Can cannabis use help overcome anxiety?

Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in the world. This is due in large part to the widespread beliefs that it is a safe drug (with zero or very few effects negative) and that also provides a series of benefits at a physical and mental level for people who consume it habitually.

In this article I comment on some of the false myths about marijuana and its "therapeutic use", which in many cases causes a false sense of security that causes many people to experience problems due to risky consumption.

• Related article: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

The false myth of marijuana that helps fight anxiety

A large part of the population thinks that regular cannabis use is "good" for physical and mental health, as well as to combat problems such as anxiety, depression or irritability.

Nothing is further from reality. Both the latest scientific studies and most experiences in clinical psychotherapy indicate that The continuous and frequent use of marijuana not only does not usually help alleviate the symptoms of anxiety or depression... they even make them worse.

And it is very common that, while in consultation, the person named "in passing" who regularly smokes joints. Then the alarm that most psychologists trained in addictions go off, and we start to do more questions about this habitual use of cannabis (in any of its forms, marijuana, hashish, etc.).

And it is becoming increasingly clear, scientifically and clinically, that acute and excessive cannabis use can worsen many problems of anxiety, anguish, apathy and irritability. And that most consumers are not aware that the joints they smoke weekly or even daily have something to do with it. Let's not forget the great economic interests that revolve around this false myth.

Recreational use vs therapeutic use

Many regular cannabis users (or people who make money from selling cannabis related paraphernalia) claim that they are actually using it therapeutically. And that is a lie.

It is important that we make things clear. The vast majority of people who smoke cannabis use it recreationally, to feel the high, or as a way to "self-medicate" before the worries of day to day.

Therapeutic consumption is when a doctor prescribes the consumption of some active principle of the cannabis (for example CBD) with a specific intention, for a specific time, and with due supervision. For example, for chronic pain problems. I insist, medical supervision.

Buying hashish from the neighborhood “camel” is not therapeutic at all. That is just an excuse.

• You may be interested in: "The 7 types of anxiety (characteristics, causes and symptoms)"

The cocktail of THC, CBD and much more

Again, many companies take advantage of these false myths to make money at the expense of people's health, when there is no scientific evidence that joint use actually helps mental health problems of any kind.

The cannabis plant is simply too complicated and has thousands of different compounds. Some are beneficial, but others are very harmful. The ideal would be to be able to separate and synthesize them, so that we could consume only the substances that are beneficial, in the chemically adequate amounts.

Genetic time bomb for people with a family history

Let us not fall into reductionism and generalization either. Cannabis doesn't give everyone a problem.

There is still a long way to go in research on long-term effects, but more and more are being found. indicators of the relationship between acute marijuana use and psychotic or paranoid symptoms, as well as anxiety.

Can this happen to everyone who smokes joint?

Absolutely not. But many people with certain genes or family histories are at risk of exacerbating problems, or of “Turning on” genetic switches that they wouldn't have turned on if it weren't for their habitual cannabis use.

In any case, if a person smokes a lot, he is much more likely to suffer the worst effects, such as:

• Memory loss
• Difficulty concentrating
• Outbursts of anger or irritability
• Sleeping problems
• Anxiety
• Paranoid thoughts or disconnection from reality
• Psychosis
• Addictive behavior (loss of control)

As reports from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIH) state:

“Marijuana can generate an acute psychotic reaction in non-schizophrenic people who consume, especially in high doses, although this decreases as the drug is eliminated from the organism".

Calms short-term anxiety, increases long-term anxiety

The real problem for many people is the paradox of drug use. They feel good in the short term, and we only notice most of the negative effects in the long term. That is precisely the catch for many people: they use joints as a way to cope with worries. daily, and think it helps them, when in fact it is making it difficult for them to get out of anxiety with the passage of years.

We call this tolerance: the longer the consumption of a certain substance, the more the body gets used to it, and more amounts are needed to enjoy the same effects as in the beginning.

Then there is a gradual scale of consumption, with all the problems that derive from it. Many cases come to therapy of people who are consuming several joints a day, and still they think they "don't smoke a lot" and don't suspect that they continue to smoke such amounts out of pure dependence.

The importance of true psychological help

It is clear that much remains to be investigated on the effects of cannabis and how to get the best out of its active ingredients. It is also evident that there are many people who experience problems with excessive consumption, and that they end up hooking.

When "willpower" is no longer sufficient to overcome an addictive behavior problem, the best solution is to contact a specialized professional to study the case and guide the person.

I'm an addiction psychologist, and I've been helping people break free from the bondage of cannabis for years. Get in touch with me and we'll get to work on it as soon as possible.