Feeling Down and Out - Treating depression with Medical Cannabis

Depression is a dark place that no one wants to be. It can be so debilitating that it can become difficult to get out of bed, go to work, and even interact with loved ones. In certain cases, depression can become so severe that patients sometimes even think about or resort to suicide.

There is no one cause of depression. It’s thought that biological processes, psychological factors, major events in a person’s life and personal circumstances can all play a role.

More often than not, those who suffer from depression are prescribed antidepressants which have proven addicting and deadly. Therapy is also another method of coping, but seeing a shrink isn’t exactly light on the pocket. Because conventional medicine hasn’t been successful at treating depression this has caused more people to find alternative treatments to cope with the dark days.

Fortunately, depression is one of the major conditions that cannabis has been able to treat. The efficacy of cannabis in treating mood disorders even dates back to antiquity when the use of cannabis for depression was first suggested in a publication entitled, The Anatomy of Melancholy in 1621. Thanks to hundreds of scientific studies analyzing the effects of cannabis on depression, we now know today why the herb is such a powerful antidote, giving it the nickname “green Prozac”.

A study from the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions examined the connection between pot and certain ailments, which varied from chronic pain to post-traumatic stress disorder. The researchers discovered that when people are emotionally stressed, they produce less endocannabinoids or the compounds in the brain that are responsible for regulating our moods. When there is less endocannabinoid production in the brain, this is when people tend to suffer more anxiety, depression, and stress.