"New Studies Reveals That Cannabis Helps PTSD Patients"

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event.

This debilitating condition causes chronic problems like nightmares, panic attacks, hypervigilance, detachment from others, overwhelming emotions, and self-destructive behavior.

Unfortunatelly these overwhelming symptoms can even lead to suicide.

The current method of treating PTSD is to medicate the symptoms, not to actually treat the patient. In fact, many of the medications prescribed do the opposite and suppress the brain’s natural healing functions.

Because of this, many PTSD patients are stuck in a cycle: take pills, feel sedated, stop taking pills, then feel alive until the massive hammer of symptoms comes back. This is why we see so many veterans taking their own lives – not to mention the number of first responders who are suffering and who rarely get discussed.

Many PTSD patients have been saying for years that cannabis helps with their PTSD.

 

Previous research has shown that cannabis has the potential to reduce anxiety, or even prevent heightened anxiety in threatening situations. But up to this point, no studies had investigated this response in adults dealing with trauma - such as those with PTSD. 

Two new studies point to the way that cannabinoids may help treat PTSD. One shows how cannabis can reduce activity in the amygdala (part of the brain associated with fear responses to threats) andd the other suggests that the plant’s cannabinoids could play a role in extinguishing traumatic memories. Both effects could be therapeutic for those suffering from PTSD - according to those studies.

The Studies...

-The first study, from researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI,  looked at how cannabis use impacts the amygdala response of those dealing with trauma related anxiety, such as PTSD.

Researchers studied the amygdala responses in three groups of participants - healthy controls who had not been exposed to trauma, trauma exposed adults without PTSD and trauma exposed adults with PTSD. Using a randomized, double-blind procedure, the 71 participants were either given a low dose of THC or a placebo and then they were exposed to threatening stimuli and their amygdala responses were recorded. 

Patients who took low doses of THC showed measurable signs of reduced fear and anxiety in situations designed to trigger fear. Since these results were found in all three groups, it suggests that even those with PTSD were able to experience less fear with THC in their system.

The authors conclude that the research suggests “that THC modulates threat-related processing in trauma-exposed individuals with PTSD”  and add that the drug “may prove advantageous as a pharmacological approach to treating stress- and trauma-related psychopathology.”

-The second study, from researchers at Brazil’s Federal University of Parana, explored another potential way that cannabis could help those with PTSD, extinguishing the intensity associated with memories of their trauma. 

[This mode of treating PTSD was first hypothesized by Yale associate professor of psychiatry R. Andrew Sewell who suggested that cannabis may be able to help PTSD patients “overwrite” traumatic memories with new memories in a process called ‘extinction learning]

The researchers, from Brazil’s Federal University of Parana, conducted a thorough review of the cannabis literature from 1974-2020 looking for evidence from controlled human trials to support or refute the theory that cannabis helps with ‘extinction’ of traumatic memories. 

The researchers found that cannabis could help. Low doses of the cannabinoid THC or THC combined with another cannabinoid CBD were both able to enhance the extinction rate for challenging memories - and reduce overall anxiety responses. From their study, it seems that THC drives the extinction rate improvements, while CBD can help alleviate potential side effects from higher doses of THC. 

The authors conclude that the current evidence from both healthy humans and PTSD patients suggests that these forms of cannabis “suppress anxiety and aversive memory expression without producing significant adverse effects.”

These studies provide some answers about why cannabis is helping PTSD patients feel better - both immediately and in the long run. Lets hope that future studies may help clarify a range of questions about how and when to use cannabis effectively for PTSD

Source:https://www.forbes.com