Can cannabis abuse lead to anxiety and depression?

ABSTRACT

To determine the association of cannabis abuse with depression, anxiety and mixed anxiety depression as well as to establish the psychometric properties of the scale used in the study i.e. Hospital anxiety and depression [HAD] scale. Retrospective study.Different localities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.40 cannabis patients suffering from cannabis dependence and 40 normal persons were selected from different localities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The Urdu modified version of Hospital anxiety and depression scale [HADS] was used to assess the severity of anxiety and depression in both groups. The mean age of cannabis dependent patients was 29.60 and that of non-addicts 29.33. It shows more depression in cannabis abusers as compared to non cannabis addicts. Addicts have more anxiety as compared to non-addicts. Cannabis addicts have more mixed anxiety depression as compared to non-addicts. The other objective of the study was to establish the Alpha reliability coefficient and item-total correlation of the scale, the findings of which suggest that all the items of the scale are highly consistent. The findings of the study suggest that the cannabis abusers have more depression, anxiety and mixed anxiety depression as compared to non- addicts. Anxiety, depression and mixed anxiety depression in addicts can be due to biological, psychosocial, genetic and neurochemical factors which need to be investigated in future studies