Mensen, Vincent T.Vreeker, AnnabelNordgren, JohanAtkinson, AmandaTorre Fornell, Rafael de laFarré Albaladejo, MagíRamaekers, Johannes G.Brunt, Tibor M.2020-04-032020-04-032019Mensen VT, Vreeker A, Nordgren J, Atkinson A, de la Torre R, Farré M, et al. Psychopathological symptoms associated with synthetic cannabinoid use: a comparison with natural cannabis. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019 Sep; 236(9):2677-85. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-019-05238-80033-3158http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44150Background: Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are a class of new psychoactive substances that have been rapidly evolving around the world throughout recent years. Many different synthetic cannabinoid analogues are on the consumer market and sold under misleading names, like "spice" or "incense." A limited number of studies have reported serious health effects associated with SC use. In this study, we compared clinical and subclinical psychopathological symptoms associated with SC use and natural cannabis (NC) use. Methods: A convenience sample of 367 NC and SC users was recruited online, including four validated psychometric questionnaires: The Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Altman Mania Scale (Altman), and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The two groups were compared with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and covariance (ANCOVA), chi2 tests, and logistic regression when appropriate. Results: The SC user group did not differ in age from the NC user group (27.7 years), but contained less females (21% and 30%, respectively). SC users scored higher than NC users on all used psychometric measures, indicating a higher likelihood of drug abuse, sleep problems, (hypo)manic symptoms, and the nine dimensions comprising the BSI, somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Odds ratios (95% CI) for the SC user group vs NC user group were, respectively, drug dependence 3.56 (1.77-7.16), (severe) insomnia 5.01 (2.10-11.92), (hypo-)mania 5.18 (2.04-13.14), and BSI psychopathology 5.21 (2.96-9.17). Discussion: This study shows that SC use is associated with increased mental health symptomatology compared to NC use.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05238-8AltmanBSICannabisDUDITISIMental health;PsychiatryPsychologyQuestionnaireSpiceSynthetic cannabisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess