Millions of people suffer from depression today, with many more sufferers going undiagnosed and untreated. With such a statistic, it can be said that depression has become an epidemic. Depression has become so prevalent that if you have not experienced it, you certainly know of one who has.
Knowing this data, one question that might spring to mind is: What should be done to treat the high number of cases? Surely, there are lots of answers, but medication and therapy being the two most popular treatment methods. However, these two are not the only available options. One option that is growing in popularity is medical marijuana.
Medical Marijuana and Major Depression
In this day and age, depression is no longer something that people hide and silently deal with alone. It is now seen for what is really is - an illness. Like patients with AIDS or cancer, people with major depression should not be cast off, but helped.
Marijuana is usually used for self-medicating by people struggling with depression. It is because of this that this plant gained the misconception of being the cause of depression. But as we further look into the nature of weed, we learn that it is actually an effective treatment option for depression.
Despite this, if you have major depression, it is never a good idea to use cannabis to self-medicate. It is still important that you qualify for it and that you use it under the supervision of a qualified health professional.
Is Medical Marijuana an Effective Treatment?
For many years, people have used cannabis to treat depression, with its ability to heighten mood and give energy being well documented. Today, medical cannabis is being used to treated several debilitating conditions like HIV and cancer. Patients with these illnesses usually struggle with depression, and cannabis can help them cope with these feelings.
Research on medical marijuana is still in its early stages, with many of these studies focusing on its curative properties for certain physical disorders. However, not much attention is given to its possible effectiveness in treating psychological disorders. With cannabis slowly being accepted as treatment in many countries, researchers are starting to discover its ability to treat mental problems.
A marijuana and depression research was recently conducted using a survey that targets marijuana users and those who do not use weed. The study showed some very interesting results: Out of the 4,400 people surveyed, those who used cannabis exhibited fewer signs of depression compared to those who do not.
Additional studies were done into whether recreational users are more depressed compared to medical marijuana users as some experts have suggested, which also showed compelling results. Recreational marijuana users does not appear to have more risks in developing or worsening depression.
The study showed that users of medical marijuana have shown to have more signs depression compared to recreational users, which attributed to their different illnesses. No evidence has been found suggesting that medical cannabis caused the depression. One of most known risk factors of depression is prolonged illness.
Using Medical Marijuana for Depression
There are many ways to consume medical marijuana to treat your depression symptoms. All of them have slightly different benefits, which can make one method work for you best. Also, there are people who prefer one method over the other, so they can pick their consumption method accordingly.
The most common methods include vaping or smoking, edibles, oral sprays and drops, and transdermal patches. If this is your first time to use medical cannabis and you need more help deciding which of these methods works best for your needs, do not hesitate to talk to a qualified medical professional.
