The latest studies on PTSD and cannabis

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental illness that affects people who have been exposed to traumatic events.

The types of traumatic events that can trigger PTSD vary: they can include mental or emotional abuse, acts of terrorism, combat and war, natural disasters, rape, and bullying. The symptoms of PTSD can affect quality of life because they interfere with normal functioning. These symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, intense anxiety, anger, and debilitating fear of stimuli resembling or reminiscent of the traumatic event.

PTSD can also have comorbidities or other mental disorders that arise as a result of this condition. The most common are depression and anxiety. The accepted conventional treatments for PTSD include talk therapy, pharmaceutical medications, desensitization and eye movement reprocessing, others, although many patients have difficulty finding relief from their symptoms.

However, in recent years, cannabis has proven revolutionary in its ability to reduce or treat the symptoms of PTSD. The study results were hopeful and promising.

Here’s what the latest studies say about cannabis use and PTSD:

Cannabis improves the quality of life of PTSD sufferers

A December 2022 paper by London-based researchers discussed the results of a study that analyzed patients’ responses to a questionnaire that measured anxiety, sleep quality, and PTSD symptoms, particularly avoidance, intrusions, and overarousal.

A total of 144 patients were evaluated at baseline and then again at 1, 3 and 6 months after starting cannabis treatment. The researchers noted significant improvements in all three scores during follow-up. The side effects caused by cannabis use were classified as either moderate or mild, although fatigue and insomnia were the most common.

However, there were limitations of the study, such as B. the observational character and several uncontrolled variables. These included the frequency and size of the cannabis dose.

“Nevertheless, this study can serve to inform future randomized placebo-controlled trials with the goal of confirming these promising effects while informing current clinical practice,” the authors write. “Future work should also focus on incorporating objective measures, determining optimal dosages and making comparisons with existing treatments to better inform the prescription of additional or sole medicinal cannabis therapy,” they concluded.

Cannabis use effective for sleep disorders due to PTSD

In September 2022, a study detailing the link between marijuana use and sleep was published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders. Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research Laboratory first asked participants to complete a baseline survey, after which follow-up surveys were sent to them daily for 14 days.

Participants’ daily sleep scores, the number of times they woke up the night before, the frequency of nightmares, and waking up too early without being able to go back to sleep were all taken into account. Researchers also asked participants about their medicinal cannabis use the night before, how much CBD and THC the cannabis contained, and the time they actually fell asleep were also analyzed. The researchers used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which includes scores from 0 to 21, to rate sleep problems. Meanwhile, they used the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5), which has a 0 to 4 rating system, to rate the severity of PTSD symptoms.

They found that people with delayed sleep onset had fewer nocturnal awakenings and reported fewer nightmares. They also tended to wake up early. On the other hand, those with higher PTSD severity scores had a significantly higher number of nightmares and woke up early. But those who used medical cannabis products with high concentrations of CBD were less likely to wake up early.

Researchers concluded that medicinal cannabis use was helpful in improving sleep disorders caused by PTSD.

Low-dose THC effective in reducing PTSD symptoms

A recent study by Wayne State University researchers found that low doses of THC were effective in helping PTSD sufferers deal with emotional regulation, although it was most effective when combined with cognitive reappraisal therapy.

In cognitive reappraisal therapy, normally triggering situations are reappraised so that the patient associates them with less negative emotions. In addition, the researchers conducted a double-blind experiment with 51 participants who were randomly assigned to take either a 7.5 mg THC capsule or a placebo. As THC peaked, participants were asked to complete tasks involving emotional regulation and cognitive reassessment. In particular, they were exposed to images that would normally trigger them and given the opportunity to re-evaluate them.

An FMRI machine was used to scan the patients’ brains and they were later asked to describe their emotional state.

The study results highlight how participants reported experiencing fewer negative emotions when tasked with cognitive reappraisal behaviors after consuming THC compared to a placebo. It was also interesting that the researchers noted that THC was observed to increase brain activation in parts of the brain that were less activated in PTSD sufferers than had been observed in the past. However, these changes were significant enough to effectively reduce neurobiological changes between people with and without PTSD. Because of this, they reported that THC actually improves emotional regulation.

“THC may prove to be a beneficial pharmacological adjunct to cognitive reassessment therapy in the treatment of PTSD,” the researchers concluded.

Conclusion

Studies show that cannabis acts on many different biological mechanisms to help patients with PTSD regain control of their lives. You may want to explore using medicinal cannabis to treat your PTSD symptoms, or speak to your doctor if you would like more information about it.

CANNABIS AND PTSD, READ MORE..

THE TYPES OF PTSD CANNABIS HELP WITH TODAY!