse risk assessment is necessary, similarly to the case of using opioids.…”

Medical Cannabis in Palliative Psychiatry: Clinical Aspects of Affective Regulation and Legal Challenges

“…Many synthetic cannabinoids contain added substances (including benzodiazepines and O-desmethyltramadol) to increase their psychoactive effect. This study measured depression using the Beck Depression Inventory and found that, while depression scores were high in both groups, there was a statistically significant increase in depressive symptoms in participants using synthetic cannabinoids compared to those using marijuana [123] .…”

Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines: Potential Links between the Endocannabinoid System and the Kynurenine Pathway in Depression

“…As mentioned previously, there are numerous preclinical and clinical studies pointing out that cannabis/THC and SCs use significantly contributes to the development of depression [3,6,8,[50][51][52][53]. In fact, a recent study showed that SC users displayed a higher Beck Depression Inventory score [54] compared to natural cannabis users, with similar socio-demographic characteristics [51].…”

“…As mentioned previously, there are numerous preclinical and clinical studies pointing out that cannabis/THC and SCs use significantly contributes to the development of depression [ 3 , 6 , 8 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. In fact, a recent study showed that SC users displayed a higher Beck Depression Inventory score [ 54 ] compared to natural cannabis users, with similar socio-demographic characteristics [ 51 ]. Another study pointed out a similar outcome, where SC use was associated with increased mental health symptomatology—including depression—compared to natural cannabinoid use [ 10 ].…”