Acute effects of cannabis on breath-holding duration.

Abstract

Distress intolerance (an individual’s perceived or actual inability to tolerate distressing psychological or physiological states) is associated with cannabis use. It is unknown whether a bio-behavioral index of distress intolerance, breath-holding duration, is acutely influenced (increased or decreased) by cannabis. Such information may further inform understanding of the expression of psychological or physiological distress post-cannabis use. This within-subjects study examined whether smoked marijuana with 2.7–3.0 % delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), relative to placebo, acutely changed duration of breath-holding. Participants (n = 88; 65.9% male) were non-treatment seeking frequent cannabis users who smoked placebo or active THC cigarette on two separate study days and completed breath-holding task. Controlling for baseline breath-holding duration and participant sex, THC produced significantly lower breath-holding durations relative to placebo. There was a significant interaction of drug administration x frequency of cannabis use, such that THC decreased breath-holding time among less frequent but not among more frequent users. Findings indicate that cannabis may be exacerbating distress intolerance (via breath-holding duration). As compared to less frequent cannabis users, frequent users display tolerance to cannabis’ acute effects including increased ability to tolerate respiratory distress when holding breath. Objective measures of distress intolerance are sensitive to contextual factors such as acute drug intoxication, and may inform the link between cannabis use and the expression of psychological distress.

Cannabis use and posttraumatic stress disorder: prospective evidence from a longitudinal study of veterans

“…The coping-oriented pattern of heightened avoidance of negative emotional states via cannabis use has been shown to lead to social isolation, poor distress tolerance, and numerous problems in psychosocial functioning (Sayer et al, 2015). In fact, cannabis has been shown to acutely increase the intolerance of distress (Farris & Metrik, 2016), which may account for particularly poor PTSD treatment outcomes in cannabis users (Potter, Vujanovic, Marshall-Berenz, Bernstein, & Bonn-Miller, 2011) and higher rates of relapse to cannabis in individuals with PTSD relative to those without PTSD following cannabis cessation (Bonn-Miller et al, 2015). Increased experiential avoidance of negative emotional states along with other heightened PTSD symptoms may in turn promote problematic cannabis use.…”

Anxiety Sensitivity and Distress Intolerance as Predictors of Cannabis Dependence Symptoms, Problems, and Craving: The Mediating Role of Coping Motives

“…In contrast, one's behavioral ability to withstand distress is reflective of response-focused emotion regulation. Thus, behavioral measurement of distress tolerance, or persistence in a distressing task (such as breath-holding), may be useful in assessing whether changes in perception to distress intolerance influence actual capacity to withstand in vivo distress (Farris & Metrik, 2016). It would be important to consider a range of behavioral measures of distress intolerance-including those that tap intolerance of mental distress (e.g., frustration) and alternative physical distress states (e.g., pain)-in addition to respiratory distress, as examined in the current study.…”

Distress Intolerance and Smoking Topography in the Context of a Biological Challenge

“…Third, we did not examine one's actual ability to withstand distress in terms of smoking reinforcement (ie, behavioral DI), which may offer unique information about emotional vulnerability and smoking. 51 However, prior work has failed to find an association between behavioral indices of DI and smoking reinforcement, 52 potentially because behavioral DI is influenced by certain states or conditions, 53,54 suggesting it may have state like vulnerability and influence.…”