Effect of Marijuana on PTSD Patient Stress Levels

Effect of Marijuana on PTSD Patient Stress LevelsDoes hemp decrease essay levels in patients with PTSD?Marijuana and the matter of its cause and whether it should be legalized or not is a popular controversy. Advocates for legalization claim that in that respect argon treble benefits for medical hempen necktie utilisation, such as treating PTSD patients to reduce their symptom severity and many others. With growing interest in marijuana and its benefits across the world, to a greater extent knowledge on its composition and effects ar vital to ensure that misuse doesnt become dangerous. Multiple studies go been do on the depicted object of the correlation amid marijuana use and PTSD symptom severity. With varying results, there is significant evidence supporting both sides of the argument. This encourages the fact that more studies film to be conducted to gain a more definitive answer. However, it is evident that marijuana may reduce stress levels in patients with PTSD .Two studies on the effects of cannabinoids on thebrain on the consolidation of a traumatic event show that marijuana can be employas a sort of therapy. champion of the studies discussed tested the specificcannabinoid and glucocorticoid receptors and their reactions in the amygdalaand hippocampus. The other studied the effects of enhancing endocannabinoid preindication and blocking corticotrophin releasing receptor in the amygdala andhippocampus. both these studies were very specific and had positive results. The findings of the first meditate suggested that thebasolateral amygdala is an area of action of cannabinoids and glucocorticoidsin moderating consolidation of traumatic memory in a rat model with PTSD.1 Thefindings withal showed the specific receptors that are activated and deactivatedin the amygdala and hippocampus when being treated with cannabinoids for PTSD.The findings of the second article also suggested that enhancingendocannabinoid signaling in the amygdala and hi ppocampus produced a favorablespectrum of effects.Marijuana dependence is shown to moderate the effectof PTSD on trauma reactivity in warmheartedness dependent patients. star of thestudies explored the role of marijuana dependence in the relationship betweenPTSD and subjective and biological emotional reactivity in receipt to astressful situation. The findings of the study showed that patients with PTSDwho were also marijuana dependent may go steady changes in their emotionalprocessing in response to state stressful situations.2 Thisdampens their emotional reactivity in order for them to not convey triggeringsymptoms.Studies show that with moderate amounts on a regularbasis, PTSD symptoms in patients were reduced. unrivalled such study explored themoderating role of the tendency to engage in strategies to reduce unpleasantpersonal experiences in the PTSDcannabis dependence relationship. This studywas conducted among a sample of patients with PTSD in residential substanceabuse treatment. Another study reported and statistically analyzed psychometricdata on PTSD symptoms. Both of these studies showed evidence for marijuanareducing PTSD symptoms. The studies showed that they are consistent withevidence that marijuana use may serve an avoidant role among individuals withPTSD3 and that cannabisis associated with drops in PTSD symptom severity in some patients.4 Both thestudies had positive findings that supported the affirmative side of thisargument, but also stated that more experiments and studies are crucial for amore definite and well-rounded answer. Some studies show that PTSD patients who use marijuanawith expectations regarding their symptoms decreasing experienced no relief, ortheir symptoms worsened. One study surveyed over 650 male combat veterans whoused marijuana to treat their symptoms. These studies not only discuss thedangers of developing a substance use disorder, but the issue of the patientsthen resorting to other dangerous and potentially h armful drugs to alleviatetheir disorder. The results of this study showed combat-exposedveterans who use cannabis appear to use more as the magnitude of their PTSDsymptoms and the expectations of cannabis-induced relief of those symptomsincrease.5 Not onlydid marijuana consumption not help them, but their symptoms got worse and inturn, their drug intake also got heavier. Veterans reported expectingmarijuana-related improvement of all types of symptoms, but significantly morerelief from symptoms of intrusion than hyperarousal, followed by avoidance andthen numbing.5 Another study also showed that starters and moveusers of marijuana had significantly higher measures of PTSD symptom severityat follow-up tests compared to patients that have either never used marijuanaor have stopped. Marijuana consumers also showed significantly higher measuresof violent behavior at follow-up than all other groups.6 Some studies also show that treating PTSD withmarijuana while having substance use diso rders (SUD) and/or cannabis usedisorder (CUD) is ineffective. One study conducted a test on the effects ofcannabis on patients with PTSD as well as SUDs. Another study did a CUDdiagnosis and observed changes in PTSD symptoms over time afterwardsdiscontinuation. This study claimed to present the first evidence of a potentialrelationship between problematic cannabis use and PTSD symptoms. This indicatedthat individuals with a CUD are analogously to experience lower levels of change inPTSD symptoms over time.7Some studies show that patients arent benefitted norharmed by marijuana treatments. However, if the patient continues usingmarijuana to a point where they develop a CUD, then they will also experiencelower or no levels of change in the severity of their symptoms. One of thestudies stated that there were no significant positive nor negativeassociations between cannabis use and end-of-treatment PTSD symptom severity.8 Theseresults support the argument that there are no effects to marijuana treatments.This study also stated that cannabis use was not linked to symptom outcomes atend-of-treatment across participants.8 This againshows that there was no correlation between cannabis use and positive nor negativesymptom progress. There is significant evidence for both sides of thisargument. Studies show that cannabinoids block authentic receptors and dampensemotional reactivity, which in turn, lessens the severity of PTSD symptoms.More studies show that many patients are benefitted by marijuana treatments andthey report significant decreases in their stress and disturbance levels. However,some studies also show that cannabis treatments can worsen symptoms. As the patientssymptoms worsen, their intake is increased until they develop acannabis-use-disorder (CUD). Studies show that patients with CUDs experiencelower levels of change in their symptoms, or dont experience any changes atall. Some others also state that there is actually no benefit, nor harm as cannabis is not directly correlated with PTSD symptoms at all. However, like allmedication, certain individuals experience different effects at differentlevels since no one is the same. These results clearly show that different peoplecan either benefit from marijuana, develop worse symptoms, or not have anyeffects at all. Taking into consideration all the actors and study results,more research, experiments and studies need to be conducted to achieve a morethorough answer.References1. Shoshan, N. & Akirav, I. The effectsof cannabinoid receptors activation and glucocorticoid receptors deactivationin the amygdala and hippocampus on the consolidation of a traumatic event. Neurobiol.Learn. Mem. 144, 248258 (2017).2. Aisenberg, N., Serova, L., Sabban, E. L.& Akirav, I. The effects of enhancing endocannabinoid signaling andblocking corticotrophin releasing factor receptor in the amygdala andhippocampus on the consolidation of a stressful event. Eur.Neuropsychopharmacol. 27, 913927 (2017).3. Bordi eri, M. J., Tull, M. T., McDermott,M. J. & Gratz, K. L. The moderating role of experiential avoidance in therelationship between posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity andcannabis dependence. J. Context. Behav. Sci. 3, 273278 (2014).4. Greer, G. R., Grob, C. S. &Halberstadt, A. L. PTSD Symptom Reports of Patients Evaluated for the NewMexico Medical Cannabis Program. J. Psychoactive Drugs 46, 7377(2014).5. Earleywine, M. & Bolles, J. R.Marijuana, Expectancies, and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms A PreliminaryInvestigation. J. Psychoactive Drugs 46, 171177 (2014).6. Wilkinson, S. T., Stefanovics, E. &Rosenheck, R. A. Marijuana use is associated with worse outcomes in symptomseverity and violent behavior in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. J.Clin. Psychiatry 76, 11741180 (2015).7. Bonn-Miller, M. O., Boden, M. T.,Vujanovic, A. A. & Drescher, K. D. Prospective investigation of the impactof cannabis use disorders on posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms amongveterans in residential treatment. Psychol. Trauma Theory, Res. Pract.Policy 5, 193200 (2013).8. Ruglass, L. et al. Impact ofCannabis Use on Treatment Outcomes among Adults Receiving Cognitive-BehavioralTreatment for PTSD and Substance Use Disorders. J. Clin. Med. 6,14 (2017).9. by MJG,compiled. Hemp History Timeline on RediscoverHemp.com. RediscoverHemp7 (2015).Topic JustificationI selected my topic fora variety of reasons. I strongly believe that marijuana could be arevolutionary drug with multiple medical benefits if more thorough research andexperiments are conducted. As someone with a passion for helping peoplemedically, I envision the advantages humankind can extract from the beneficialcomponents of the drug. Starting from the treatments done on PTSD patients, Ibelieve that more enlightenment on the drug could help us to understand itbetter and hopefully cater it to bring back multiple diseases and conditions. Marijuanahas been used for centuries as a herbal remedy throughout the worl d. In fact, theearliest use of marijuana and hemp dates back to 4000 B.C, where it was used inancient China and Chinese-occupied Turkestan9. With no recorded deathsresulting from overdoses (ever) in history, the fact that marijuana isclassified at the highest drug classification alongside harsh drugs likecocaine and heroin seems astounding. This also significantly limits the amountof legal research and experiments that can be conducted. I believe thatstarting off with PTSD patients, as more recognition is received to marijuanaas a medical drug rather than a dangerous illicit substance, the benefits canbe thoroughly explored and new medical breakthroughs can be achieved.