I think friend has cannabis psychosis, what do I do?

[OneLittleChicken]

A friend of mine who has 3 young DC's smokes a lot of cannabis. Lately she has been extremely paranoid & acting strangely.

She has been reading David Icke books and believes the 'illuminati' are out to get us, she thinks they want to microchip us all. She thinks something major is going to happen in 2012 and she is being called to help (she has stockpiled food and water for this). She thinks she was possessed by an evil spirit the other night. She says she hasn't slept properly in weeks and is feeling strange.

Apart from this she is functional and can hold a normal conversation about other things.

Am I overreacting? I'm worried about her and don't know what to do

Does she have a partner or family that you could talk to about your concerns? If yes, then go through them first.

If not I'd ring your local community mental health team (look them up on google) and let them know about the changes in your friend.

Sounds very like psychosis. The evidence is that getting treatment early makes a big difference to long-term outcome. It would be very, very loving of you to get her in contact with health services ASAP.

I agree it could be the beginnings of psychosis. I would alert family, if possible or get in contact with community mental health/her GP and let them know.

She's lucky to have you. :) You're obviously a loving friend.

Your mates a bit nutty and you blame cannabis? okay ,
I would suggest some different reading matter to her, and maybe explain that it's unhealthy for her to discuss conspiracy theories around her dc's.
Maybe have a healthy debate and share your version of reality with her.

Has she had any major life changes recently? Is she stressed? The sudden interest could be a way of escaping reality. Lack of sleep also makes people act very strangely.

I know people like this, Into conspiracy and the like. They aren't psychotic, Just a bit nutty.