Neuropsychological evaluation in a case of cannabis use

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increase in the demand for neuropsychological evaluations whose objective is directed towards the treatment needs of people affected by alterations in higher brain functions. The detection of neuropsychological deficits associated with the use of addictive drugs is a very complicated issue, due to the large number of variables that must be taken into account and the methodological difficulties related to their control. This article is based on the neuropsychological evaluation of a twenty-two-year-old patient who has a chronic cannabis use of five years and a psychiatric diagnosis of attention deficit and residual hyperactivity. Recent research in this field has determined that the cognitive effects of cannabis use are due to three fundamental hypotheses (Pope and Yurgelun-Todd, 1996): a withdrawal or suspension of drug use due to an increase in CB1 receptors or an effect of neurotoxicity of the drug or that may be due to a preexisting abnormality in brain development or a combination of several of these (Schlaepfer, Lancaster, Heidbreder, Kosel, Fisch and Pearlson, 2005). The brain substrates with greater involvement are congruent with the hypothesis of a specific frontocerebellar dysfunction after chronic abuse (Quickfall and Crockford, 2006). The result of chronic abuse focuses on attentional processes, memory and executive functions (Verdejo-García, López-Torrecillas, Orozco Giménez, and Pérez-García, 2004).