New analysis casts doubts on claims that persistent hashish use leads to “amotivational syndrome,” which is characterised by a scarcity of enjoyment of on a regular basis life and a lack of motivation. The research, printed within the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, discovered no distinction in anhedonia, apathy, or motivation between hashish customers and non-users.
“Cannabis is the third most commonly used controlled substance worldwide, and with its legal profile currently changing in many countries it is more important than ever to know how cannabis affects the brain and cognition,” stated research writer Martine Skumlien, a PhD candidate within the Department of Psychiatry on the University of Cambridge. “One common trope frequently perpetuated in movies, TV shows, and anti-cannabis PSAs is that of ‘the lazy stoner,’ which displays cannabis users as lazy, demotivated, and apathetic. However, this is based on a stereotype and not on scientific evidence.”
The researchers recruited 76 adolescents and 71 adults from the Greater London space who had been utilizing hashish 1 to 7 days per week, on common, over the previous three months. Adolescents have been 16-17 years of age, whereas adults have been 26-29 years of age. The cannabis-using individuals have been matched with 63 adolescents and 64 adults who didn’t use hashish.
“We compared teen and adult cannabis users and controls from the large MRC-funded UCL CannTeen study on several measures of reward and motivation, including apathy and willingness to expend physical effort for reward,” Skumlien advised PsyPost.
The individuals accomplished a measure of anhedonia often known as the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, wherein they indicated the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements comparable to “I would find pleasure in my hobbies and pastimes” and “I would find pleasure in small things, e.g. bright sunny day, a telephone call from a friend.”
The individuals additionally accomplished a questionnaire often known as the Apathy Evaluation Scale, wherein they indicated how nicely statements comparable to “I am interested in things” and “Getting things done during the day is important to me” utilized to them.
The researchers discovered that hashish customers scored barely decrease than non-users on the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, suggesting that they’re higher in a position to take pleasure in themselves. But there was no important distinction when it got here to apathy. Skumlien and her colleagues additionally discovered no correlation between hashish use frequency and anhedonia or apathy.
In addition, 139 individuals accomplished two task-based measures of motivation, which assessed the willingness to expend effort for reward, reward sensitivity, effort sensitivity, reward wanting, and reward liking.
In the primary activity, individuals got the choice to carry out button-presses with a purpose to win factors, which have been later exchanged for sweets or sweets to take residence. There have been three problem ranges and three reward ranges; harder trials required quicker button urgent. On every trial the participant may select to simply accept or reject the supply; factors have been solely accrued if the trial was accepted and accomplished.
In a second activity, individuals have been first advised to estimate how a lot they needed to obtain every of three rewards (30 seconds of one in every of their favorite songs, one piece of chocolate or a candy, and a £1 coin) on a scale from “do not want at all” to “intensely want.” They then acquired every reward in flip and have been requested to charge how pleasurable they discovered them on a scale from “do not like at all” to “intensely like.”
In line with the self-reported questionnaires, the researchers discovered no distinction between hashish customers and non-users on both activity. “I was somewhat surprised to find that the groups weren’t any different on the measures, as this is not what we hypothesised,” Skumlien advised PsyPost. “We also expected adolescent cannabis users to be worse off than the adult users, as drug use in adolescence is often thought to be particularly harmful. However, we found no evidence of such adolescent vulnerability.”
“In short, we found no support for the idea that cannabis use is linked with amotivation,” the researcher stated.
Co-author Will Lawn added in a information launch: “There’s been a lot of concern that cannabis use in adolescence might lead to worse outcomes than cannabis use during adulthood. But our study, one of the first to directly compare adolescents and adults who use cannabis, suggests that adolescents are no more vulnerable than adults to the harmful effects of cannabis on motivation, the experience of pleasure, or the brain’s response to reward.”
“In fact, it seems cannabis may have no link – or at most only weak associations – with these outcomes in general,” Lawn stated. “However, we need studies that look for these associations over a long period of time to confirm these findings.”
The findings present proof that hashish use shouldn’t be related to persistent disruption to reward processing in adults or adolescents. But it’s nonetheless potential that hashish induces acute disruptions in reward processing.
“Crucially, participants in our study had not used any cannabis prior to participating. It is therefore still possible that people find themselves less motivated to do certain things while they are high,” Skumlien defined. “We plan to look at this in a future investigation from the CannTeen study! It is also worth emphasizing that motivation is a broad concept, and measures that assess motivation in a laboratory setting may not always translate to real-life situations.”
“Stereotypes can be stigmatizing and get in the way of harm-reduction messages around drug use,” Skumlien added. “We need to be honest about what are and are not potential consequences of cannabis use, and not use harmful and untrue stereotypes in efforts to discourage people from using cannabis.”
The research, “Anhedonia, apathy, pleasure, and effort-based decision-making in adult and adolescent cannabis users and controls“, was authored by Martine Skumlien, Claire Mokrysz, Tom P. Freeman, Vincent Valton, Matthew B. Wall, Michael Bloomfield, Rachel Lees, Anna Borissova, Kat Petrilli, Manuela Giugliano, Denisa Clisu, Christelle Langley, Barbara J. Sahakian, H. Valerie Curran, and Will Lawn.
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