Something that is not widely reported any more in the media because growing sympathy and greed towards recreational chemicals is that all psychedelics cause psychosis with normal use. Pot is a mild psychedelic. Certain people are more sensitive to psychedelics than others. The myth that pot is a safe drug, leaves out a ton of research that has proven that pot is not necessarily safe for everyone. The canniboids in pot beside thc can safe, but THC was evolved into the plant to counter pests, it is essentially a pesticide and is found in highest concentrations in the bud of the plant where are all the seeds are kept. THC is actually an intoxicant because of this, it is toxic, even thought brain can deal with a certain level of it in a diet. It is speculated that plants containing THC were more abundant in the past and the of our vegetarian ancestor apes ate them quite a bit, hence the adaption. But it does cause psychotic symptoms in a lot of people that use it, its part of the high, and in some cases causes more serious psychosis, depending on the person and their biology and psychological profile.
There are only variations for the meanings of the following words: Psychosis, Psychedelic, Psyche, Psychic… all are variations of the root word psyche, which means soul in ancient Greek. We are Bio-Chemical-Electric-Psychic beings. All four of these components interplay with each other. Any disease is essentially a psycho-somatic illness, meaning that it is of the “soul\mind” and “body”. It used be that chemicals that altered mind states or mood, where called “spirits”, this is because of the direct effect on consciousness of a being. All chemicals that are not in the body for its use can be intoxicating at certain levels, whether they are some medications or recreational used and can effect consciousness. In the ancient past chemicals used to effect consciousness and the practice in ancient Greece were called Pharmakia, which translated means “sorcery”.
Psychosis can go away, but the DSM IV and later edition have criteria for what is called schizophrenia. Usually the symptoms have to be present of a long period to quallify as chronic or schizophrenic. There too is a dopamine system response when a neuroleptic is removed and not titrated correctly. Essentially, neuroleptic medication (anti-psychotic medication) lowers dopamine levels in the brain, so the brain responds by creating more dopamine recpetors. Depending on how long the medication is in use, a very careful withdrawal or titration from the from the neuroleptic must be done to ensure not having a dompaminic response in the brain which will can seem like a classic psychosis, but is not, instead is the result of too quickly with drawing from neuroleptics and not allowing the brain to cull the dopamine receptors.
Information can be obtained from your doctor or from the Icarus Project on how to correctly withdraw from medication and it only should be done with the help of psychiatrist that is knowledgeable on how to titrate properly (many are not trained correctly in this actually for financial reasons).
Often times a person with psychosis will have deluded idea that they cured by the medication, which is patently false. There are ways to resolve psychosis, but medication does not do this, it essentially “treats” the underlying, much akin to a pain killer for a broken leg, it effect the chemicals involved but does not treat the underlying condition. Often deep psychic therapy is required, or diet, or removal of intoxicants, etc may be needed to resolve the underlying cause of the psychosis.
(The above information comes from various sources. I will provide the citations at request.)
