Cannabis Amotivational Syndrome and Personality Trait Absorption: A Review and Reconceptualization

Abstract

This article argues that the so-called cannabis “amotivation syndrome,” widely reported in the literature, may not be a single nosological entity, but represent, instead, a change in cognitive style emerging as a result of cannabis's ability to facilitate a unique attentional state favoured by those who have a higher than average level of a personality factor referred to as “trait absorption.” Exaggeration of the absorptive style of cognition through cannabis use, when taken in the context of either a pre-existing or a reactive depression, may be what has been mistakenly categorized as “amotivational syndrome.”