Hey Gen Z, if you want to be depressed and suicidal before you’re 30…smoke weed everyday!

Brandon Vecchiola

Click bait?  Yes, this is true.  But now that you’re here, ask yourself a question:  What are you willing to do to ensure that you have the best experience of life you possibly can?  Think…Think…Think… okay stop thinking.  If the answer wasn’t “anything I have to!” then you need to think about it some more.

Life is far from perfect. We all strive, in different ways, to seek comfort and sooth ourselves.  When the going gets tough, some of us run, some swim, some of us seek sex or drugs.  Some of us embed in community or seek out nature; some crave adventure. Some folks love to see red. 

Some of these ways of coping, dealing, and experiencing are healthier than others (that’s just a fact).  Certainly, each Human Being reserves their right to do whatever they wish with their own body (provided it doesn’t harm others).  But if they wish to have the most pleasant experience of life as possible, then we should learn to listen, albeit with some healthy skepticism, to our scientists. 

Though they look like a sinister bunch, adorned in white smocks, conducting experiments and gathering around data rolling their fingers and conjuring statistics from cauldrons of confusion.  They have valuable information to offer us.  Remember when doctors used to say that smoking was good for you?  Well, unfortunately, a similar misinformation campaign has been ongoing in our culture regarding cannabis.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against adults recreationally, or even vocationally, enjoying drugs: it’s your life grown-ups, live it however you wanna.  It even has utility as a medicine for some people. However, I am concerned that the 20% of Canadian adolescents who used cannabis last year are not adequately informed about the dangers associated with prolonged and early drug use.  I certainly wasn’t.

To my surprise a study released last year claims that cannabis, weed, Mary-Jane, Krypto-Chronic-Kryptonite and the Killa’ Kush: might actually kill you (not a scare tactic, keep reading). 

Dr. Gabriella Gobbi MD, PhD, CSPQ is an associate professor and researcher from McGill University, and the first author of the study “Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” 

Dr Gobbi studies, among other things, the “short- and long-term effects of cannabis use in mood and anxiety and the potential beneficial effects of the drugs acting on the endocannabinoid system”.  Though, she has nothing good to report.  

The goal of their study was to determine if there was a long term association between cannabis use in adolescence and depression, anxiety, and suicidality in young adults (between the ages of 18 and 32).  I’ll save you the suspense, the answer is yes.  Adolescents who use cannabis at higher frequencies are more likely to experience the negative outcomes listed above in young adulthood.  There have already been studies which have linked cannabis use with high rates of depression in adolescence.  What made this study novel, was that it utilized a longitudinal study  to assessed the mental health outcomes of people who “blaze it up.”

Longitudinal studies are studies in which researches follow a group of people over time and assess the outcomes of interest at different time points.  Although this method isn’t’ as robust as experimentation in determining the causal relationship between different events, it is a valuable form of evidence when used with other research techniques.  The combined evidence from multiple lines of investigation can be used to arrive at a conclusion about some issue.

This study was a meta-analysis.  Let me explain what that is and why it’s important.  A meta-analysis gathers up several studies in a particular area, averages the findings of those studies and makes a determination as to whether or not a claim about something can be justified.  For example, a single study that claims antidepressants help alleviate depression isn’t enough evidence to support the widespread distribution of an antidepressant drug.  However, if there were 10 studies, some which said anti-depressants work, and a couple that said they didn’t work, a meta-analysis would average those findings and make a determination: on average, anti-depressants alleviate depression, and so doctors should prescribe them as a first line of defense for depression (end of example).

The authors of this study wanted to answer the question “is cannabis use in adolescence associated with depression, anxiety and suicidality in adulthood?"  But they wanted to make sure that as many factors as possible were accounted for before answering that question. So, the authors only included studies that were peer-reviewed, longitudinal, focused on cannabis, measured depression, anxiety, and suicide, assessed  younger than 18, and then again at least one more time in their adulthood. The authors also adjusted their findings for age, sex, and depression at initial assessment.  Level of parental education, socioeconomic status, alcohol use, and tobacco use were also controlled for.  All this to ask, all things being equal, what effect does weed have on your mental?

From the scientific research databases 3142 articles of interest were identified, 269 articles were reviewed, 35 were critically assessed, and 11 articles including 23 317 people were included in the final statistical analysis.  The researchers used something called an Odds Ratio to determine the likely hood of developing these disorders. An odds ratio, in this situation, tells us the likelihood of developing a mood disorder if you used cannabis in adolescence.  For people who use cannabis in adolescence, the researches determined the following:

There was no association between anxiety and cannabis use discovered.

You are 1.37 times more likely to develop depression in adulthood than nonusers

You are 1.50 times more likely to develop suicidal ideation than nonusers

You are 3.46 times more likely to attempt suicide than nonusers

Teens who started earlier in life (14-15) and those who continued using into their college years fair worse than others. However, the relationship stays the same no matter how young you are when you stop.  Interestingly, the association was not present at the 1 year follow up, but it was at the ten year follow up (something to consider).

The authors also report on significant brain changes that are linked to cannabis use.  Brain volume and density changes, neurotransmitter irregularities, and cross over effects such as increased tolerance for morphine, amphetamine, and cocaine in cannabis users. This last effect may be thought of as good depending on your perspective, but my gut tells me this is probably not ideal for healthy development.

So here we are again folks.  Some adult telling the youth not to use drugs: “if you use drugs your going to die”, “your brain on drugs is basically a fried egg in an oil pan.” Priceless, timeless advice.  Here is the thing, not everyone develops these problems.  The odds ratios are low.  However, the nearly 3.5 times likelihood of someone attempting suicide is an alarming figure.

The problem with correlational and longitudinal studies is that they cannot fully establish causation.  And even if they could, the outcome wouldn't be the same for everyone.  In science we deal with probabilities.  Some smokers never develop cancer.  That doesn't mean smoking doesn't cause cancer.  It just means, by chance, and some other factors, some individuals beat the odds.  So, It may not be that cannabis is the main causal factor.  And in fact, I don’t think it is.

Enter some informed speculation.  

Which factors drive people to daily, debilitating, and prolonged drug use?  This is the important question.  There is a strong correlation between substances of abuse and many other mental health disorders; depression, suicide, post traumatic stress, traumas of all kinds, and borderline personality disorder to name a few.  People abuse drugs to mask pain.  For me, it is as simple as that.  The problem is that drugs don't always make things better.  By altering your physiology and reducing your capacity for healthy coping, they can make things much worse.  Even those "soft drugs" like little Ol' Mary-Jane.

Then what is the solution?

Alleviate the pain!  Find a way to connect, heal and create new meaning.  Fabricate your supreme fiction (but in a good way okay?).  Engage with inspiring people more often.  If your friends are bringing you down...find new friends.  If your partner sucks...leave them.  If your job sucks...find something better.  If you need therapy...go get therapy!  Yes easy for me to say...I know.  I'm not the one who has to make the changes.  Well in fact, I have made changes like these.  And so have many other people.  They are creeping among us like day walking vampires, hiding in plain sight.  Living new lives free from the fetters of the past.  

Recovery is possible. 

Change is possible.  

It's yours for the taking!

So, I’ll ask you again: What are you willing to do to ensure that you have the best experience of life you possibly can?

Thames Valley Addiction Services 

http://adstv.on.ca/

Canadian Mental Health Association
https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/finding-and-navigating-addiction-services-for-children-and-youth/

Craigwood Youth Services

https://www.rehab.ca/craigwood-youth-services/1100051-r

Gobbi, G., Atkin, T., Zytynski, T., Wang, S., Askari, S., Boruff, J., … Mayo, N. (2019). Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(4), 426–434. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500

New Youth Enhancing Video Game

       Remember the days when your parents told you to stop playing so many video games? Well now they should start playing more video games. According to a study by Anguera et al. (2013) a video game called ‘NeuroRacer’ has the ability to improve multitasking, attention, and memory in older adults, so much so that they are more proficient than their younger counterparts in their 20's.

      

      Your ability to multitask steadily declines from your 20's until you're about 79, at which time you’ll probably have started to notice that you’re not as sharp as you used to be; puzzles seem harder, calculating the tip on your dinner bill takes you longer, you've forgotten your wallet at home more times that you’d like to admit, and some days you just can’t seem to stay focused. You may even catch yourself mentally-snarling at younger people, who seem like they're constantly on their phones while listening to music, while having a conversation, while eating dinner. Sounds horrible right? 

        Let’s face it, we now live in a technology-dense world, where multitasking has not only become a standard in our everyday lives, but it’s almost become a necessary skill to keep up with our fast paced environments. The bad news? The older you get, the worse you get. The good news? Video games can help!

A screenshot of NeuroRacer

       Scientists have found that video game training with games like NeuroRacer, a driving game in which participants are asked to drive while shown different road signs for 1 hour every other day for 3-4 weeks, have helped older adults to learn how to eliminate the distractions in doing two things at once, increasing their ability to multitask, their memory, and their attention, as well as their response time while multitasking. When the participants were compared with younger video game players, the older participants actually scored higher in the game. The video game training also induced neuroplasiticity, or brain plasticity (the brains reorganization of itself throughout life by forming new connections), meaning that the video game helped the participant’s brains to re-wire themselves in a way that makes them more efficient at performing the tasks.

       So, when the day comes when you start feeling like you may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, it may be time to take a page out of your child’s book and turn on the video game console.

Interested in reading more? The article can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v501/n7465/abs/nature12486.html

J. A. Anguera, J. Boccanfuso, J. L. Rintoul, O. Al-Hashimi, F. Faraji, J. Janowich, E. Kong, Y.
       Larraburo, C. Rolle, E. Johnston, and A. Gazzaley (2013). Video game training enhances
       cognitive control in older adults. Nature:10.1038/nature12486 

-Jesica Mikkila

Mario Really is Super: Have Fun Saving the Princess while Improving your Brain

If you watch a lot of television or are a frequent user of websites with commercials (such as YouTube), then you may have seen an advertisement for something called Lumosity. Lumosity is a subscription based “brain training” program that uses game-like exercises with the aim of helping one improve core cognitive functions (such as memory, attention, and processing speed). Yet while Lumosity (and other “brain training” games) aims to make brain training more fun and immersive, it is apparent that these programs are about training first and fun second. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, games designed in this way could be susceptible to losing their novelty quickly, at which point the only motivating factor for playing the game would be brain training (in contrast to playing a game because it is fun or novel). With this in mind, let us consider the following question: what do games designed for fun do for your brain?

In a recent study, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany tested the effects of daily video game “training” on participants with little to no prior video game experience. In this study, 23 participants played the Nintendo DS version of the well-known game Super Mario 64 for at least 30 minutes a day over a two-month period. The researchers found that those who played Super Mario 64 over the two-month period (in comparison to a group of participants who did not) exhibited significantly larger grey matter increases (in comparison to no-increases or decreases) in brain areas associated with spatial processing and navigation (right hippocampus), motor skill acquisition (cerebellum), and the facilitation of relevant action based on sensory information, rules and rewards (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Furthermore, they found that these increases (in all but the motor skill acquisition brain area) were greater in participants who reported a stronger desire to play.

           As a result of this, the effects of video game engagement in cognitive training may be worth looking into further. Going back to Lumosity, one of the key scientific underpinnings of such training is the idea of neuroplasticity (which, put simply, means that our brain can change/develop based on what we expose it to…the more we do certain things, the better we become at them). In the study described above, the authors mention that there is evidence that increased dopamine (a chemical that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers that can be increased through pleasurable activities) levels can be related to improvements in brain plasticity for some areas in the brain (including the right hippocampus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex mentioned above). As such, the cognitive benefits that are inherently present in games like Super Mario 64 may be further facilitated by the fact that the game is enjoyable, rather than just a training experience.

            So why does this research matter and who does it matter to? Firstly, this research matters because it provides evidence that video games do not have to possess a ‘training first’ approach to contain cognitive benefits (although admittedly this would help in targeting the areas of the brain one wishes to train). Secondly (and possibly more interestingly), this research matters because it provides evidence that someone’s desire to play a game can also play a role in facilitating the process of neuroplasticity (and thus grey matter growth) in certain areas of the brain. When considering possible applications of these research, both of these points are worthy of consideration. For example, the second point could be of particular importance to educational software producers. If producers could find ways to incorporate specific aspects of cognitive training into the core aspects of a game that is fun and keeps people engaged, not only will they get people “training” longer, but the fact that people are having fun may further facilitate any cognitive benefits that the game would provide (improving results while blurring the lines between fun-first and training-first games). Furthermore, both points could also be important in developing clinical applications. For example, grey matter loss in some of the brain areas mentioned earlier has been associated with diseases like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. With regards to this, the researchers from the study above mention that the observed neuroplastic effects of video game training could mean that such training could be used in interventions that aim to counteract risk factors for mental disease. In this case, the engagement that video games provide could also be important, as patients may be more motivated to stick with a video game based treatment program in comparison to a traditional treatment program.

At the end of the day however, most people do not play video games for training, they play because it is fun, and with that in mind I say have fun exploring, racing, battling, solving puzzles, strategizing, and/or fixing the problems of a galactic civilization in whatever virtual world you like to play in, because you may gain more than just a smile on your face.

-Rylan Waring

Kühn, S., Gleich, T., Lorenz, R. C., Lindenberger, U., & Gallinat, J. (2013). Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game. Molecular Psychiatry. Advance online publication. doi:10.1038/mp.2013.120