Cannabis-Schizophrenia Myth Revealed: Virtual Reality ‘Mirror’ Game Found Exposes Early Signs of Disorder

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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes the reality of people twisted. Symptoms of the disorder are hallucinations, hearing voices and haphazard speech or behavior. Yet, there are some people that still associates it with the use of cannabis.

According to Merry Jane, the myth that was mentioned by cannabis haters was proved to be false according to studies. It was noted by Psychiatry Advisor, Matthijs Bossong, Ph.D., of the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Utrecht that cannabis and schizophrenia have a psychological relationship.

Thus, non-intoxicated schizophrenia patients and healthy cannabis volunteer users were found to have similarities “For many brain functions, such as memory, executive function, and emotional processing.” It was also noted that schizophrenia patients who self-medicate themselves with cannabis were found to have fewer negative symptoms per 2006 study.

With that said, millions of people in the U.S are still affected by schizophrenia. Yet, Medical Daily reported that a study published on NPJ Schizophrenia had found out that schizophrenia symptoms could be discovered early through a “mirror test” that deals with virtual reality.

The study then by the University of Exeter lead the study to assess a patient through making them mimic the movements of an avatar on screen. The test was done that way because schizophrenia patients are described to be different from other people when dealing socially. Results had found out that this mirror test showed the people who had schizophrenia in a 93 percent accuracy.

Research author, Piotr Słowiński then said that “Studying how people move and react to others may seem a simplistic way to help diagnose a patient with such a debilitating condition, but our results were comparable to existing, more expensive neuroimaging methods.” The study then also noted that the game could also aid doctors in letting them know if the treatment on a schizophrenia patient is working or not.