Cannabis and depression

[theclearspot]

This is an interesting study; it seems to suggest that Cannabis helps depression at low doses but is counter- productive at higher doses.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.htm

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

So if ya feeling blue. Send ya stash to Area51 Nevada, care of Alien Dawg... I'll take the hit for ya and you'll feel much better..

Peace...

 

[ThirstyKenny]

I get depressed if i run out of weed

 

[Sat X RB]

seems to me ... the nature of the study requires much of the evidence to be anecdotal ...

and did all participants consume the same doses of the same plant in a similar setting ... ?

seems to me that controlling the experiment to this degree would be very difficult ... if not impossible.

so I wouldn't place much value on this study.

cheers!

 

[noyd666]

my backyard is full of weeds lol. i'm depressed.

 

[SeaMaiden]

Aaahhhhh....! A lightbulb just flicked on for me. I have a sister who does a lot better on Zoloft, but she hasn't been taking it and when she doesn't she uses weed to deal with her bipolar and OCD. But she quickly hits a ceiling where the weed doesn't help, and I think part of the problem is that even when she hasn't smoked for a while, she just becomes a machine and smokes and smokes and smokes and next thing you know, she's unbakable.

 

[HOPS5K]

Without saying a whole lot here, yes, Cannabis can help with Depression..very much so, but yes, at higher doses (say more than 3 bowls a day), you do get kind of lazy and not want to do much except smoke and chill. I went through that years ago and cannabis helped a lot.

 

[lost in a sea]

it totally depends on the persons neurochemistry, their psychology, the cannabinoid profile of the plant they are smoking and the reasons for their depression in the first place..

always amazes when studies pass themselves off as science and then are totally ignorant of loads of important factors making the conclusion of the results subjective, not applicable as a general hypothesis, and therefore often doing more damage to understanding than good in the long run..

 

[mpd]

I have had to battle depression all my life and I have found that when I am heavily using marijuana to medicate the headaches the depression gets worse. Definitely feelin' that study.

 

[UneeK]

The study is over five years old. I would be interested in seeing if there have been other studies since then that corroborate or refute the findings in this article.

 

[ThirstyKenny]

A good friend of mine and i did acid bout a year or so ago. We fucked up. Took 1, an hr passed and nothing, so we took another which was a big mistake. Within say another hour i'm holding on for my life trying to fight it but just had to go with it and i got through it. My friend on the other hand had a real bad time of it. She's tiny and maybe hit her more. Since then she has massive anxiety attacks say every couple of months and weed unfortunately doesn't help. Complete opposite actually. She seems to always be ready to cry or be anxious. She's seen a couple of docs but they just prescribe anti-depressants which she wont take from previous bad experiences with them. She's a great chick and did smoke previously for over 30 years and really misses the weed.
Any advice?

 

[Sat X RB]

Aaahhhhh....! A lightbulb just flicked on for me. I have a sister who does a lot better on Zoloft, but she hasn't been taking it and when she doesn't she uses weed to deal with her bipolar and OCD. But she quickly hits a ceiling where the weed doesn't help, and I think part of the problem is that even when she hasn't smoked for a while, she just becomes a machine and smokes and smokes and smokes and next thing you know, she's unbakable.

do you mean: Tolerance? she becomes tolerant of cannabis?

 

[Juicepuddle]

seems to me ... the nature of the study requires much of the evidence to be anecdotal ...

Welcome to any study published at all now adays. Science has been dead for a while.

 

[lost in a sea]

A good friend of mine and i did acid bout a year or so ago. We fucked up. Took 1, an hr passed and nothing, so we took another which was a big mistake. Within say another hour i'm holding on for my life trying to fight it but just had to go with it and i got through it. My friend on the other hand had a real bad time of it. She's tiny and maybe hit her more. Since then she has massive anxiety attacks say every couple of months and weed unfortunately doesn't help. Complete opposite actually. She seems to always be ready to cry or be anxious. She's seen a couple of docs but they just prescribe anti-depressants which she wont take from previous bad experiences with them. She's a great chick and did smoke previously for over 30 years and really misses the weed.
Any advice?

advice how? to deal with her anxiety?

has she tried any herbal options like valerian root powder regularly?

hallucinogens are good for a person that needs bringing down, but not up usually unless they are already up there anyway and adept at travelling in that sphere.. good for cutting into your ego and materialism and overactive nature/desires but not really depression..

 

[igrowone]

i have been using cannabis for depression/anxiety for a few years, not a heavy user
definitely helpful in smaller amounts, i can see where you could saturate to the point where your tolerance works against you
weed is a mood elevator if nothing else, and that can help with depression issues if only for symptomatic relief
that said, i believe cannabis has some healing power with this nasty disease

 

[SeaMaiden]

Kenny, I think she's going to need good counseling and therapy to learn how to control her attacks so she can conquer them. Meds are only a band-aid.

Without saying a whole lot here, yes, Cannabis can help with Depression..very much so, but yes, at higher doses (say more than 3 bowls a day), you do get kind of lazy and not want to do much except smoke and chill. I went through that years ago and cannabis helped a lot.

With my sister it's just the opposite. Her mania takes over and then it's like she's tweaking, except she's not, it's just her brain on massive overload.

do you mean: Tolerance? she becomes tolerant of cannabis?

I want to say it's tolerance, but if she hasn't smoked in months, it only takes her a couple of weeks, often less, to hit amounts like and above what I use for my pain management, considering her body fat levels, etcetera, logically it isn't tolerance as we conceive of it. Her drinking is the same, she can down a fifth of whatever hard liquor in just a few short hours when she's having a manic episode. I'm recalcitrant to call it a tolerance, because of her behavior.

Have you ever seen Homeland? The character Clare Danes plays has bipolar disorder. I was SHOCKED when they did a show with her in a bad manic state--it was fucking SPOT ON. The look in her eyes, the way she didn't hear or really comprehend anything anyone else had to say, the focus on whatever it was she was focused on, then jumping over to something else. And the appearance of the house was just too similar to dismiss, too. I didn't think someone could just play manic, but Danes does it, especially the look she can get in her eye.

 

[HOPS5K]

I feel really bad for people who deal with severe depression or bipolar. It's a hard one to get through for sure, but there is help and people who will want to make you better out there.

Depression is not fun at all. You're alive, per se, but you feel so zapped of energy and depleted of all your normal thinking and feeling states. When I was very depressed, I remember smoking herbs just so I could feel something rather than the normal sadness.

It took a lot of time for me to get over it and move on, but I still remember those feelings and they're not fun at all. It's hard to even say that weed did a whole lot, it did help, but after I was not lifted anymore, I couldn't find that 'spark' for life.

I went and got a little help for my depression and once it was lifted, it was more amazing than losing 50 lbs in 3 months. I'm serious, that was a glorious day when I woke up and all the negative energy had been lifted and I had this new fresh positive perspective with all things. It was like I was "New".

Herb just makes it that much better when you're in a good mood, you get really lifted then