Still in New Orleans so I haven't had a chance to prepare any new posts yet. In the meantime, here is a post I had written previously:
Does cannabis use help trauma victims cope with the often crippling symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
For decades, researchers nvestigating medical disorders associated with substance abuse have found a consistent link between drug and alcohol use and different psychiatric disorders. Based on his own work with drug abuse patients, Harvard psychiatrist Edward Khantzian proposed what is now called the self-medication hypothesis (SMH). Since specific drugs can affect the body in different ways, Khantzian and his colleagues suggested that drugs were often taken to help relieve unwanted medical symptoms, including unpleasant emotions. While the self-medication hypothesis was first suggested for heroin use, it was later extended to all addictive substances, including alcohol and cannabis.
The two most important aspects of Khantzian SMH model were: 1. self-medication produces relief from psychological suffering and 2. individual preference for a given drug is based on its psychopharmacological properties. While taking mind-altering substances such as alcohol or cannabis can help with depression, for instance, it can also unintentionally worsen other psychological conditions, i.e., social anxiety. Since physical reactions to certain chemical substances can vary widely depending on an drug user's biochemistry, predicting general patterns of self-medication has always been difficult. For that reason, research has often focussed on more specific psychiatric diagnoses and they can interact with different kinds of recreational drugs.
One of the most consistent self-medication patterns noted by researchers is the link between PTSD and cannabis use. While the link between substance abuse and PTSD symptoms has been well established by researchers, epidemiological studies involving adolescents and adults have shown a strong link between cannabis use and PTSD. While the exact for this link remains unclear, what has surfaced from previous research is that a) PTSD symptoms are associated with greater frequency of cannabis use, b) PTSD sufferers report a tendency to use cannabis to help cope with distressing episodes, and c) hyperarousal symptoms, i.e., sleeplessness and agitation may be relieved through cannabis use.
Previous research into cannabis and PTSD have been limited by relatively small samples that are often unrepresentative as well as questions concerning the role of other factors such as socioeconomic status, presence of other psychiatric problems, and severity of trauma. To deal with these concerns, a team of U.S. researchers has carried out a comprehensive research study examining the link between cannabis use and PTSD in a nationally representative sample.
Led by Jesse R. Cougle of Florida State University and a team of researchers at the National Center for PTSD, the study has been published in a recent issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Using data taken from the National Comorbity Survey Replication (NCS-R), the researchers collected information on 5,672 survey respondents on lifetime and current cannabis use as well as current and lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. The racial and ethnic makeup was intended to correspond to the U.S. general population (53% female, 47% male). All participants were questioned using structured interviews based on World Health Organization diagnostic interview guidelines.
The researchers found that lifetime prevalence for cannabis use was 42.5% while prevalence rate for PTSD was 6.8%. Only a small number of respondents reported using cannabis on a daily basis. Overall lifetime PTSD was significantly associated with lifetime cannabis use with onset of PTSD corresponding to age when cannabis use first occurred. Even when adjusting for other factors (socioeconomic status, cigarette smoking, and alcohol abuse), the relationship was still significant. The researchers also looked at the possible influence of other psychiatric problems, including mood disorders and severe anxiety. Respondents with lifetime PTSD reported an average of 5.62 different traumatic events in their lives while respondents without PTSD reported 2.58.
Do the study results fit the self-medication hypothesis? Half of the study participants meeting the lifetime PTSD diagnosis stated that their cannabis use began before, or at the same age, as when their trauma symptoms began. Since PTSD patients often experience hyperarousal, including becoming hypersensitive to things that remind them of the traumatic event, it seems to make sense that cannabis use may help relieve their symptoms as well as general life stressors. As for the implications of this research for treatment, the researchers suggest that treatment for cannabis abuse may need to include treatment for PTSD to help improve treatment success. They acknowledge that the nature of the study makes it impossible to make any conclusions about case and effect in the link between cannabis use and PTSD.
Still, the impressive consistency of the research study's findings suggests that the cannabis-PTSD link is a strong one. Although use of recreational drugs in self-medicating with psychiatric symptoms is controversial, people with PTSD do appear to rely on cannabis to relieve their symptoms. What this means in terms of social acceptance of cannabis as a way of coping with negative experiences and emotions remains to be seen.
Cannabis or any other drug use is linked only to a persons psychological weakness. He can't resist an opinion of a crowd and if most of his friends smoke weed, he will do it too. Depression, disorders etc. - these are all fairy tales to feel sorry for yourself. Be stronger. Think wisely. That's all you need.
Posted by: Signs of pot use | November 07, 2011 at 06:14 PM
Becoming addicted to cannabis can also be as destructive as other addictions. When the effects of the herb wears off, the person experiences this uncontrollable urge to smoke pot again to regain the lost feeling.
Posted by: Alcohol rehab oklahoma | February 29, 2012 at 06:09 AM