Cannabis and How It Helps with PTSD

More and more research is surfacing including the new factors that come in with medical cannabis. This is something that shows promise to those mental health conditions, with one of them being PTSD. Here, we’ll go over all of the aspects of PTSD, the functions of your endocannabinoid receptors, and the clinical footage that helps with understanding the treatment of this. 

What PTSD IS 

PTSD is when you have exposure to a very traumatic experience, and it’s commonly found in those serious injuries, assaults, loss, and also military combat. The symptoms can include dissociative disorders, and it can sometimes develop shortly after the event. About a fifth of people who are experiencing combat develop this, and it can be quite significant for people. 

The manifestation of this is usually in the reminders of the trauma that you deal with, intrusive thoughts about this, flashbacks to the scene, traumatic memories of this, and nightmares. Sometimes, this causes hyperarousal or overly alert, insomnia, irritability and agitation, sudden impulsive actions, and anger too. 

Then, as it stops being activated, you feel numb, avoid things, are withdrawn, start to feel confused, dissociate, and also creates depression. Right now, the current treatments are quite all over the place, since it’s a very complex disorder. It’s basically been studied in terms of the neuroscience pathways that come along with this, and the neural activities that come with brain injury. 

Due to how complex and varied the connectivity is, the cure for this is not something that’s possible. 

Psychotherapy, CBT, pharmacotherapy, rapid eye movement therapy, and other types of therapy may be options for this. Some may also get exposure therapy to help with the symptoms while also getting relief for this too. 

Cannabis to Help with PTSD 

Right now, the research is still new, still developing, and there are still other treatment options that are also being looked at too. But CBD and THC are both similar in chemical structure, have the same chemical makeup and compositions, but the way that they’re arranged causes different actions. 

They are compatible with the way that the body works, and this can also create homeostasis within the body, and it’s something that's still being expanded upon.

 There are some trials which say that PTSD can dysregulated the brain, which is what causes the hypervigilance, the sleep issues, and the learning and anxiety that comes from this too. 

This is something that’s still limited, but there is a chance that this can impact PTSD in other ways, and it might be a form of treatment for PTSD down the line. 

What Else We know 

Some people have found that through the use of CBD and cannabis, it can help work with the receptors, affecting certain areas. 

Low dosage of this would help with assessing and understanding threat response, and low dosages of the THC that was in there found that it did help with the reactivity of your amygdala, and also reduced anxiety and the fear responses in those who were exposed to trauma. 

So yes, it does work, and it’s something that can impact the ECS, making it easier. 

However, if you’re going to use this, you should take caution when you’re taking CBD in some cases, because the higher concentration of this can actually make the symptoms worse in some cases. Both THC and CBD are allosteric, especially THC, but CBD can help to mitigate the effects, which is why, if you’re going to use cannabis to treat PTSD, you should know what the symptoms are, and also make sure that you choose the right strain.