Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an intensely severe anxiety disorder that tends to develop after someone is engaged in an event that has caused psychological trauma. While there are many things that can cause PTSD, going to war and engaging in combat is one of the main reasons people develop this debilitating condition. According to NBC News, “hundreds of thousands” of soldiers are affected by PTSD, ranking it number three amongst all veteran disabilities.
At best, people can tolerate their symptoms of PTSD. At worst, they can be incapacitating. People with PTSD often unwillingly playing traumatic incidents they’ve experienced over, and over, and over again. They literally can’t turn off these memories as they flood through their minds. This can lead to serious emotional imbalance, keeping a person suffering in a painful cycle that can eventually ruin their life.
Because PTSD can be debilitating even with the medicine prescribed to take away a person’s pain, many vets are turning towards alternatives to spare themselves some of the crippling feelings associated with PTSD.
Cannabis is one such alternative that shows great promise in helping treat the symptoms that accompany PTSD…without leaving people addicted and suffering from negative side effects. For the countless people who suffer from PTSD, it’s pot (not pills) that has shown to bring tremendous relief to the terrible symptoms associated with it.
Traditional Treatment for PTSD
Medication prescribed to those who suffer from PTSD includes antidepressants such as Paxil, Zoloft, and Prozac. And while these medicines work for some, they don’t work for everyone. And not everyone who suffers from PTSD wants to be subjected to taking prescription medication. Let’s also not forget the prescription medication prescribed doesn’t always work.
As one vet put it, these medications can leave you feeling like a “zombie.” The problem is that doctors who treat soldiers who suffer from PTSD are encouraged to offer them a cocktail of antidepressants…and discouraged to offer them any type of alternative treatment. But there isn’t anything that has been developed specifically to treat PTSD.
The people who don’t find relief from what they’re prescribed are left without other options. Many of them turn to drugs or alcohol to help them through, something that numbs their pain momentarily but leaves them worse off from where they started. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, 2 out of 10 veterans who suffer from PTSD also suffer from a substance abuse disorder.
Our vets have suffered enough and truly deserve an option to help them through the trauma they’ve experienced because of fighting for their country. Many are finding that cannabis offers the possibility to treat the symptoms of PTSD…and is unprecedented in providing relief that isn’t found in any other option.
Cannabis tends to slow things down, something that comes as a welcomed relief to those who experience the racing, fearful thoughts that are common in those who experience PTSD. And for the thoughts that keep them trapped in cycles of overplaying traumatic events in their mind, cannabis is doing what other drugs for PTSD aren’t.
Why Pot is Perfect for Treating Post-Traumatic Stress
Treating PTSD with pot all comes down to the endocannabinoid system in the brain. A 2013 study showed that there is a connection between PTSD and the cannabinoid receptors a person possesses in the brain. Conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center, this study showed that people who suffer from PTSD have lower levels of certain endocannabinoids than people who don’t suffer from PTSD. The low-levels of the specific CB-1 endocannabinoid in people that have PTSD is called anandamide, derived from the word ananda, which means bliss.
Low levels of the anandamide endocannabinoid can keep a person is cycles of thought that don’t allow them to forget the painful memories associated with their trauma. Normal CB-1 activity in the brain helps to deactivate memories and allow a person to forget the traumatic events that have taken place in their life. When a person has low levels of CB-1 activity however, they can’t escape the haunting memories and anxieties that PTSD is famous for.
Medical marijuana helps to replenish the low levels of CB-1 endocannabinoids in the brain, bringing relief to the nightmare of negativity a person who suffers from PTSD faces on a regular basis. And it brings relief without the slew of side effects found in other medication prescribed for PTSD.
The Promise of MMJ for PTSD
As promising as medical marijuana proves to be for those who suffer from PTSD, it is seemingly slower in being recognized for the potential it contains than other medical conditions. Of the 28 states (plus Washington DC) that have approved medical marijuana, only 21 of them have passed laws that allow cannabis to be prescribed for PTSD. And although cannabis has been legal for medical use in Colorado since 2001, it wasn’t until June of this year that a bill passed allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for post-traumatic stress.
States that haven’t passed legislation that would allow veterans (and others) who suffer from PTSD the option of medical marijuana site lack of evidence as one of their main concerns. Studies on marijuana and PTSD are in their infancy stages, yet as more evidence becomes clear of the benefits the plant contains, people are hopeful it will soon be commonplace to have it prescribed for this unfortunate condition.
Until then, vets are taking matters into their own hands and medicating regardless of the legal statutes that are currently in place. One veteran describes how “cannabis helped get me out of the hole I was in,” something that all-too-many people returning from war could really use a helping hand with.
Cannabis can be key in helping vets regain the freedom they’ve lost in their life. No one deserves to suffer from PTSD. And if pot holds potential to help people out of their misery, more power to it.