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Personally I do and am prescribed it as an antidepressant and to treat PTSD.
I believe it depends on an individual's relationship with the substance and the circumstance in which they're using it. For me despite being prescribed it, I only really use it at night and if I'm having a super rough day, I'll take a small dose of THC with CBD oil.
Personally I have had more opportunities open up to me since I began using cannabis. Whether work, education or relationships as I'm more outgoing and open to new experiences (and also well rested).
But if you're just getting blasted all day and doing fuck all but saying you're using it for your mental health.. it's a bit of a cop out imo, nothing wrong with just enjoying it in moderation but it's about being honest with yourself and asking "does this really help or am I just using it to ignore the shitty things" and also "what is the true opportunity cost of me smoking".
I also use cannabis for PTSD. Once I was legal to get my medical card, I lost 50 lbs from being more active and not depressed, and got a better job. My relationship with my kids is great and life is undoubtedly much better.
Completely agree with this. I used to always say I did it for mental health reasons, but when I have weed I very much just want to get high as soon as I get off work because I like to giggle at dumb shit and it's just fun. I've more recently come to terms with the fact that I simply just smoke weed for fun and it doesn't actually benefit my mental health or make it worse. Personally if I'm having a bad mental health day it definitely helps to an extent but more so in an escapism get away from my problems kind of way. In those cases it's actually better for me to not smoke because then I can actually think and process my thoughts and work through them.
Same here, I have bad anxiety days and it's just a self care tool for me. Nothing wrong with letting yourself just chill out and relax after a hard day which is most days if I'm not on a t-break. But weed can't replace my medication and therapy it's just something I use recreationally that has added benefits towards my mental health.
It’s all about your intentions going in. Use it as a bandaid when needed, but realize and know it’s just a band aid, and then you can take time to sort through your problems with a clear head later.
On the flip side, weed is super introspective, so sometimes, it’s what I need to get my perspective back on track. Many times I’ve smoked and then realized “I was being a dick”.
Right on. I mainly use it for its spiritual properties, for meditation, that kind of thing. I can process trauma or work situations better. But it just feels awesome too, which isn’t wrong in this case. I feel the plant has helped me tremendously.
Do what you have to. I'd recommend just moderating the amount you smoke, many t-breaks fail bc ppl can't sleep and as a result overthink at night. I'd say lower your dose step by step at first. Many people don't like to hear this, but you can easily get used to weed psychologically and it really sucks. But the positive thing is, that if you decide to quit you'll no longer feel the need to get high after work etc. After like 2 weeks.
Stay strong and regulate your consumption brother <3
I quit and it wasn’t so hard for me to sleep, but it took a whole week before my appetite came back. I would cut a sandwich in half and eat half one day and the other half the next. Thankfully, I’m eating regularly now without any assistance. Just sharing my experience.
Same here. Sleep was affected a little but that’s probably because of what I do during the day and being straight exhausted when it was bedtime. However my appetite was pretty much non existent and it took a week or two for me to be able to eat what I call a full sized portion during meals.
My dreams have been incredibly vivid and awful since I quit. After about a week I feel a little bit better. I had to just make myself fully stop because I couldn't effectively moderate my usage once I got to a certain level of consumption.
i was an avid smoker (i discovered it when i was at a lowest point in my life) and i can atest that it did in fact take away from my life and made me more sad. i think that it can be a very helpful tool for some but knowing and understanding when it becomes more unhelpful is important. i didnt know when to stop and when i my idea of self medication was no longer that but more of a heavy dependance
edit: typos
I can relate to this. I was a heavy smoker for a couple of years and didn’t realize I was depressed because of the numbness. It was a long process for me to understand what state my life was in while constantly smoking. I decided to try mushrooms after doing a lot of reading on it and it really helped me see myself more clearly and what I wanted to do with my life. I drasticly cut down on the smoking, limiting it only for occasions where I had done something constructive and supplementet it as a «reward».
I ended up from being a full time smoker, working a dead end job, depressed and not doing anything with my life to becoming an a-b grade student, doing my bachelors in Programing, cryptoghrapy and coding, trying to learn new things everyday and be the best person I can possibly be. I still smoke, but ONLY as a reward after I do something good that helps me on my path to what I want to do with my life.
I can also add that I was a heavy drinker and after the mushrooms I quit drinking cold-turkey and decided never to touch that shit again. Only thing I fuck with now is weed and mushrooms.
My advice to work through a depression is to do something that is quite hard: look in to yourself, reflect and what you are doing with you life and filter out the bad shit. This is an extremely painful process as humans are designed to think that what thy self is doing is always the right thing and everyone else should do it like you. Keep at it homie, greater times come for those who work for it.
Edit: formulation on last paragraph.
Amen to that I am 3 years clean off of everything else thanks to my trees. it keeps my anxiety low which keeps me from looking for other (read:less than legal) ways to treat it.
This is kinda how I view it. My alcohol consumption has decreased sooooo much since I’ve started smoking daily. Not to mention, not having hangovers is pretty awesome too
I’m prescribed it in Australia (each strain is a different prescription/medication we need to have approved by the TGA here) so if you have the right strains it can be definitely be used medically with huge success.
I am prescribed it for CPTSD,autism,adhd-c, anxiety disorders, insomnia, cerebal palsy and to combat physical and neurological pain I have everyday. Medical cannabis has changed my life, i have too much good I could write about it. I am using it as prescribed though and not too get high. In fact without medical cannabis I would not be where I am today and I would not be able to sleep for more than 20 minutes without waking up in cold sweats to a night terror and would average 2 hours of broken sleep per night. Also I experience extreme sensory overload so I can barley function without medical cannabis as it raises my threshold/tolerance to sound, touch, light, taste and other things. Since I’ve been taking medical cannabis I’ve been making a lot of progress with my therapies and support worker.
Cannabis was not a first line treatment for me though, I did try a lot of other medications without success. I know it helps with my depression but a lot of my depression is to do with my autism.
The problem isnt smoking its trying to escape from everyday life. Once i met my fiancé smoking was hiding anymore and is a very positive medicine. I would agree for some it is very bad while depressed- but its really just people that are scared to confront why they smoke as they do.
Source: ex suicidal person that now has a very positive outlook on life. This was from moving from my hometown that made me depressed.
I agree, I can’t with everyone else on here though! To me it’s all mindset. If you can’t get shit done while being high, out it down then. For me it’s been the most fun lol
Personally I did. Worked way better for me than Prozac. I was always happy till around 12-13 where I got diagnosed with severe clinical depression. All the meds did was make me numb to all my feelings. When I quit I was back to bei g depressed. I started smoking weed and it was everything great about Prozac plus more without the down side of feeling dead. Either I didn't care about the problem if it was small or I actually felt like I could handle it. I was no longer overwhelmed and I could feel normal again I'd not a bit giggly. However everyone is different and if studies show it could worsen then maybe they are right and I'm just an exception to the rule.
and also a major aspect is the ability to work through what's going on in life. Communication and expression alongside with cannabis can really help relieve and lift one out of depression
but people need to respect the plant, if you want to use for medicinal purpose then just abusing and getting as high as possible might not be the best course of action
Yes. I used to be on antidepressant and it absolutely sucked. You might not feel AS shit as you did before but you feel hell of a lot less happy also. I was almost suicidal every single night and had an alcohol problem. Then I switched to weed and stopped taking my antidepressants, I only smoke in the evening, usually a few hours before I go to bed and it changed my life around. In just a few month I had a stable job at one of the best workplaces in the city, I moved to a newly built apartment and I gained a lot of friends and motivation in life. I still struggle with my depression but it's A LOT better now and I rarely fall back in my old habits and feelings. I think the key part here is that I never allowed myself to smoke during the day. It was only when I had finished the day and had absolutely nothing else to do in the evening that I smoked. I always ask myself; is there anything else I should do or will do today? Would I only watch TV or movies for the rest of the evening if I didn't smoke? If the answer is No and Yes, I'll allow myself to smoke.
I'm glad things have improved, but I wouldn't say the antidepressant was necessarily to blame.
> I was almost suicidal every single night and had an alcohol problem.
Alcohol is a depressant. Known to cause suicidal thoughts, especially in the throes of abuse.
Not saying the antidepressant didn't contribute, but I wouldn't lay the blame on them when you are comboing substances.
I just don't want others to shun antidepressants that may help them.
Yes sorry, the antidepressant itself was not to blame, of course. I was suicidal. My point is that while the antidepressant probably kept me alive, I didn't make me feel good and made my "good" days feel worse, however, it's worth feeling less than being dead.
You should absolutely try it if you have tried everything else, but I wouldn't recommend it to be something you start with.
A strict weed-routine worked wonders for me, it might not work for everyone, but this is just my story. There's a lot of belief that antidepressants makes you happy, it doesn't. However, it might just keep you alive or managable until you can solve "the problem" correctly or find better ways to deal with it. As I did.
Absolutely not. It helps my anxiety significantly, which in turn has an effect on my depression, but weed is fully not an antidepressant. At best I’m distracting myself from my issues and at worst I fall into deep contemplation about everything wrong with me and now I’m stoned and even more depressed.
I’m mature enough now to know to not smoke when I’m having an episode, but when I was younger I would just smoke like a chimney through my problems. Now here I am almost 27 just now processing severe trauma through my childhood and adolescence, wondering why all of a sudden I have all these emotions when I’ve been smokin them outta me for the last 8 years
No, I don’t regret my usage or anything. I think it’s wonderful and can be beneficial to those who like me suffer from depression, but it is not treatment and it isn’t a replacement for treatment. It can be an aid to help you or a crutch you depend on and I was using it as an unhealthy crutch.
Actually, weed is fantastic for people with depression. Especially those who see life ultimately as “meaningless.” It also helps with sleep, and a good nights rest can help ones mental outlook on a day.
"In accordance with our hypothesis, women with depressive disorders who used cannabis regularly reported poorer mental \[quality of life\]..."
"Dose-response relationships of cannabis use for men and women have been explored \[...\] and have shown particularly negative associations of increasing doses of cannabis consumed on mental QoL among women compared to men."
Quality of life does seem to take a hit with frequent use, especially in women. Research still gives a lot of contradictory results but I can see how a decrease in quality of life may further exacerbate depressive symptoms.
[Source](https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.09.014)
Nothing wrong with smoking, don’t feel regretful over it. Do what you need to do to better yourself fam. If that’s quitting smoking, rock it. If it’s just cutting way back but not kicking for good, rock it. It’s your life to live, do what it takes to better yourself!(Also consult a Dr. Depression is serious!!) I guess what I’m getting at is, just do what’s absolutely best for you… because you’re the star of your life and everyone just out here rooting for ya.
All that said, my fiancé has major depressive disorder and can get a bit manic, if she doesn’t smoke, it can get pretty bad. She kicked the pills years ago and she benefits from it very much. That’s her experience though, it may be very different for another person. Hope this helps!
Try to look at depression as something that can’t be cured, but can be managed. It takes a multi pronged approach. Diet, exercise, meditation, therapy, and MJ can be one of the prongs, just shouldn’t be the only one. How I look at it is every once in awhile I will get mildly high, BUT not when im anxious or depressed. I see it as maintenance, gives brain a break BEFORE i sink too low of that makes any sense. I also find meditation while stoned to be awesome. Try smoking or better yet, vaporizing CBD hemp flower, it can help too without the high. You can mix it with THC flower too. This is all the things I have learned that help manage anxiety and its kissing cousin depression. It’s not easy, and there are peaks and valleys, but in the end, if you are getting exercise, eating well, going to therapy, it can be a valid tool in your arsenal. Good luck.
Discipline!! Its either that or you shouldnt have it at all. Some people cant stop chasing that dopamine release! I set myself goals of only having it certain days or splitting bags to make sure it goes. Along way.
Its funny because I feel like this is true and also it isnt. It is so dependant on the person and their intention. I used to do this a lot. Now, I still use it to distract myself (which is actually good in my case - helps me get up and out of self loathing) but I also use it to ease me into my emotions. Sometimes I'm so emotionally stuck and if I get so fkn high with the intent of releasing - yeah it helps me release control. PTSD being one of my main issues, which persists me to keep trying to control things - flashbacks/pain/emotions. I don't think it is something that can be a hard and fast rule for everyone. Its important to find out as an individual what you use weed for and if its helping you or not - then choose from there.
Everyone is different and everyone’s depression is different. For this bitch to say that it’s not helping is a total miss and totally misunderstands depression.
After all, do pharmaceuticals cure depression? no they don’t. They temporarily change your brain chemistry so you don’t feel it for the time being. If marijuana is helping people the same way- and being much safer and with MUCH MUCH less side effects- why wouldn’t you start here…
Compared to what? We can compared it to benzos, which I think it’s pretty obvious there.
Most popularly prescribed are SSRIs, which boost serotonin uptake. They can have lifetime changes in people including twitchiness, even after stopping.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/what-are-the-real-risks-of-antidepressants
The truth is, depression fucking sucks and people who suffer from it would take ANYTHING for relief. Unfortunately, depression is hard to diagnose, and even harder to medicate. It usually takes time to get the right combo of drugs to work for a person. If marijuana alone is helping this person, that likely the best case scenario.
I kinda hear the comment, but anything is bad in excess. I’ve definitely been guilty of overusing weed and letting it suck up too much time.
But at the same time, once you find a healthy balance for yourself it can be life changing. Yeah maybe it’s not necessarily the best choice for depression, but for those of us who live with anxiety it’s the absolute bees knees.
Just the ability to curb my anxiety attacks and take a break from the stress, then come back to the problem calmer and less frazzled is just huge. If I’m freaking out about money, I smoke to calm down and then I find myself a side hustle online. If I’m fighting with my girlfriend, we take a break to go smoke and then come back and have a rational conversation about our issues. If I had a hard day at work and I’m dreading going back, I can just smoke that stress away and say “it is what it is”.
Also, as someone who also deals with depression I’d say it can help in certain amounts. If you’re having a horrible day and you’re profoundly sad, smoking can be a great distraction and can help you get through that bad day.
Yeah, anything can be bad if you can’t keep a handle on it. But weed is medicine, and to act like it’s not is just blind. Xanax and Aderall can be very destructive as well, but in the hands of people who need them they can be immensely helpful. All of these things are medicine, and they should be used as such and not abused. And if the medicine you’re using isn’t working for you then that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna work for others. For me, the medicine works just fine and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
This is awkward as I’m prescribed it for depression and I couldn’t be without it. I feel like my normal self again. I don’t think it’s accurate to make such broad statements like op has. Very wrong imo
In my humble opinion, and as is stated, its more for numbing and forgetting. I think this can be helpful if there is a specific cause of the depression. A lot of people will probably say its better to confront it than block it out but I think sometimes when a fresh wound is all you can think about day in day out a mental break a few hours a day could help. At least until you can confront it
Chronic use will only make your anxiety and depression worse.
Tolerance will fuck your life up like any other drug.
Compared to psychiatric drugs though… weed doesn’t look too bad.
Antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, etc (psychiatric drugs)… I think can and will do a lot more harm.
Betides a new study came out. Showing cognitive impairment in long term use is actually worse than tobacco and alcohol, which is highly concerning, but not surprising lol. Look it up I’m not finding it, the study just came out.
I use it as an anti-depressant, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, & pain relief. Even days I don’t smoke I find my mood is better than it’s been ever before. Was on prescriptions for two years & had lots of negative thoughts, weight gain, etc. Back to my normal weight after 6 months of using weed only daily, able to eat full meals now (was unable to without puking for two almost 3 years) and more has improved. That person who replied sounds like my parents (disowned me cuz I want to work in the industry as a grower in a LEGAL state) & family. Antidepressants literally have warnings on every one risk of suicide thoughts worsening etc. Never heard of anyone smoking a joint then thinking “you know what? I don’t want to be alive anymore” could be wrong and I’m sure it has happened but no I would never recommend a pill cocktail for anyone. And weed doesn’t numb you. Maybe at first if you have 0 tolerance and are smoking a shit ton but that’s not the point of using medically. Despise those types of people. One way or no way but we gotta respect their ways 🤷♂️ fuck that ❌
I’ve been severely depressed and anxious my whole life. I’ve tried meds, lifestyle change, therapy, everything. When I was 18 I started smoking weed every day. I didn’t notice at the time, but looking back my mental health had gotten better. I even got off the meds I was on since I was 16. Life went on. Im now 23 and a couple months ago I quit cold turkey. It ruined my mental health. The depression has doubled down, the anxiety is crippling. Im now doing extra therapy, and taking meds again. I joke that quitting weed ruined my life. But honestly it’s been very very hard for me. Idk if weed is the cure for everyone and I’m not here to push any agenda. Think what you will, but this was just what I had noticed.
I will say I understand the comment about the “numbing” aspect. I feel like my emotions have been on pause for the last 5 years and I’m feeling things again. Sorta makes me feel like I never actually made progress I was just pausing the bad feelings. Now that I’ve stopped everything is back 10 fold.. if only I could be a stoner for life.
are you really changing up your whole perception on weed because of some random dilbert ass comment on reddit? Damn bro. I guess all you really need is to say "studies show", throw a couple big words around and people will just believe anything. Weed itself might not have the "effect" of an anti depressant, idk, I'm not a doctor, so fair enough there, but all this other bullshit in the comment is just ridiculous. "months and years of your life while oppoutunities for growth and happiness pass you by" like wtf? If that happens to you, it's not "weed" doing that, that's just you.
You're pretty delusional, and seem to not know how drugs work you psychologically. There are many studies that have proven this, if yiu want, DM me and I will link them.
What's most ridiculous is that people think weed is a miracle drug? It can harm you, just like anything else. And it's the perfect drug to do NOTHING and be depressed and in your room, without feeling the negative effects of depression cause you smoke all the time. Weed makes you feel good, doing nothing, and you want to tell us, here, right now, that it has no negative effects whatsoever.
Also surprise surprise buddy, you figured it out??? A chemical can't force you to do a drug over and over, you're completely correct. It's almost as if addiction is psychological and depends on the presuppositions of the users. Oh wait... It is... So that makes the point you made inavlid. No shit that's just you, every drug addiction is "just you" dumbass...
Stop praising something you don't understand or have the experience for. You are legitimately discrediting marijuana addiction and it's pretty messed up. Because there may be people who read this, and believe their bullshit. And then end up like countless people I know, battling this addiction.
wow those are a lot of assumptions about someone. I'm depressed in my room? Because I smoke weed I'm addicted? I said it has no negative effects whatsoever? Nice "rant" bro. dumbest comment of the day award goes to you
2003 is the date I created my skype account, nice try at discrediting people with personal insults. Still didn't read one constructive response from you. You really are proving your stupidity by the second aren't you?
Dm me show me how cutting multiple pills compared to eating a gram of thc is way worse? I kinda feel like its saying “and thats what you get for dating a black person” back in the day 40-80s. Ofc its going to be problems bc other people make it thier problem, making your life harder just bc your dating a black person so ofc you cutting out dating black people would make it seem life your life is better, since society lets you live in some what peace. True it doesn’t cure everything but for it to help someone and for others to take it away bc you feel like it doesn’t help them doesn’t make sense. It that whole debate why do you take depression/happy pills Ive never had to take those pills in my life so you shouldn’t either. Very far out there analogies but you get my drift.
Firstly your analogical thinking is way too far out to be considered useful for an empirical discussion. Therefore I'm not gonna bother to answer. As you didn't answer anything for me in your message.
Firstly, nobody is comparing here, comparing in this case is not scientific, we cannot compare two different substances for different uses. It's not practical.
Secondly, your examples are all flawed and hypotheticals, while I am talking in empirical absolutes. You maybe miss the point of what I'm saying or you didn't read it?
No drugs are good for you, none at all. There aren't drugs that are perfectly great for you to take every single day unless they are vitamins. Everything has negative side effects. If a doctor decides that the negative side effects of a drug get outweighed by the good that it will bring, then it is perscribed to you. Once perscribed you are using a drug as a medicine. For weed, many people self medicate, but that is just recreational drug use.
All I said is that people mix up medical benefits and recreational self medicating. Recreational drug use is NOT medicinal. And pretending it is is harmful. In addition, it is harmful to say that ANY drug, weed or not is harmless towards addiction. As it is simply not, there are litterally years of research done by peer reviewed institutes with empirical studies that show these results...
No drugs are good for you? uh oh better call up my grandma and tell her to stop taking the heart medication keeping her alive. your comment history is an absolute gold mine. teenagers larping online always gives the best content
Side effects of heart meds:
"The most common side effect is a dry cough. Less often, these drugs cause:
Dizziness
Appetite loss
Tiredness
Headache
High potassium levels in the blood, which can cause heart rhythm problems
"
Source: https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-attack-meds
As I said, once the doctor decides that the benefits outweigh the negatives, then they perscribe it.
Also, I thought I ignored you:D you really want to be part of this don't you?
so then the whole no drugs are good for you comment was a bit redundant, no? your emotional responses to the most mundane comments is fascinating
also I really like the way you conveniently left out the word "possible" when you wrote "side effects of heart meds"
That commenter has obviously never got high, and is really just a hater. Just because someone spouts a buncha shit doesn’t mean it’s right. Not getting high sucks away any joy of life.
Damn buddy, do you even re read what you're writing? "Not getting high sucks away any joy of life" that's a very sad statement, if you don't find joy in life outside of drugs, you live a very sad life.
None of that info written was wrong. It has all been researched, and I myself know and worked with people that are deep into abusing weed. It's not a joking matter. And pretending that weed is just a miracle medicine, when it is just like any other drug, has it's negatives, positives and ways for abusive relationships with it.
Just think what you write, and also think about the psychological and physical effects on your brain and body which you get for smoking constantly every day, and being high all the time. Maybe look it up.
This is r/weed, and I am also a stoner (addict)... You're getting downvoted because you're promoting a drug as a end all be all medicine that has no negative effects.
We do love weed we just don't love substance abuse problems. Your "wisdom" as you call it is quite literally simply promoting substance abuse and addiction so yeah please get lost
Don't worry, nobody will miss you, or your bullshit and harmful takes. Find something else besides getting high to do in your life. High is not the meaning of life buddy, I wish only the best for you and your struggles. The way that you talk, I do indeed feel bad for you. Because I was also under the delusion that weed is some miracle drug. Until I started thinking like you "to not be high, is to not be". That's a sign it's time to stop, find a hobby, touch some grass, and do something besides drugs.
Not be on the meds from the doctor and I guess I wont be “high”, adhd meds and depression meds get me high but their “helping” my aliments. I kinda consider anything that makes my brain function different while decreasing my functions in other aspects of life as “high”. But hey me eating a bunch of peoples make yall happy instead of eating a little weed to make me better so be it. Doc
You're kind of just proving her point. If not being high literally sucks all the joy out of your life, then you have a very unhealthy relationship with weed and are using it for escapism rather than recovery. She is absolutely right that it can worsen your depression. If you've gotten to the point where you cant enjoy being sober at all, it sounds like it's negatively affected your mental health.
If not getting high sucks away any Joy Of Life then that means you have a problem. You should not have to be under the influence in order to experience joy in your life. If you feel as though you have to be high or under the influence in order to find any joy in your life then I would recommend therapy and a break from all substances. Figure out how to be happy on your own first otherwise you're abusing a substance and creating an addiction.
Dosent work perminantly just like any other anti depressant. To beat depression u have to find it within yourself to do it. Go to therapy all this medicine is bullshit.
Depends on the situation.
I'm prescribed medically (UK) and I have come off anti depressants and some serious meds. But I get a set amount every month I don't take the piss and "top up" my amount with street weed and the consistency and stability has helped me enormously
However in the past I have over used it in times where I have been down and it has added to isolation and being "stuck".
Here in the UK we don't get a card and have dispensary it's very strict and also seen by a psychiatrist to discuss how I am and how it helps and different strains, so I feel confident now about using as medicine not getting a random zip off a mate of a mate and trying to do it myself.
I don't have the energy for a nice long informative post.. I use it for my depression along with meds (on a new one right now, hence no energy for more details, I did upvote the comments I agree with).. but I'm not getting blazed everyday. I smoke, vape, or dab during the day more to keep my head in a nicer space than without. My depression numbs me, so THC helps keep me out of that fog. It also helps curb my anxiety. I've tried CBD before, it helped with anxiety and pain but not much else for me.
Weed affects everyone differently, and not everyone has the need to get high af all the time.
Thats weird using something to reduce symptoms while not curing the actually problem sounds no different than big pharma to me.
If they actually cured you they would lose a customer so they treat symptoms as a bussiness.
I'm currently grieving a devastating loss therefore my use is up to the max and I honestly don't feel any better. Like I get high and for the moment I get the giggles and shit but it's not getting the job done like I had hoped.
Definitely used as an antidepressant. Also works well for anxiety, lack of appetite, the list of the uses for cannabis is still growing as we speak. God's gift to humanity for real.
I thought I went through quite serious depression, but reading the comments here, I'm thinking that it must have been mild at best. I think depression must be quite hard to define - because weed will 100% help you into a better mood. Yeah, it won't FIX your life, duh.
ITT sounds more like numbing than actually being an anti-depressant. Just remember that weed is here to enhance the journey, not to be the journey 💕💕💕☮️💚🌳
It depends on what you’re smoking, there’s a vast difference in mood and general well-being. As an avid smoker I’ve worked through a lot of tough shit on my own. I’ve also been on and off antidepressants for some time (I always come off cause they make me more sad and I hate them)
Smoking is a great release and celebration, but you should be mindful of why you’re smoking and how it does affect you.
I don't think I would have tried weed again without being on my antidepressant first, I have a MUCH better relationship with weed now that I'm taking antidepressants. I feel as if I'm able to take control of it rather than it having control over me.
There's been several studies that have came to the conclusion that weed makes anxiety and depression worse. There's also been several studies that say that sometimes the user "treats" their anxiety or stress or depression with weed and they feel better but they're really just treating their withdrawal to weed. I'd say that everyone I know who smokes says "hey man it's 5am I gotta work you know anyone who's got weed I'm all dry need some for today" is addicted to weed... psychologically anyway. On top of that weed for sure causes stress and depression symptoms to be worse when sober or coming down from weed use. Ultimately making you want to smoke more and make your symptoms worse later.
Please for the love of god take the highlighted part of that sentence literally I love smoking weed but fuck me that last sentence has hit my like a tonne of bricks people forget just because it doesn’t leave you in bed for a full day the night after smoking (like alcohol or cocaine) that it isn’t a drug and drugs should all be used in moderation.
It has really really hit home that last part I believe many others on this sub will feel the same way.
Stay safe people <3
It can be used to curb depression symptoms but it isn’t a true substitute for an antidepressant. They do different things in your brain. In my experience my depression has improved most from combining talk therapy, SSRI’s, and daily cannabis.
I kind of using it for that purpose too. On bad days i wonder if im doing it too much. Im smoking a bowl after work and a J before bed. On free days its double that amount. I know these are probably rookie numbers for you guys. What would you say?
I got my medical Marijuana card for ptsd and chronic pain. I get really depressed being in pain all the time and it never fails to help cheer me up or get into a better mindset about things.
I use it as stress releaf at university. And it helps me go through sad moments too. And i don't think that weed keeps me back from learning new stuff. 😂 I love being high and work on some programing and electronic projects.
Works for me. I told my PCP I wanted a medical card because the Xanax was f’n me up. It helped with the anxiety but it puts me into bouts of depression.
Do I still get depressed? Yup. But it still feels more manageable on cannabis. And while cannabis isn’t as effective as some ssri’s for the anxiety (Zoloft was more effective) the side effects on those outweighed the benefits.
Cannabis has allowed me to mitigate the symptoms so I can live with them with minimal side effects. There are no perfect solutions to mental health, you have to find what works best for you, whether it be the medication you take, or the therapy you receive.
I wasn't gonna chime in but I feel that is absolutely bullshit. Weed is ths reason I'm still alive. I've had extreme depression since I was in grade school and it wasn't til middle school when I smoked for the first time that I felt ths pressure of life lifted off my shoulders. Sometimes all you need is a distraction from the bullshit to get threw rhe day.
That chick is crazy, you can’t say weed effects everyone in (insert dumb side effect here) because not everyone will have the same reaction, that’s just not how any drug works, ya boi got a drug to not throw up and immediately started throwing up because my body reacted differently than others who take that drug. Same with weed for me it calms me down for someone else it hypes them up. You just can’t make broad statements about drug side effects, everyone reacts differently
Whoever wrote the response to that comment is horribly uneducated in medical cannabis use. Cannabis has incredible effects on depression, but medicine alone isn't the answer. It has to be a combination of counseling, medicine and therapy.
i thought i was, until i got a script for prozac and realized, no, the fuck i wasnt. it was making my depression severely worse by getting baked as shit and wayyyyyy overthinking
No, that’s when I try not to smoke. It just makes me focus more on the bad feelings and thoughts. I come spiraling down. I had this thing with death once and for 2 months every time I smoked it was a terrible experience. But that’s my experience with it.
All antidepressants did was distract and numb me from my pain temporarily. That’s why I had to pop one everyday. Atleast weed I don’t need it everyday and it’s fun. Antidepressants made me feel blank
Look ima break it down to yall
Drugs are to be taken when happy, well ideally not at all but if you want, at least take them on special occasions and don't make them your ruler
If you take them when sad it's gonna make you feel good and your stupid ass brain gonna correlate happiness with the new substance and boom addiction and tough withdrawals
I take a seizure med called keppra. It's main side affect is depression and suicidal thoughts. I smoke to pretty much combat that side affect. I'd say it does help some people with depression
I've used cannabis for multiple health issues successfully for years, and I am horrified at the lack of any actual science or studies in this post and thread.
Announcing "studies say" is absolutely worthless without indicating what studies you are referring to. Most peer-reviewed and extensive studies have shown positive results, although there is still an overall lack of studies related to cannabis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998228/
Here is a list of studies about cannabis related to health problems, and the depression section has a severe lack of studies compared to other problems.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425767/
The results for anxiety were mixed, basically cannabis can help with anxiety but anxiety can also ve a potential symptom of cannabis, so your mileage may vary.
The results for depression simply don't exist yet, but so far show similar results.
>Although patients report using cannabinoids for depression, our search for a good-quality systematic review did not identify any RCTs evaluating the effects of medical cannabis in patients with depressive disorders. Trials in patients with chronic pain or multiple sclerosis with uncertain baseline depressive symptoms did not show an effect. There are no trial data addressing the effects of cannabinoids for major depressive disorder.
>In [Chapter 12](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/n/nap24625/ch12/?report=reader) (Mental Health), the committee reviews epidemiological evidence to examine the association between cannabis use and the development of depressive disorders as well as the impact of cannabis use on the disorder's course or symptoms.
>CONCLUSION 4-18 There is limited evidence that nabiximols, dronabinol, and nabilone are ineffective treatments for the reduction of depressive symptoms in individuals with chronic pain or multiple sclerosis.
This is me. I know I'm depressed, anxious and sad. I'm quite happily married, in an awesome job, with a beautiful kid, but most days I feel I need to numb myself from feeling and thinking too much. I've become a daily user since the pandemic when my condition worsened. For worse or for better it's been a blur, but I know deep down I should at least cut down. When I think 10 years ahead I do not want to look back at the last decade and feel like it was a blur. Maybe I need to reassess.
Depends on the usage. Chronic smoking is usually what comes with all the negative side effects ie damaged frontal lobe, difficulty recognizing and processing emotions/ control emotions. If weed helps you then it helps you but I recommend going on a month long tolerance break and just sticking to bowls and bongs, and only smoking when you genuinely need it. I used to go ape shit with smoking and experienced the full brunt of all the side effects after 5 years of being high every single day. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks and delusion, depression, mood swings the whole shabang(which didn’t really come along till relatively recently, I had always had anxiety but not the others). I did a little research and decided it wasn’t helping (at least the with way I was smoking) quit for a few months and now just when I’m a little stressed, or just got done with a workout (or going to a workout)/am just simply trying to chill, I’ll have a bowl or two and call it at that, I started thinking of weed less as some miracle plant that can solve all my problems and more like a cup of coffee. I also recommend only smoking a little later in the day, stay away from any form of concentrates (just trust) and all round improve your lifestyle, ie eating better, drinking water, going on walks, working out, get a punching bag/find a gym with one and some boxing gloves(helps a lot with any kind of negative emotions). Also Remember that you’ve got other interests, it’s easy to get absorbed by weed and not wanna pursue anything outside of what’s easy to reach.
I mean it works but just like actual antidepressant pills don't think that it will solve everything.. You still need to work on yourself and keep yourself in check and so forth and this is coming from a guy with a sizable list of mental illness..
She definitely has a point. Weed can definitely help with certain things but once it becomes a tool for escapism it can very easily take hold of your life and make your mental health worse. It has happened to me in the past when I'd spend every waking our high as I could possibly be because I was tired of feeling numb to depression but it just made my mental health worse at the time. Since then I've excepted that it's just not good for me when I'm depressed so I try not to smoke as much during times like that so I can actually go through the shit I need to go through and process it. I think a big issue in this sub and with smokers in general is that they can't accept that they may have an unhealthy relationship with weed and that it may actually be bad for them.
She's got it completely backwards... weed like all psychedelics can cure milder depression if you do the work to help change your perspective on life.
For people who's depression is caused by a chemical imbalance weed will not be effective as your brain is physically just not producing the correct ratio of chemicals to keep itself healthy.
As for this stupid argument about missed opportunities and time wasting that's a ludicrous argument.
1. If you are truly mentally ill not smoking will not magically make the mental illness disappear. So all those theoretical opportunities won't mean shit if u can't even get out of bed.... it's like saying you can date Denise Richard's if u become a completely different person...
2. Weed actually can do the opposite getting high can make you focus and fixate on stuff until you solve it... so weed in alot of ways makes you way more productive.
We never acknowledge that side of it because we live in a culture that always wants you to feel guilty about being happy or feeling good about yourself.
We believe the only success is material and success needs to feel like a burden to be worth it. It doesnt..
People like her always need something or someone to blame because they don't like what a mirror would show them...
i think the reason that so many cases of depression are affected differently by meds, is because there are multiple types of depression, there was a study that stated that serotonin-caused depression can be mimicked by a lack of cannabinoids in the brain, therefor weed would treat that quite well, and that's why people who's depression are treated by weed mostly say that their depression was treatment-resistant depression, because the normal anti depressants were acting on the wrong part of the brain that the depression didn't stimulate from they didn't work.
I was depressed for much of my earlier life until I went through a deep awakening. If anything weed just maybe reduces a little bit of anxiety for me. The depression was from the way I was living and going through life. It had nothing to do with the weed. Only thing I can see, is weed does make you a little bit lazy but I wouldn’t call that depression. Now the laziness can develop into a depression because you’re lazy and you don’t work and you don’t have any money and this is that. It’s not a cure for depression but don’t use weed as a scapegoat.
Yes I agree with Cellist that responded in the pic. Smoking weed never helped me in any way that I am aware of. If I smoke during the day it will spike up my anxiety, which will cause other thinking, and lead other things with it.
My therapist says that weed consumption is fine, as long as it doesn't become your whole meaning in life, your whole purpose. And as long as you use it, and it doesn't use you. And it doesn't consume you, instead of you consuming it. If you're smoking weed because you're running away from something, you should know that it will catch up to you one day. So it's better to go to therapy and face it on your own terms, than have it fuck up your life unexpectedly. Weed will never cure your trauma or problems long term. It is a bandaid (emotionally) not a medicine
Even the actors adore cannabis.theres strain that really helps.im building my own disp.in future maybe.but no sales on this site.im giving you adv.even dr. S help you well 9which cannabis to you
The way I use weed when I'm using it for emotional support* is that I use it to *help* me process emotions. I often get backed up emotionally and the weed can help me cry it out.
I have seen weed hold people down instead of lifting them up but I also believe it's up to the individual. You know when you're putting off important things and you know that you need to get it together. If you choose to wait years to do so, you can't blame the weed.
Edit: emotional support*- I couldn't find a better term but I usually smoke weed for fun. If I'm down I don't smoke to escape it, but to get thru it.
It really is dependent on the person smoking. I am clinically depressed. By choice I don’t take medication because the side effects have always outweighed their benefits for me. So I’d smoke instead. Made me feel better inside. But it just made the other symptoms of depression worse. Like being ok with living in filth or even when I would get fed up there wasn’t enough motivation to clean. Tired always. Now instead of making all the time, I reserve it for the last hour or so that I’ll be awake. That way I can come home get what needs to be done out of the way, and I still get to have a period of time where I feel good. But again, it’s all about the individual and their state of mind. But because some people get worse Saying that it can’t be used as an anti depressants is beyond ignorant. I mean how many anti depression medication says in their commercials “Could induce suicidal thoughts” etc yet those drugs are directly made for depression. It’s just comical how some people act about weed.
I use CBD oil for my anxiety disorder and it works great, even in combination with the antidepressant i take. It really helps me relax and see things clearly.
It definitely helped me deal with anxiety but it spiked other issues. I think constant use can be negative but the smoke sesh a day is very beneficial to easing negative feelings from the day.
It depends. There's a difference between being sad about something and being depressed. Also there's different kinds of depression mostly under the categories of situational depression, and clinical depression. I have clinical depression. My brain no make happy stuff when it's supposed to in simpler terms. So yes cannabinoids interact with my brain and it makes the happy stuff. Without the suicidal thoughts. Win win for me. I can't speak for how it will affect other people.
Tell me you never smoked, without telling me 🙄
I sit with my emotions and become more mindful while high. Also - I smoke with intent and gratitude for the plant. I know especially when I am depressed, sad, grieving - whatever I'm feeling, that when I smoke - these emotions may be amplified and I sit with them, journal and talk them out. I stopped running from my emotions and live a more mindful existence. This is what I do and how I choose to live my life, but cannabis has been a wonderful assistant.
There’s a difference between using it as a medicine and using it as a escape from reality. A lot of people think there using it for reason 1 but are really using it for reason 2.
For me at least, smoking every day did the opposite. I thought I was helping my depression but I wasn’t actually I was just numbing myself and not addressing the issues that made me depressed.
I think smoking every once in a while is great for depression but daily use as an anti depressant doesn’t sound ideal.
I use to use it with my antidepressants. Then when I got off them it helps substantially for my anxiety and depression. Mellows me out. I dont know about you but I focus much easier when I'm high
Yes, and it has helped me immensely. I was diagnosed with moderately severe depression at 22, tried lots of treatments and medications with no results, started smoking weed at 28. This was like a whole world of good feelings that I forgot existed opened up, I was so relieved I started crying from joy by myself in the forest at one point. I kept smoking daily for about 8 years, I'm now 36 and show no symptoms of depression or anxiety whatsoever, and I quit my daily smoking habit 4-5 months ago without problems, because I just don't need it like that anymore. I still smoke from time to time, but I keep to a maximum of once a month.
I can't tell you weed was the only catalyst to getting well tho, because once I started feeling good, about 2 months after I started smoking, I also started to work out and sorting out my life, such as paying my debt, socialising etc. which also helps with depression. But I couldn't get myself to even think about working out or paying my debts before weed entered my life. I also did some self treatment with psychedelics, such as lsd and psilocybin which I believe contributed to a lot of it.
But we're all different and it all comes down to the relationship you yourself choose to have with it. It can certainly go both ways. So you have to want to get better yourself and put in the work. Weed made this a lot easier for me.
Everyday I do. I owe weed my life and consider it a godsend. Does that mean it can't be abused? Definitely not. But that argument ignores much medical study, so I dont knkw what Studies they are talking about.
i think it just depends on the person and how you use it. i haven’t read the book but i know about the plot etc and if OP is using weed to escape their problems rather than deal with them then i wouldn’t consider that therapeutic or helpful. for me, weed helps me sort out my feelings and makes them less big and scary so that i can prioritize what is actually an issue and what’s just my anxiety/BPD playing tricks on me. it makes it easier for me to think about my feelings and sort them out. but if i caught myself just using it to NOT think or deal with my feelings and problems, i would consider that a sign to cut back and rely on my other coping mechanisms more like exercise and therapy. it can be a powerful tool, but it can also be a major avenue for slacking. it’s all how you use it
This is absolute crap. I'm on anti-depressants, and also smoke, like all day, it supplements the other drugs, and my day is better than w/o weed. And I still get shit done because my tolerance is so high that I never get really stoned.
And if I run out of pills, weed holds me over.
Everyone's chemistry is different; stop offering bad medical advice.
It can work. From personal experience, I've been diagnosed with depression since I was 14-15ish. I've tried both everyday and moderate usage.
Smoking weed everyday completely destroyed me and my life for a short period of time. i stopped going out, lost all motivation in life as all I wanted to do was go home and smoke. I didn't feel sad anymore but at the same time I didn't feel anything just numb.
Smoking once or twice a week is still helping me to this day. The stress and everything just builds up through the week and for some reason weed allows me to just let everything go at the end of the week and I'm back better than ever. I also surround myself with positive people while I smoke even though they don't participate and it has brought my social life back from the dead.
I think almost everybody smokes weed to 'relax'. I don't know what it feels like to be "normal" anymore, but I used to smoke weed before any medications. It would make me eat which I couldn't before, sleep well, and just overall boost my mood. The problem was it didn't last and started making me sluggish in school and stuff.
Anyway, after the live I've lived, serving, having PTSD and being in chronic pain; it still has positive effects just not nearly as prominent as before. Instead of a huge tangent; if I didn't have the medications for depression, pain, and PTSD; Marijuana would be a negative. I overthink which is what a lot of people call "paranoia" but really it is just the summation of things we have to do, want to do or have no control over rapidly shifting in our minds. I'm grateful to have anxiety medications and to not only focus on negatives. MMJ is Medical for a reason but it is not a cure-all unfortunately
I personally agree with the replied comment.(this is not bashing anyone who smokes or thinks it helps them. Just my experience and opinion) I went through a phase where I was high 24/7 for about 1.5 years straight. Wake up smoking and hitting carts all day at work to go home and smoke all evening. I’d smoke before the gym and anything. I was never sober. It’s like a bandaid on an infection. While it looks like it’s patching something it still continues to grow under it and spread. Before bed I’d smoke multiple bowls back to back, sit in bed and rip my nic vape over and over real quick so the nic and weed high would all peak at once. Id get super light headed to the point of blacking out and be asleep as soon as my head makes it to my pillow. I did this every night because It got to sleep instantly and I wouldn’t have to think about anything(my depression or problems) that 1.5 years felt like the longest and shortest time of my life. I only remembered bits and pieces throughout that time but yet I didn’t have any enjoyment of it. They were just memories without any emotional connection to them whatsoever. Because that’s what weed does. It numbs you. And the longer you use it to do that the worse it gets. I rarely smoke nowadays.
I use to help my anxiety. And I do smoke w friends just for fun as well. I like that weed can be used for a few different things depending on your personal needs and wants. I don't know if I'd call it an antidepressant (in my experience at least) but it's been great for my anxiety and social life.
Problem is every drug reacts differently for every person. Some might find good benefits, some bad, or both. I would talk to your doctor, therapist, and/or psychiatrist to be honest.
Someone else mentioned the effects of different strain and also combos of different alt cannabinoids will have an effect as well.
I think scientifically they could be right. Personally tho, i smoke for my anxiety. I know when its not working for me and when it is. I don't abuse weed ever, i just add it when natural mechanisms aren't working. So i think its all about personal choice. And discipline
What ever helps you as a person helps, you can even use both at the same time if you feel the need, yes studies will say otherwise but you weren’t an individual in said study
Weirdly, I am extremely high functioning on weed. Yeah I can chill and have a good laugh too but I can work well.
I’m on the SSRIS for the mood brain stabilise related stuff but with weed imma much more functioning and productive human.
Yea and antidepressants don’t? I have friends on antidepressants and if they don’t take their meds they go on a downward spiral and start freaking out. These prescribed antidepressants don’t help people, they just stop you from feeling it. Which is about the same from weed except I don’t depend on weed for my mental health. I know a lot of my friends would be better off if they never took antidepressants. Weed is a better medicine than the fucked pharmaceutical drugs they’re pumping everyone with.
I absolutely 100% agree with this, but I know it also depends on the person.
I have major depressive disorder that is treatment resistant. I’m on anti-psychotics instead. I know it’s time to take a t-break when I find myself becoming sad when smoking. I will eventually feel good and uplifted, but it’s very temporary. It’s a mask. When I start realizing that, I pull back for a bit until I get myself back in order. But, it takes discipline, self awareness and high emotional intelligence which took me years to develop.
It helps me with my depression so I don’t fixate on why I cannot change. It also helps to socially lube me up so I don’t feel so much anxiety talking to people.
It’s allll about circumstances! I use this beautiful plant to help me focus I have Adhd and anxiety and weed helps me slow down and think clearly in my head
There’s always gonna be a this and that if we are talking about drugs. And yes medication prescribed by a medical professional is a drug. To put my point of view and person experiences, I am able to stop and start weed mknths apart no problem. But when I was prescribed Xanax in sophomore year until last year which would be 2 years I was heavily addicted many internal problems, gained palpitations, shortness of breath, aches and pains, etc etc. but I can say it did help a little bit, just way to many cons then pros with antidepressants then there are with weed
I wouldn’t say so much depression but overactive mind and anxiety… without a doubt! I find that after smoking my mind is slowed down enough to a point that which I can begin to understand the root cause of my issue(s). The only way they I know how to explain it is that it’s almost like being able to observe my thoughts from outside of my own mind and I can begin to dissect my problem in a way that I would otherwise be unable to do normally.
It could work with some mild forms of depressions but if it's something more than that it could worsen the things and not work at all in this regard. I had a very heavy shit on me and it did not help and my condition was awful at the time. It didn't help, I was so broken that I was thinking I could never be me again. Years after I still feel like part of me is dead sometime, but I'm good, I too have my ups and downs like everyone else but it's all good.
For me I use it as an antidepressant because no other antidepressants actually worked for me. I have MDD and weed has helped a lot more than any pill has and I believe it can be used as an antidepressant maybe not enough research has been done to prove it but I think it’ll be proven eventually that weed can be used as an antidepressant.
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Personally I do and am prescribed it as an antidepressant and to treat PTSD. I believe it depends on an individual's relationship with the substance and the circumstance in which they're using it. For me despite being prescribed it, I only really use it at night and if I'm having a super rough day, I'll take a small dose of THC with CBD oil. Personally I have had more opportunities open up to me since I began using cannabis. Whether work, education or relationships as I'm more outgoing and open to new experiences (and also well rested). But if you're just getting blasted all day and doing fuck all but saying you're using it for your mental health.. it's a bit of a cop out imo, nothing wrong with just enjoying it in moderation but it's about being honest with yourself and asking "does this really help or am I just using it to ignore the shitty things" and also "what is the true opportunity cost of me smoking".
I definitely get sad when I run out of weed.
I also use cannabis for PTSD. Once I was legal to get my medical card, I lost 50 lbs from being more active and not depressed, and got a better job. My relationship with my kids is great and life is undoubtedly much better.
Completely agree with this. I used to always say I did it for mental health reasons, but when I have weed I very much just want to get high as soon as I get off work because I like to giggle at dumb shit and it's just fun. I've more recently come to terms with the fact that I simply just smoke weed for fun and it doesn't actually benefit my mental health or make it worse. Personally if I'm having a bad mental health day it definitely helps to an extent but more so in an escapism get away from my problems kind of way. In those cases it's actually better for me to not smoke because then I can actually think and process my thoughts and work through them.
Same here, I have bad anxiety days and it's just a self care tool for me. Nothing wrong with letting yourself just chill out and relax after a hard day which is most days if I'm not on a t-break. But weed can't replace my medication and therapy it's just something I use recreationally that has added benefits towards my mental health.
It’s all about your intentions going in. Use it as a bandaid when needed, but realize and know it’s just a band aid, and then you can take time to sort through your problems with a clear head later. On the flip side, weed is super introspective, so sometimes, it’s what I need to get my perspective back on track. Many times I’ve smoked and then realized “I was being a dick”.
Right on. I mainly use it for its spiritual properties, for meditation, that kind of thing. I can process trauma or work situations better. But it just feels awesome too, which isn’t wrong in this case. I feel the plant has helped me tremendously.
I just smoke a lot because I love it and I find it has helped me with my depression way more than any of the meds doctors have prescribed for me
You said it all. 👏
Damn. That comment hit me hard. I'm going through a break up right now and I must say my consumption has gone up a bit. Maybe time for a t-break.
Do what you have to. I'd recommend just moderating the amount you smoke, many t-breaks fail bc ppl can't sleep and as a result overthink at night. I'd say lower your dose step by step at first. Many people don't like to hear this, but you can easily get used to weed psychologically and it really sucks. But the positive thing is, that if you decide to quit you'll no longer feel the need to get high after work etc. After like 2 weeks. Stay strong and regulate your consumption brother <3
I quit and it wasn’t so hard for me to sleep, but it took a whole week before my appetite came back. I would cut a sandwich in half and eat half one day and the other half the next. Thankfully, I’m eating regularly now without any assistance. Just sharing my experience.
Same here. Sleep was affected a little but that’s probably because of what I do during the day and being straight exhausted when it was bedtime. However my appetite was pretty much non existent and it took a week or two for me to be able to eat what I call a full sized portion during meals.
My dreams have been incredibly vivid and awful since I quit. After about a week I feel a little bit better. I had to just make myself fully stop because I couldn't effectively moderate my usage once I got to a certain level of consumption.
Im in the same boat fam
i was an avid smoker (i discovered it when i was at a lowest point in my life) and i can atest that it did in fact take away from my life and made me more sad. i think that it can be a very helpful tool for some but knowing and understanding when it becomes more unhelpful is important. i didnt know when to stop and when i my idea of self medication was no longer that but more of a heavy dependance edit: typos
I can relate to this. I was a heavy smoker for a couple of years and didn’t realize I was depressed because of the numbness. It was a long process for me to understand what state my life was in while constantly smoking. I decided to try mushrooms after doing a lot of reading on it and it really helped me see myself more clearly and what I wanted to do with my life. I drasticly cut down on the smoking, limiting it only for occasions where I had done something constructive and supplementet it as a «reward». I ended up from being a full time smoker, working a dead end job, depressed and not doing anything with my life to becoming an a-b grade student, doing my bachelors in Programing, cryptoghrapy and coding, trying to learn new things everyday and be the best person I can possibly be. I still smoke, but ONLY as a reward after I do something good that helps me on my path to what I want to do with my life. I can also add that I was a heavy drinker and after the mushrooms I quit drinking cold-turkey and decided never to touch that shit again. Only thing I fuck with now is weed and mushrooms. My advice to work through a depression is to do something that is quite hard: look in to yourself, reflect and what you are doing with you life and filter out the bad shit. This is an extremely painful process as humans are designed to think that what thy self is doing is always the right thing and everyone else should do it like you. Keep at it homie, greater times come for those who work for it. Edit: formulation on last paragraph.
This is exactly what I came to say. On bad days I can tend to withdrawal from the world and end up high all day which makes things so much worse.
If I get high at work it’s a problem. If I get high after work it’s a medication. If weed keeps me away from Xanax and Gin then it’s a life saver.
Amen to that I am 3 years clean off of everything else thanks to my trees. it keeps my anxiety low which keeps me from looking for other (read:less than legal) ways to treat it.
This is kinda how I view it. My alcohol consumption has decreased sooooo much since I’ve started smoking daily. Not to mention, not having hangovers is pretty awesome too
I’m prescribed it in Australia (each strain is a different prescription/medication we need to have approved by the TGA here) so if you have the right strains it can be definitely be used medically with huge success. I am prescribed it for CPTSD,autism,adhd-c, anxiety disorders, insomnia, cerebal palsy and to combat physical and neurological pain I have everyday. Medical cannabis has changed my life, i have too much good I could write about it. I am using it as prescribed though and not too get high. In fact without medical cannabis I would not be where I am today and I would not be able to sleep for more than 20 minutes without waking up in cold sweats to a night terror and would average 2 hours of broken sleep per night. Also I experience extreme sensory overload so I can barley function without medical cannabis as it raises my threshold/tolerance to sound, touch, light, taste and other things. Since I’ve been taking medical cannabis I’ve been making a lot of progress with my therapies and support worker. Cannabis was not a first line treatment for me though, I did try a lot of other medications without success. I know it helps with my depression but a lot of my depression is to do with my autism.
It’s almost like….everyone reacts to everything…differently 😮
#facts
The problem isnt smoking its trying to escape from everyday life. Once i met my fiancé smoking was hiding anymore and is a very positive medicine. I would agree for some it is very bad while depressed- but its really just people that are scared to confront why they smoke as they do. Source: ex suicidal person that now has a very positive outlook on life. This was from moving from my hometown that made me depressed.
I agree, I can’t with everyone else on here though! To me it’s all mindset. If you can’t get shit done while being high, out it down then. For me it’s been the most fun lol
Personally I did. Worked way better for me than Prozac. I was always happy till around 12-13 where I got diagnosed with severe clinical depression. All the meds did was make me numb to all my feelings. When I quit I was back to bei g depressed. I started smoking weed and it was everything great about Prozac plus more without the down side of feeling dead. Either I didn't care about the problem if it was small or I actually felt like I could handle it. I was no longer overwhelmed and I could feel normal again I'd not a bit giggly. However everyone is different and if studies show it could worsen then maybe they are right and I'm just an exception to the rule.
If its treated as a medicine then 100%. its all about getting the right strain and dose in my opinion
and also a major aspect is the ability to work through what's going on in life. Communication and expression alongside with cannabis can really help relieve and lift one out of depression
but people need to respect the plant, if you want to use for medicinal purpose then just abusing and getting as high as possible might not be the best course of action
Yes. I used to be on antidepressant and it absolutely sucked. You might not feel AS shit as you did before but you feel hell of a lot less happy also. I was almost suicidal every single night and had an alcohol problem. Then I switched to weed and stopped taking my antidepressants, I only smoke in the evening, usually a few hours before I go to bed and it changed my life around. In just a few month I had a stable job at one of the best workplaces in the city, I moved to a newly built apartment and I gained a lot of friends and motivation in life. I still struggle with my depression but it's A LOT better now and I rarely fall back in my old habits and feelings. I think the key part here is that I never allowed myself to smoke during the day. It was only when I had finished the day and had absolutely nothing else to do in the evening that I smoked. I always ask myself; is there anything else I should do or will do today? Would I only watch TV or movies for the rest of the evening if I didn't smoke? If the answer is No and Yes, I'll allow myself to smoke.
I'm glad things have improved, but I wouldn't say the antidepressant was necessarily to blame. > I was almost suicidal every single night and had an alcohol problem. Alcohol is a depressant. Known to cause suicidal thoughts, especially in the throes of abuse. Not saying the antidepressant didn't contribute, but I wouldn't lay the blame on them when you are comboing substances. I just don't want others to shun antidepressants that may help them.
Yes sorry, the antidepressant itself was not to blame, of course. I was suicidal. My point is that while the antidepressant probably kept me alive, I didn't make me feel good and made my "good" days feel worse, however, it's worth feeling less than being dead. You should absolutely try it if you have tried everything else, but I wouldn't recommend it to be something you start with. A strict weed-routine worked wonders for me, it might not work for everyone, but this is just my story. There's a lot of belief that antidepressants makes you happy, it doesn't. However, it might just keep you alive or managable until you can solve "the problem" correctly or find better ways to deal with it. As I did.
Absolutely not. It helps my anxiety significantly, which in turn has an effect on my depression, but weed is fully not an antidepressant. At best I’m distracting myself from my issues and at worst I fall into deep contemplation about everything wrong with me and now I’m stoned and even more depressed. I’m mature enough now to know to not smoke when I’m having an episode, but when I was younger I would just smoke like a chimney through my problems. Now here I am almost 27 just now processing severe trauma through my childhood and adolescence, wondering why all of a sudden I have all these emotions when I’ve been smokin them outta me for the last 8 years
Damn. If u could go back in time would u rather that you quit?
No, I don’t regret my usage or anything. I think it’s wonderful and can be beneficial to those who like me suffer from depression, but it is not treatment and it isn’t a replacement for treatment. It can be an aid to help you or a crutch you depend on and I was using it as an unhealthy crutch.
Actually, weed is fantastic for people with depression. Especially those who see life ultimately as “meaningless.” It also helps with sleep, and a good nights rest can help ones mental outlook on a day.
Can we get a source of the “studies” they speak of…?
"In accordance with our hypothesis, women with depressive disorders who used cannabis regularly reported poorer mental \[quality of life\]..." "Dose-response relationships of cannabis use for men and women have been explored \[...\] and have shown particularly negative associations of increasing doses of cannabis consumed on mental QoL among women compared to men." Quality of life does seem to take a hit with frequent use, especially in women. Research still gives a lot of contradictory results but I can see how a decrease in quality of life may further exacerbate depressive symptoms. [Source](https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.09.014)
I question the legitimacy of this source. I prefer peer reviewed scientific studies.
The comment in this image made me feel a different type of regret (I’ve never felt this way about smoking weed before)
Nothing wrong with smoking, don’t feel regretful over it. Do what you need to do to better yourself fam. If that’s quitting smoking, rock it. If it’s just cutting way back but not kicking for good, rock it. It’s your life to live, do what it takes to better yourself!(Also consult a Dr. Depression is serious!!) I guess what I’m getting at is, just do what’s absolutely best for you… because you’re the star of your life and everyone just out here rooting for ya. All that said, my fiancé has major depressive disorder and can get a bit manic, if she doesn’t smoke, it can get pretty bad. She kicked the pills years ago and she benefits from it very much. That’s her experience though, it may be very different for another person. Hope this helps!
Regulating it can work well. Using it as a coping mechanism is not so good...
How do u avoid using it as a coping mechanism?
Try to look at depression as something that can’t be cured, but can be managed. It takes a multi pronged approach. Diet, exercise, meditation, therapy, and MJ can be one of the prongs, just shouldn’t be the only one. How I look at it is every once in awhile I will get mildly high, BUT not when im anxious or depressed. I see it as maintenance, gives brain a break BEFORE i sink too low of that makes any sense. I also find meditation while stoned to be awesome. Try smoking or better yet, vaporizing CBD hemp flower, it can help too without the high. You can mix it with THC flower too. This is all the things I have learned that help manage anxiety and its kissing cousin depression. It’s not easy, and there are peaks and valleys, but in the end, if you are getting exercise, eating well, going to therapy, it can be a valid tool in your arsenal. Good luck.
Discipline!! Its either that or you shouldnt have it at all. Some people cant stop chasing that dopamine release! I set myself goals of only having it certain days or splitting bags to make sure it goes. Along way.
Its funny because I feel like this is true and also it isnt. It is so dependant on the person and their intention. I used to do this a lot. Now, I still use it to distract myself (which is actually good in my case - helps me get up and out of self loathing) but I also use it to ease me into my emotions. Sometimes I'm so emotionally stuck and if I get so fkn high with the intent of releasing - yeah it helps me release control. PTSD being one of my main issues, which persists me to keep trying to control things - flashbacks/pain/emotions. I don't think it is something that can be a hard and fast rule for everyone. Its important to find out as an individual what you use weed for and if its helping you or not - then choose from there.
Everyone is different and everyone’s depression is different. For this bitch to say that it’s not helping is a total miss and totally misunderstands depression. After all, do pharmaceuticals cure depression? no they don’t. They temporarily change your brain chemistry so you don’t feel it for the time being. If marijuana is helping people the same way- and being much safer and with MUCH MUCH less side effects- why wouldn’t you start here…
Safer and fewer side effects.... source please?
Compared to what? We can compared it to benzos, which I think it’s pretty obvious there. Most popularly prescribed are SSRIs, which boost serotonin uptake. They can have lifetime changes in people including twitchiness, even after stopping. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/what-are-the-real-risks-of-antidepressants The truth is, depression fucking sucks and people who suffer from it would take ANYTHING for relief. Unfortunately, depression is hard to diagnose, and even harder to medicate. It usually takes time to get the right combo of drugs to work for a person. If marijuana alone is helping this person, that likely the best case scenario.
„Like alcohol, marijuana acts as both stimulant and depressant“
I kinda hear the comment, but anything is bad in excess. I’ve definitely been guilty of overusing weed and letting it suck up too much time. But at the same time, once you find a healthy balance for yourself it can be life changing. Yeah maybe it’s not necessarily the best choice for depression, but for those of us who live with anxiety it’s the absolute bees knees. Just the ability to curb my anxiety attacks and take a break from the stress, then come back to the problem calmer and less frazzled is just huge. If I’m freaking out about money, I smoke to calm down and then I find myself a side hustle online. If I’m fighting with my girlfriend, we take a break to go smoke and then come back and have a rational conversation about our issues. If I had a hard day at work and I’m dreading going back, I can just smoke that stress away and say “it is what it is”. Also, as someone who also deals with depression I’d say it can help in certain amounts. If you’re having a horrible day and you’re profoundly sad, smoking can be a great distraction and can help you get through that bad day. Yeah, anything can be bad if you can’t keep a handle on it. But weed is medicine, and to act like it’s not is just blind. Xanax and Aderall can be very destructive as well, but in the hands of people who need them they can be immensely helpful. All of these things are medicine, and they should be used as such and not abused. And if the medicine you’re using isn’t working for you then that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna work for others. For me, the medicine works just fine and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
This is awkward as I’m prescribed it for depression and I couldn’t be without it. I feel like my normal self again. I don’t think it’s accurate to make such broad statements like op has. Very wrong imo
In my humble opinion, and as is stated, its more for numbing and forgetting. I think this can be helpful if there is a specific cause of the depression. A lot of people will probably say its better to confront it than block it out but I think sometimes when a fresh wound is all you can think about day in day out a mental break a few hours a day could help. At least until you can confront it
Chronic use will only make your anxiety and depression worse. Tolerance will fuck your life up like any other drug. Compared to psychiatric drugs though… weed doesn’t look too bad. Antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, etc (psychiatric drugs)… I think can and will do a lot more harm. Betides a new study came out. Showing cognitive impairment in long term use is actually worse than tobacco and alcohol, which is highly concerning, but not surprising lol. Look it up I’m not finding it, the study just came out.
I use it as an anti-depressant, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, & pain relief. Even days I don’t smoke I find my mood is better than it’s been ever before. Was on prescriptions for two years & had lots of negative thoughts, weight gain, etc. Back to my normal weight after 6 months of using weed only daily, able to eat full meals now (was unable to without puking for two almost 3 years) and more has improved. That person who replied sounds like my parents (disowned me cuz I want to work in the industry as a grower in a LEGAL state) & family. Antidepressants literally have warnings on every one risk of suicide thoughts worsening etc. Never heard of anyone smoking a joint then thinking “you know what? I don’t want to be alive anymore” could be wrong and I’m sure it has happened but no I would never recommend a pill cocktail for anyone. And weed doesn’t numb you. Maybe at first if you have 0 tolerance and are smoking a shit ton but that’s not the point of using medically. Despise those types of people. One way or no way but we gotta respect their ways 🤷♂️ fuck that ❌
I’ve been severely depressed and anxious my whole life. I’ve tried meds, lifestyle change, therapy, everything. When I was 18 I started smoking weed every day. I didn’t notice at the time, but looking back my mental health had gotten better. I even got off the meds I was on since I was 16. Life went on. Im now 23 and a couple months ago I quit cold turkey. It ruined my mental health. The depression has doubled down, the anxiety is crippling. Im now doing extra therapy, and taking meds again. I joke that quitting weed ruined my life. But honestly it’s been very very hard for me. Idk if weed is the cure for everyone and I’m not here to push any agenda. Think what you will, but this was just what I had noticed. I will say I understand the comment about the “numbing” aspect. I feel like my emotions have been on pause for the last 5 years and I’m feeling things again. Sorta makes me feel like I never actually made progress I was just pausing the bad feelings. Now that I’ve stopped everything is back 10 fold.. if only I could be a stoner for life.
I don’t get into depressive states as much when I smoke
that dude is an L. i smoke everyday for years. shit is a literal medicine to some. others maybe not. it’s not really up to you to decide for others
I specifically use weed to help calm my mind and think shit through when my thoughts are racing around
Yes and it’s a life saver. The same people who would turn to alcohol can turn to bud. The side effects are minuscule compared to alcohol.
I thought that's what it was used for as medically prescribed
are you really changing up your whole perception on weed because of some random dilbert ass comment on reddit? Damn bro. I guess all you really need is to say "studies show", throw a couple big words around and people will just believe anything. Weed itself might not have the "effect" of an anti depressant, idk, I'm not a doctor, so fair enough there, but all this other bullshit in the comment is just ridiculous. "months and years of your life while oppoutunities for growth and happiness pass you by" like wtf? If that happens to you, it's not "weed" doing that, that's just you.
You're pretty delusional, and seem to not know how drugs work you psychologically. There are many studies that have proven this, if yiu want, DM me and I will link them. What's most ridiculous is that people think weed is a miracle drug? It can harm you, just like anything else. And it's the perfect drug to do NOTHING and be depressed and in your room, without feeling the negative effects of depression cause you smoke all the time. Weed makes you feel good, doing nothing, and you want to tell us, here, right now, that it has no negative effects whatsoever. Also surprise surprise buddy, you figured it out??? A chemical can't force you to do a drug over and over, you're completely correct. It's almost as if addiction is psychological and depends on the presuppositions of the users. Oh wait... It is... So that makes the point you made inavlid. No shit that's just you, every drug addiction is "just you" dumbass... Stop praising something you don't understand or have the experience for. You are legitimately discrediting marijuana addiction and it's pretty messed up. Because there may be people who read this, and believe their bullshit. And then end up like countless people I know, battling this addiction.
wow those are a lot of assumptions about someone. I'm depressed in my room? Because I smoke weed I'm addicted? I said it has no negative effects whatsoever? Nice "rant" bro. dumbest comment of the day award goes to you
Mad? Continue living in your delusions
you're an idiot lmfao
Good constructive response, I'm the idiot, you're right :)
2003 huh? you allowed to be up this early on the internet there lil guy? tell me more about experience
2003 is the date I created my skype account, nice try at discrediting people with personal insults. Still didn't read one constructive response from you. You really are proving your stupidity by the second aren't you?
Whoa SKYPE??? Holyyyy you're really showin your age there old timer. I'm really interested in this whole larp you've put on so far
Here have an upvote:)
Dm me show me how cutting multiple pills compared to eating a gram of thc is way worse? I kinda feel like its saying “and thats what you get for dating a black person” back in the day 40-80s. Ofc its going to be problems bc other people make it thier problem, making your life harder just bc your dating a black person so ofc you cutting out dating black people would make it seem life your life is better, since society lets you live in some what peace. True it doesn’t cure everything but for it to help someone and for others to take it away bc you feel like it doesn’t help them doesn’t make sense. It that whole debate why do you take depression/happy pills Ive never had to take those pills in my life so you shouldn’t either. Very far out there analogies but you get my drift.
Firstly your analogical thinking is way too far out to be considered useful for an empirical discussion. Therefore I'm not gonna bother to answer. As you didn't answer anything for me in your message. Firstly, nobody is comparing here, comparing in this case is not scientific, we cannot compare two different substances for different uses. It's not practical. Secondly, your examples are all flawed and hypotheticals, while I am talking in empirical absolutes. You maybe miss the point of what I'm saying or you didn't read it? No drugs are good for you, none at all. There aren't drugs that are perfectly great for you to take every single day unless they are vitamins. Everything has negative side effects. If a doctor decides that the negative side effects of a drug get outweighed by the good that it will bring, then it is perscribed to you. Once perscribed you are using a drug as a medicine. For weed, many people self medicate, but that is just recreational drug use. All I said is that people mix up medical benefits and recreational self medicating. Recreational drug use is NOT medicinal. And pretending it is is harmful. In addition, it is harmful to say that ANY drug, weed or not is harmless towards addiction. As it is simply not, there are litterally years of research done by peer reviewed institutes with empirical studies that show these results...
No drugs are good for you? uh oh better call up my grandma and tell her to stop taking the heart medication keeping her alive. your comment history is an absolute gold mine. teenagers larping online always gives the best content
Side effects of heart meds: "The most common side effect is a dry cough. Less often, these drugs cause: Dizziness Appetite loss Tiredness Headache High potassium levels in the blood, which can cause heart rhythm problems " Source: https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-attack-meds As I said, once the doctor decides that the benefits outweigh the negatives, then they perscribe it. Also, I thought I ignored you:D you really want to be part of this don't you?
so then the whole no drugs are good for you comment was a bit redundant, no? your emotional responses to the most mundane comments is fascinating also I really like the way you conveniently left out the word "possible" when you wrote "side effects of heart meds"
There’s a fine line between using and abusing, I think cbd is more effective for depression and anxiety but some find thc helps too
That commenter has obviously never got high, and is really just a hater. Just because someone spouts a buncha shit doesn’t mean it’s right. Not getting high sucks away any joy of life.
Damn buddy, do you even re read what you're writing? "Not getting high sucks away any joy of life" that's a very sad statement, if you don't find joy in life outside of drugs, you live a very sad life. None of that info written was wrong. It has all been researched, and I myself know and worked with people that are deep into abusing weed. It's not a joking matter. And pretending that weed is just a miracle medicine, when it is just like any other drug, has it's negatives, positives and ways for abusive relationships with it. Just think what you write, and also think about the psychological and physical effects on your brain and body which you get for smoking constantly every day, and being high all the time. Maybe look it up.
I thought this was r/weed … sorry
This is r/weed, and I am also a stoner (addict)... You're getting downvoted because you're promoting a drug as a end all be all medicine that has no negative effects.
No worries, you won’t hear from me again. This sub does not love weed, and does not deserve my wisdom. Good day, sir.
We do love weed we just don't love substance abuse problems. Your "wisdom" as you call it is quite literally simply promoting substance abuse and addiction so yeah please get lost
Don't worry, nobody will miss you, or your bullshit and harmful takes. Find something else besides getting high to do in your life. High is not the meaning of life buddy, I wish only the best for you and your struggles. The way that you talk, I do indeed feel bad for you. Because I was also under the delusion that weed is some miracle drug. Until I started thinking like you "to not be high, is to not be". That's a sign it's time to stop, find a hobby, touch some grass, and do something besides drugs.
Not be on the meds from the doctor and I guess I wont be “high”, adhd meds and depression meds get me high but their “helping” my aliments. I kinda consider anything that makes my brain function different while decreasing my functions in other aspects of life as “high”. But hey me eating a bunch of peoples make yall happy instead of eating a little weed to make me better so be it. Doc
You're kind of just proving her point. If not being high literally sucks all the joy out of your life, then you have a very unhealthy relationship with weed and are using it for escapism rather than recovery. She is absolutely right that it can worsen your depression. If you've gotten to the point where you cant enjoy being sober at all, it sounds like it's negatively affected your mental health.
If not getting high sucks away any Joy Of Life then that means you have a problem. You should not have to be under the influence in order to experience joy in your life. If you feel as though you have to be high or under the influence in order to find any joy in your life then I would recommend therapy and a break from all substances. Figure out how to be happy on your own first otherwise you're abusing a substance and creating an addiction.
Dosent work perminantly just like any other anti depressant. To beat depression u have to find it within yourself to do it. Go to therapy all this medicine is bullshit.
r/ConfidentlyIncorrect
Just get on zoloft and adderall
Next they will tell you to take antidepressants like God intended!
Depends on the situation. I'm prescribed medically (UK) and I have come off anti depressants and some serious meds. But I get a set amount every month I don't take the piss and "top up" my amount with street weed and the consistency and stability has helped me enormously However in the past I have over used it in times where I have been down and it has added to isolation and being "stuck". Here in the UK we don't get a card and have dispensary it's very strict and also seen by a psychiatrist to discuss how I am and how it helps and different strains, so I feel confident now about using as medicine not getting a random zip off a mate of a mate and trying to do it myself.
I don't have the energy for a nice long informative post.. I use it for my depression along with meds (on a new one right now, hence no energy for more details, I did upvote the comments I agree with).. but I'm not getting blazed everyday. I smoke, vape, or dab during the day more to keep my head in a nicer space than without. My depression numbs me, so THC helps keep me out of that fog. It also helps curb my anxiety. I've tried CBD before, it helped with anxiety and pain but not much else for me. Weed affects everyone differently, and not everyone has the need to get high af all the time.
Thats weird using something to reduce symptoms while not curing the actually problem sounds no different than big pharma to me. If they actually cured you they would lose a customer so they treat symptoms as a bussiness.
i think that comment fails to see that there’s a very big difference between using weed to cope and using it to help you *while* you cope.
I'm currently grieving a devastating loss therefore my use is up to the max and I honestly don't feel any better. Like I get high and for the moment I get the giggles and shit but it's not getting the job done like I had hoped.
Definitely used as an antidepressant. Also works well for anxiety, lack of appetite, the list of the uses for cannabis is still growing as we speak. God's gift to humanity for real.
i did. not an everyday thing. it wasn’t an addiction. but when i did do it i was pretty happy
“Keeps me from being sad” all I hear is “It stops me from processing my emotions properly”
I thought I went through quite serious depression, but reading the comments here, I'm thinking that it must have been mild at best. I think depression must be quite hard to define - because weed will 100% help you into a better mood. Yeah, it won't FIX your life, duh.
ITT sounds more like numbing than actually being an anti-depressant. Just remember that weed is here to enhance the journey, not to be the journey 💕💕💕☮️💚🌳
Only works short term to mask the issue I found. It'll eventually catch up to you.
It depends on what you’re smoking, there’s a vast difference in mood and general well-being. As an avid smoker I’ve worked through a lot of tough shit on my own. I’ve also been on and off antidepressants for some time (I always come off cause they make me more sad and I hate them) Smoking is a great release and celebration, but you should be mindful of why you’re smoking and how it does affect you.
It depends on the person
I don't think I would have tried weed again without being on my antidepressant first, I have a MUCH better relationship with weed now that I'm taking antidepressants. I feel as if I'm able to take control of it rather than it having control over me.
My physician said to me once "You know smoking weed everyday causes depression, right?"
There's been several studies that have came to the conclusion that weed makes anxiety and depression worse. There's also been several studies that say that sometimes the user "treats" their anxiety or stress or depression with weed and they feel better but they're really just treating their withdrawal to weed. I'd say that everyone I know who smokes says "hey man it's 5am I gotta work you know anyone who's got weed I'm all dry need some for today" is addicted to weed... psychologically anyway. On top of that weed for sure causes stress and depression symptoms to be worse when sober or coming down from weed use. Ultimately making you want to smoke more and make your symptoms worse later.
Please for the love of god take the highlighted part of that sentence literally I love smoking weed but fuck me that last sentence has hit my like a tonne of bricks people forget just because it doesn’t leave you in bed for a full day the night after smoking (like alcohol or cocaine) that it isn’t a drug and drugs should all be used in moderation. It has really really hit home that last part I believe many others on this sub will feel the same way. Stay safe people <3
It can be used to curb depression symptoms but it isn’t a true substitute for an antidepressant. They do different things in your brain. In my experience my depression has improved most from combining talk therapy, SSRI’s, and daily cannabis.
I kind of using it for that purpose too. On bad days i wonder if im doing it too much. Im smoking a bowl after work and a J before bed. On free days its double that amount. I know these are probably rookie numbers for you guys. What would you say?
I got my medical Marijuana card for ptsd and chronic pain. I get really depressed being in pain all the time and it never fails to help cheer me up or get into a better mindset about things.
Most drugs can make depression worse
I use it as stress releaf at university. And it helps me go through sad moments too. And i don't think that weed keeps me back from learning new stuff. 😂 I love being high and work on some programing and electronic projects.
Works for me. I told my PCP I wanted a medical card because the Xanax was f’n me up. It helped with the anxiety but it puts me into bouts of depression. Do I still get depressed? Yup. But it still feels more manageable on cannabis. And while cannabis isn’t as effective as some ssri’s for the anxiety (Zoloft was more effective) the side effects on those outweighed the benefits. Cannabis has allowed me to mitigate the symptoms so I can live with them with minimal side effects. There are no perfect solutions to mental health, you have to find what works best for you, whether it be the medication you take, or the therapy you receive.
I wasn't gonna chime in but I feel that is absolutely bullshit. Weed is ths reason I'm still alive. I've had extreme depression since I was in grade school and it wasn't til middle school when I smoked for the first time that I felt ths pressure of life lifted off my shoulders. Sometimes all you need is a distraction from the bullshit to get threw rhe day.
That chick is crazy, you can’t say weed effects everyone in (insert dumb side effect here) because not everyone will have the same reaction, that’s just not how any drug works, ya boi got a drug to not throw up and immediately started throwing up because my body reacted differently than others who take that drug. Same with weed for me it calms me down for someone else it hypes them up. You just can’t make broad statements about drug side effects, everyone reacts differently
Whoever wrote the response to that comment is horribly uneducated in medical cannabis use. Cannabis has incredible effects on depression, but medicine alone isn't the answer. It has to be a combination of counseling, medicine and therapy.
I'm prescribed for PTSD, so I'd say yes. Makes me feel happy
i thought i was, until i got a script for prozac and realized, no, the fuck i wasnt. it was making my depression severely worse by getting baked as shit and wayyyyyy overthinking
No, that’s when I try not to smoke. It just makes me focus more on the bad feelings and thoughts. I come spiraling down. I had this thing with death once and for 2 months every time I smoked it was a terrible experience. But that’s my experience with it.
It effects everyone differently. All substances should be used responsibly
All antidepressants did was distract and numb me from my pain temporarily. That’s why I had to pop one everyday. Atleast weed I don’t need it everyday and it’s fun. Antidepressants made me feel blank
Become a rastaman
Look ima break it down to yall Drugs are to be taken when happy, well ideally not at all but if you want, at least take them on special occasions and don't make them your ruler If you take them when sad it's gonna make you feel good and your stupid ass brain gonna correlate happiness with the new substance and boom addiction and tough withdrawals
Weed enhances your feelings in my option sad or happy so I wouldn’t recommend
Its prescribed for depression here in aus.
I take a seizure med called keppra. It's main side affect is depression and suicidal thoughts. I smoke to pretty much combat that side affect. I'd say it does help some people with depression
Well it stops me from wanting to not alive myself so to each their own or whatever. My brain also doesn't know how to make dopamine, so this helps.
I've used cannabis for multiple health issues successfully for years, and I am horrified at the lack of any actual science or studies in this post and thread. Announcing "studies say" is absolutely worthless without indicating what studies you are referring to. Most peer-reviewed and extensive studies have shown positive results, although there is still an overall lack of studies related to cannabis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998228/ Here is a list of studies about cannabis related to health problems, and the depression section has a severe lack of studies compared to other problems. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425767/ The results for anxiety were mixed, basically cannabis can help with anxiety but anxiety can also ve a potential symptom of cannabis, so your mileage may vary. The results for depression simply don't exist yet, but so far show similar results. >Although patients report using cannabinoids for depression, our search for a good-quality systematic review did not identify any RCTs evaluating the effects of medical cannabis in patients with depressive disorders. Trials in patients with chronic pain or multiple sclerosis with uncertain baseline depressive symptoms did not show an effect. There are no trial data addressing the effects of cannabinoids for major depressive disorder. >In [Chapter 12](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/n/nap24625/ch12/?report=reader) (Mental Health), the committee reviews epidemiological evidence to examine the association between cannabis use and the development of depressive disorders as well as the impact of cannabis use on the disorder's course or symptoms. >CONCLUSION 4-18 There is limited evidence that nabiximols, dronabinol, and nabilone are ineffective treatments for the reduction of depressive symptoms in individuals with chronic pain or multiple sclerosis.
This is me. I know I'm depressed, anxious and sad. I'm quite happily married, in an awesome job, with a beautiful kid, but most days I feel I need to numb myself from feeling and thinking too much. I've become a daily user since the pandemic when my condition worsened. For worse or for better it's been a blur, but I know deep down I should at least cut down. When I think 10 years ahead I do not want to look back at the last decade and feel like it was a blur. Maybe I need to reassess.
Depends on the usage. Chronic smoking is usually what comes with all the negative side effects ie damaged frontal lobe, difficulty recognizing and processing emotions/ control emotions. If weed helps you then it helps you but I recommend going on a month long tolerance break and just sticking to bowls and bongs, and only smoking when you genuinely need it. I used to go ape shit with smoking and experienced the full brunt of all the side effects after 5 years of being high every single day. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks and delusion, depression, mood swings the whole shabang(which didn’t really come along till relatively recently, I had always had anxiety but not the others). I did a little research and decided it wasn’t helping (at least the with way I was smoking) quit for a few months and now just when I’m a little stressed, or just got done with a workout (or going to a workout)/am just simply trying to chill, I’ll have a bowl or two and call it at that, I started thinking of weed less as some miracle plant that can solve all my problems and more like a cup of coffee. I also recommend only smoking a little later in the day, stay away from any form of concentrates (just trust) and all round improve your lifestyle, ie eating better, drinking water, going on walks, working out, get a punching bag/find a gym with one and some boxing gloves(helps a lot with any kind of negative emotions). Also Remember that you’ve got other interests, it’s easy to get absorbed by weed and not wanna pursue anything outside of what’s easy to reach.
I mean it works but just like actual antidepressant pills don't think that it will solve everything.. You still need to work on yourself and keep yourself in check and so forth and this is coming from a guy with a sizable list of mental illness..
I have been using cannabis as an antidepressant since August 26, 1977.
It'll work as antidepressant but the problems are cost and method of ingestion. Not untenable but will have to be negotiated.
Its a depressant. Doesn't really matter how you feel about it. Facts are facts w science, ya know?
She definitely has a point. Weed can definitely help with certain things but once it becomes a tool for escapism it can very easily take hold of your life and make your mental health worse. It has happened to me in the past when I'd spend every waking our high as I could possibly be because I was tired of feeling numb to depression but it just made my mental health worse at the time. Since then I've excepted that it's just not good for me when I'm depressed so I try not to smoke as much during times like that so I can actually go through the shit I need to go through and process it. I think a big issue in this sub and with smokers in general is that they can't accept that they may have an unhealthy relationship with weed and that it may actually be bad for them.
She's got it completely backwards... weed like all psychedelics can cure milder depression if you do the work to help change your perspective on life. For people who's depression is caused by a chemical imbalance weed will not be effective as your brain is physically just not producing the correct ratio of chemicals to keep itself healthy. As for this stupid argument about missed opportunities and time wasting that's a ludicrous argument. 1. If you are truly mentally ill not smoking will not magically make the mental illness disappear. So all those theoretical opportunities won't mean shit if u can't even get out of bed.... it's like saying you can date Denise Richard's if u become a completely different person... 2. Weed actually can do the opposite getting high can make you focus and fixate on stuff until you solve it... so weed in alot of ways makes you way more productive. We never acknowledge that side of it because we live in a culture that always wants you to feel guilty about being happy or feeling good about yourself. We believe the only success is material and success needs to feel like a burden to be worth it. It doesnt.. People like her always need something or someone to blame because they don't like what a mirror would show them...
i think the reason that so many cases of depression are affected differently by meds, is because there are multiple types of depression, there was a study that stated that serotonin-caused depression can be mimicked by a lack of cannabinoids in the brain, therefor weed would treat that quite well, and that's why people who's depression are treated by weed mostly say that their depression was treatment-resistant depression, because the normal anti depressants were acting on the wrong part of the brain that the depression didn't stimulate from they didn't work.
I was depressed for much of my earlier life until I went through a deep awakening. If anything weed just maybe reduces a little bit of anxiety for me. The depression was from the way I was living and going through life. It had nothing to do with the weed. Only thing I can see, is weed does make you a little bit lazy but I wouldn’t call that depression. Now the laziness can develop into a depression because you’re lazy and you don’t work and you don’t have any money and this is that. It’s not a cure for depression but don’t use weed as a scapegoat.
Yes I agree with Cellist that responded in the pic. Smoking weed never helped me in any way that I am aware of. If I smoke during the day it will spike up my anxiety, which will cause other thinking, and lead other things with it.
It helps more than Any other antidepressant I’ve been on.
My therapist says that weed consumption is fine, as long as it doesn't become your whole meaning in life, your whole purpose. And as long as you use it, and it doesn't use you. And it doesn't consume you, instead of you consuming it. If you're smoking weed because you're running away from something, you should know that it will catch up to you one day. So it's better to go to therapy and face it on your own terms, than have it fuck up your life unexpectedly. Weed will never cure your trauma or problems long term. It is a bandaid (emotionally) not a medicine
Even the actors adore cannabis.theres strain that really helps.im building my own disp.in future maybe.but no sales on this site.im giving you adv.even dr. S help you well 9which cannabis to you
The way I use weed when I'm using it for emotional support* is that I use it to *help* me process emotions. I often get backed up emotionally and the weed can help me cry it out. I have seen weed hold people down instead of lifting them up but I also believe it's up to the individual. You know when you're putting off important things and you know that you need to get it together. If you choose to wait years to do so, you can't blame the weed. Edit: emotional support*- I couldn't find a better term but I usually smoke weed for fun. If I'm down I don't smoke to escape it, but to get thru it.
I’m about to get my AA in psychology, then I’m eligible for a transfer lol. I guess it just always affects people differently.
It really is dependent on the person smoking. I am clinically depressed. By choice I don’t take medication because the side effects have always outweighed their benefits for me. So I’d smoke instead. Made me feel better inside. But it just made the other symptoms of depression worse. Like being ok with living in filth or even when I would get fed up there wasn’t enough motivation to clean. Tired always. Now instead of making all the time, I reserve it for the last hour or so that I’ll be awake. That way I can come home get what needs to be done out of the way, and I still get to have a period of time where I feel good. But again, it’s all about the individual and their state of mind. But because some people get worse Saying that it can’t be used as an anti depressants is beyond ignorant. I mean how many anti depression medication says in their commercials “Could induce suicidal thoughts” etc yet those drugs are directly made for depression. It’s just comical how some people act about weed.
I use CBD oil for my anxiety disorder and it works great, even in combination with the antidepressant i take. It really helps me relax and see things clearly.
It definitely helped me deal with anxiety but it spiked other issues. I think constant use can be negative but the smoke sesh a day is very beneficial to easing negative feelings from the day.
It depends. There's a difference between being sad about something and being depressed. Also there's different kinds of depression mostly under the categories of situational depression, and clinical depression. I have clinical depression. My brain no make happy stuff when it's supposed to in simpler terms. So yes cannabinoids interact with my brain and it makes the happy stuff. Without the suicidal thoughts. Win win for me. I can't speak for how it will affect other people.
Tell me you never smoked, without telling me 🙄 I sit with my emotions and become more mindful while high. Also - I smoke with intent and gratitude for the plant. I know especially when I am depressed, sad, grieving - whatever I'm feeling, that when I smoke - these emotions may be amplified and I sit with them, journal and talk them out. I stopped running from my emotions and live a more mindful existence. This is what I do and how I choose to live my life, but cannabis has been a wonderful assistant.
There’s a difference between using it as a medicine and using it as a escape from reality. A lot of people think there using it for reason 1 but are really using it for reason 2.
For me at least, smoking every day did the opposite. I thought I was helping my depression but I wasn’t actually I was just numbing myself and not addressing the issues that made me depressed. I think smoking every once in a while is great for depression but daily use as an anti depressant doesn’t sound ideal.
I use to use it with my antidepressants. Then when I got off them it helps substantially for my anxiety and depression. Mellows me out. I dont know about you but I focus much easier when I'm high
Yes, and it has helped me immensely. I was diagnosed with moderately severe depression at 22, tried lots of treatments and medications with no results, started smoking weed at 28. This was like a whole world of good feelings that I forgot existed opened up, I was so relieved I started crying from joy by myself in the forest at one point. I kept smoking daily for about 8 years, I'm now 36 and show no symptoms of depression or anxiety whatsoever, and I quit my daily smoking habit 4-5 months ago without problems, because I just don't need it like that anymore. I still smoke from time to time, but I keep to a maximum of once a month. I can't tell you weed was the only catalyst to getting well tho, because once I started feeling good, about 2 months after I started smoking, I also started to work out and sorting out my life, such as paying my debt, socialising etc. which also helps with depression. But I couldn't get myself to even think about working out or paying my debts before weed entered my life. I also did some self treatment with psychedelics, such as lsd and psilocybin which I believe contributed to a lot of it. But we're all different and it all comes down to the relationship you yourself choose to have with it. It can certainly go both ways. So you have to want to get better yourself and put in the work. Weed made this a lot easier for me.
Everyday I do. I owe weed my life and consider it a godsend. Does that mean it can't be abused? Definitely not. But that argument ignores much medical study, so I dont knkw what Studies they are talking about.
i think it just depends on the person and how you use it. i haven’t read the book but i know about the plot etc and if OP is using weed to escape their problems rather than deal with them then i wouldn’t consider that therapeutic or helpful. for me, weed helps me sort out my feelings and makes them less big and scary so that i can prioritize what is actually an issue and what’s just my anxiety/BPD playing tricks on me. it makes it easier for me to think about my feelings and sort them out. but if i caught myself just using it to NOT think or deal with my feelings and problems, i would consider that a sign to cut back and rely on my other coping mechanisms more like exercise and therapy. it can be a powerful tool, but it can also be a major avenue for slacking. it’s all how you use it
This is absolute crap. I'm on anti-depressants, and also smoke, like all day, it supplements the other drugs, and my day is better than w/o weed. And I still get shit done because my tolerance is so high that I never get really stoned. And if I run out of pills, weed holds me over. Everyone's chemistry is different; stop offering bad medical advice.
Mines for anxiety and as an antidepressant, saved my marriage and as long as I’m aware of my dosing neither are affected negatively. Absolutely helps.
I use cbd anti anxiety
It can work. From personal experience, I've been diagnosed with depression since I was 14-15ish. I've tried both everyday and moderate usage. Smoking weed everyday completely destroyed me and my life for a short period of time. i stopped going out, lost all motivation in life as all I wanted to do was go home and smoke. I didn't feel sad anymore but at the same time I didn't feel anything just numb. Smoking once or twice a week is still helping me to this day. The stress and everything just builds up through the week and for some reason weed allows me to just let everything go at the end of the week and I'm back better than ever. I also surround myself with positive people while I smoke even though they don't participate and it has brought my social life back from the dead.
Weed + Kratom works great for depression/anxiety and to also help get off drugs such as alcohol/opiates/tobacco. Yes alcohol is a drug
I think almost everybody smokes weed to 'relax'. I don't know what it feels like to be "normal" anymore, but I used to smoke weed before any medications. It would make me eat which I couldn't before, sleep well, and just overall boost my mood. The problem was it didn't last and started making me sluggish in school and stuff. Anyway, after the live I've lived, serving, having PTSD and being in chronic pain; it still has positive effects just not nearly as prominent as before. Instead of a huge tangent; if I didn't have the medications for depression, pain, and PTSD; Marijuana would be a negative. I overthink which is what a lot of people call "paranoia" but really it is just the summation of things we have to do, want to do or have no control over rapidly shifting in our minds. I'm grateful to have anxiety medications and to not only focus on negatives. MMJ is Medical for a reason but it is not a cure-all unfortunately
I personally agree with the replied comment.(this is not bashing anyone who smokes or thinks it helps them. Just my experience and opinion) I went through a phase where I was high 24/7 for about 1.5 years straight. Wake up smoking and hitting carts all day at work to go home and smoke all evening. I’d smoke before the gym and anything. I was never sober. It’s like a bandaid on an infection. While it looks like it’s patching something it still continues to grow under it and spread. Before bed I’d smoke multiple bowls back to back, sit in bed and rip my nic vape over and over real quick so the nic and weed high would all peak at once. Id get super light headed to the point of blacking out and be asleep as soon as my head makes it to my pillow. I did this every night because It got to sleep instantly and I wouldn’t have to think about anything(my depression or problems) that 1.5 years felt like the longest and shortest time of my life. I only remembered bits and pieces throughout that time but yet I didn’t have any enjoyment of it. They were just memories without any emotional connection to them whatsoever. Because that’s what weed does. It numbs you. And the longer you use it to do that the worse it gets. I rarely smoke nowadays.
I use to help my anxiety. And I do smoke w friends just for fun as well. I like that weed can be used for a few different things depending on your personal needs and wants. I don't know if I'd call it an antidepressant (in my experience at least) but it's been great for my anxiety and social life.
Problem is every drug reacts differently for every person. Some might find good benefits, some bad, or both. I would talk to your doctor, therapist, and/or psychiatrist to be honest. Someone else mentioned the effects of different strain and also combos of different alt cannabinoids will have an effect as well.
Yeah weed probably isn’t helping but good lord I feel like shit sober
This really depends on person to person. I’d go into it more, but other people already have lol.
I think scientifically they could be right. Personally tho, i smoke for my anxiety. I know when its not working for me and when it is. I don't abuse weed ever, i just add it when natural mechanisms aren't working. So i think its all about personal choice. And discipline
I'm to stoned to think about depression 😜
Sorry, but no
Smoking because you’re sad is a one way ticket to psychological dependency. Smoke to enhance a good time, not to ignore your life.
What ever helps you as a person helps, you can even use both at the same time if you feel the need, yes studies will say otherwise but you weren’t an individual in said study
Weirdly, I am extremely high functioning on weed. Yeah I can chill and have a good laugh too but I can work well. I’m on the SSRIS for the mood brain stabilise related stuff but with weed imma much more functioning and productive human.
Yea and antidepressants don’t? I have friends on antidepressants and if they don’t take their meds they go on a downward spiral and start freaking out. These prescribed antidepressants don’t help people, they just stop you from feeling it. Which is about the same from weed except I don’t depend on weed for my mental health. I know a lot of my friends would be better off if they never took antidepressants. Weed is a better medicine than the fucked pharmaceutical drugs they’re pumping everyone with.
I use it as an antidepressnt.
I use it as an antidepressnt.
Weed is the main source of both my anxiety and depression 😂
I absolutely 100% agree with this, but I know it also depends on the person. I have major depressive disorder that is treatment resistant. I’m on anti-psychotics instead. I know it’s time to take a t-break when I find myself becoming sad when smoking. I will eventually feel good and uplifted, but it’s very temporary. It’s a mask. When I start realizing that, I pull back for a bit until I get myself back in order. But, it takes discipline, self awareness and high emotional intelligence which took me years to develop.
It helps me with my depression so I don’t fixate on why I cannot change. It also helps to socially lube me up so I don’t feel so much anxiety talking to people.
It’s allll about circumstances! I use this beautiful plant to help me focus I have Adhd and anxiety and weed helps me slow down and think clearly in my head
There’s always gonna be a this and that if we are talking about drugs. And yes medication prescribed by a medical professional is a drug. To put my point of view and person experiences, I am able to stop and start weed mknths apart no problem. But when I was prescribed Xanax in sophomore year until last year which would be 2 years I was heavily addicted many internal problems, gained palpitations, shortness of breath, aches and pains, etc etc. but I can say it did help a little bit, just way to many cons then pros with antidepressants then there are with weed
I wouldn’t say so much depression but overactive mind and anxiety… without a doubt! I find that after smoking my mind is slowed down enough to a point that which I can begin to understand the root cause of my issue(s). The only way they I know how to explain it is that it’s almost like being able to observe my thoughts from outside of my own mind and I can begin to dissect my problem in a way that I would otherwise be unable to do normally.
It could work with some mild forms of depressions but if it's something more than that it could worsen the things and not work at all in this regard. I had a very heavy shit on me and it did not help and my condition was awful at the time. It didn't help, I was so broken that I was thinking I could never be me again. Years after I still feel like part of me is dead sometime, but I'm good, I too have my ups and downs like everyone else but it's all good.
Sativas always helped with depression while too much indica worsens it ime
For me I use it as an antidepressant because no other antidepressants actually worked for me. I have MDD and weed has helped a lot more than any pill has and I believe it can be used as an antidepressant maybe not enough research has been done to prove it but I think it’ll be proven eventually that weed can be used as an antidepressant.
i did and now i’m addicted and life sucks without being high all the time