a new study published in frontiers in psychiatry has found that cannabis use may reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms in clinically anxious and depressed populations.
“anxiety and depressive disorders are highly prevalent. traditional antidepressants may effectively treat these disorders in a lot of people, but they do not work for everyone and can have unpleasant side effects,” erin martin, a ph.d. candidate at the medical university of south carolina, told psypost.
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“medicinal cannabis products, especially products high in cbd, may help to treat symptoms of depression, improve sleep, and increase quality of life,” martin told psypost . “there is also some evidence that medicinal cannabis may alleviate symptoms of anxiety, particularly if administered over an extended period of time, but this is less clear from our results and warrants further study.”
“cannabis and mental health are intimately intertwined,” dr. mark ware, chief medical officer for canopy growth, told the growthop l ast year. he added, however, that it’s a complex topic that’s “very difficult to distill it down to simple messages.”
dosage, method of consumption, and which cannabinoids are dominant in the product are all factors to consider. health canada also warns that those with a personal or family history of mental illness might be at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes associated with cannabis use.
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