Medical Cannabis and PTSD and Depression
Is cannabis finally the cure for PTSD and depression?
A recent study in Canada suggests the answer is “yes.” A paper published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology identified many positive outcomes from a study involving 24,000 Canadians suffering from PTSD and its related depression and suicidal thoughts. Researchers from the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and the University of British Columbia point to the control of PTSD- related symptoms through marijuana use as a breakthrough, since Canada and the United States have the highest rates of PTSD in the world. That means higher rates of depression and suicide-related to PTSD.
Not everyone who undergoes extreme stress suffers from PTSD.
But for the eight million Americans who face it daily, the nightmares, fearful thinking, insomnia, anxiety attacks, and flashbacks never go away. These people continue to react to a threat, even when none exists. The Canadian study found that those with PTSD who didn’t use medical marijuana were 7.2 times more likely to suffer a major depressive episode and/or suicidal thoughts than those who used marijuana to control their symptoms.
St. Petersburg, Florida-based Dr. John B. DeCosmo, D.O., a functional medicine doctor for depression, points to a similar study published in Molecular Psychiatry that made a connection between compounds found in the psychoactive chemicals in marijuana can help relieve haunting nightmares and other symptoms of PTSD.
“Especially among military veterans,” explains Dr. DeCosmo, a holistic doctor for depression related to PTSD, “these feelings of hopelessness, depression, and terror can be compounded by pain from injuries they also sustained on the battlefield. Medical cannabis strains with the right CBD and TCH levels can help alleviate all of these symptoms in some patients.”
Researchers find that the active components in marijuana are particularly effective in reducing nightmares and inducing sleep.
University College London researchers agree with Dr. DeCosmo’s statement. In a systematic review published in the Journal of Dual Diagnosis, researchers found that the active components in marijuana are particularly effective in reducing nightmares and helping people suffering from PTSD get much-needed sleep. They conclude that more research is needed, but the initial indications are positive.
The key might lie in pairing marijuana and other therapies, such as psychotherapies like talking therapies and trauma-focused, cognitive-behavioral therapies might be more effective when used together with medical marijuana. Also, prescribed pharmaceutical treatments for PTSD, such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Effexor don’t work for every patient, while there are typically fewer side effects reported from those using marijuana to calm their PTSD symptoms. In reality, the only FDA approved pharmaceuticals for PTSD treatment are Paxil and Zoloft. These medications, like PTSD itself, is responded to differently by each individual.
The conclusion of the Canadian Study? “This study provides preliminary epidemiological evidence that cannabis use may contribute to reducing the association between post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depressive and suicidal states. There is an emerging need for high-quality experimental investigation of the efficacy of cannabis/cannabinoids for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
For now, it appears that PTSD can be added to the long list of conditions that are positively affected by marijuana, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and glaucoma to name a few.
