cannabis-induced psychosis?

[Odin]

Great conversational points there Dameon.

I'd like to add that there have been laboratory studies on mice. With how they're development is affected by they're treatment early on in infant development. Mice who were licked and groomed more as infants by they parent mother mouse... later on in life exhibited more energy confidence and lower rates of obesity.

While those who were ignored were most likely to develop nervous disorders, obesity, and abnormal function...

The point is we are all intimately tied in to nature AND nurture....

personally... in the short term... immediate effect on a species... I think nurture is critical.

 

[Dmac]

nice topic. there is a movie called "super high me" that's worth watching if you are interested in this topic.

 

[drewski]

No offense, but I'm curious why you're so sure that the weed brought on your anxiety and depression. It seems equally possible that you developed anxiety and depression for other reasons, and they affected the way weed affects you. Just saying this because approaching those problems with the wrong assumptions about their source could be a big deal in treating them.

Personally, I've been struggling with dysthymia, a constant low level depression, since long before I started smoking weed, and weed has been the only effective treatment.

I don't argue weed is better because it's natural, but most pharmaceuticals used for mental problems are just plain fucked up. More expensive than coke, about as addictive, and misused nearly as much.

Technically, I guess I could say it was LSD and/or mushrooms that brought upon anxiety. I had some very intense and terrifying experiences on both and when I stopped doing those, weed started doing the same thing to me. I never had any anxiety or depression issues whatsoever before I had these small handfuls of bad experiences. It was bizarre because like I said, I was a pothead that could smoke no problem and I had taken mushrooms and LSD many many times until the last few boiled something terrible to the surface. Part of me wants to take a small dose of mushrooms again and attempt to work whatever this is out and hopefully not get burned. Another part of me feels it might throw me into a state of complete and utter insanity, so I'm hesitant to act upon it. So maybe I was susceptible to a mental disorder that I didn't know about and then the rest is history. Who knows...

I disagree with your notion that most pharms used for mental problems are "fucked up". It seems you're just speaking from your own experience or maybe close friends and family. There are alternatives to benzos for anxiety that are non-addictive. Anti-depressants are only prescribed for a certain amount of time and then are stopped. You couldn't even take those recreationally because they take 6-8 weeks before they build up and begin to work for most people. And if you take too much you'll get Serotonin Syndrome and die. And as far as price goes, as long as you have decent insurance (which I am grateful to have) it's definitely cheaper than cocaine. Pharms are certainly misused, but that doesn't mean they don't help the other people who are taking them as their doctor advises them to.

 

[Dameon]

Just because you never had those symptoms before doesn't mean pot is the reason they exist. It's quite likely that they're genetic, and would've started at some point regardless of drug use. How many other life changes occured in the seven years before you got anxious and depressed that could just as easily be blamed?

As far as pharmies go, my opinions are based on both research and observation. Antidepressants are prescribed at record highs, have some pretty serious side effects, including making your problem so much worse you kill yourself, and have a tendency to make you feel like a zombie. The zombie bit from everybody I've ever met that has been prescribed them. Not to say they always do that, but I've met quite a few former zoloft patients and none of them seemed to think it did them any good in the long run.

Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy? Wpuld your insurance cover it? Especially if you think your problems were caused by drugs, I can't see why the solution would be more drugs.

 

[Ristoncor]

nice topic. there is a movie called "super high me" that's worth watching if you are interested in this topic.

Super High Me is a good movie, it doesn't necessarily address marijuana in a lot detail, but it is an entertaining and somewhat informative movie. I think it's on Netflix too.

 

[missguidedcrustpunx]

I've seen Super High Me lol, its pretty good indeed. I'm against super pharm, weed was always what helped.. or so I thought, and still think really.

 

[NomadicHobo]

I have smoked cannabis for 18 years almost every day and the only psychosis I had was when I stopped weed and was smoking chems.
I don't think weed has ever hurt anybody.

 

[Durp]

Idk man. Atleast for me, it turns me from a jittery hyper active manic fuck who is paranoid with nerves trying to tear their way free from my flesh, to a relativly normal dude. I don't need a lot just a little. Last time I stoped smoking I was holding a pen above an enlistment contract..... what a fucking lapse in judgment and I was bone starch sober for months and months at that point....

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Haha. Good post. Pot is odd for me the last few years. Depends on the strain. I was a complete stoner from probably 11th grade to last year. Life can make pot different. I did other drugs which I think had some play on habitual pot smoking. Now I just smoke a hit or two a day, if pot that agrees with me, even still sometimes I won't smoke at all. If I have pot that gives me shitty highs I'll disregard it or smoke wayyyy less. If I'm high on life I tend to smoke less.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Don't smoke pot if your having fight highs. Where you have to remind yourself that your fine and its alrite. Just weird with drugs how you can go from anything goes to thinking about one hit of shitty werd

 

[Deleted member 11443]

Before there's a lot of defending mary jane, let me say that I am loyal to my green, I sweat n bleed THC.. but. I remember one time I read (not that I believe everything I read...) that chronic use of marijuana can cause many mental disorders from depression to schizophrenia. At first I was like hell nah it cures depression! I've done a lot of research on what THC does to your physical brain after long term use... One important thing to know is that you do get physically addicted, it just seems mental. It won't kill ya and prolly won't give ya shakes either even, but after chronic use it stops your brain from producing a satisfaction hormone called anandimide. I'm pretty reliant on it...but I was wondering if anyone has been able to see a change in their mental stability because of it. Ill do psychedelics or a few uppers occasionally but the only thing I regularly use is pot. Nature vs nurture discussion. Please, no comments on how weed is all you need and it grows from the dirt so it can't hurt. Lookin fer perspective...

I've seen a massive difference in my mental stability when I smoke all the time. i have horrible anxiety in general, (parking cars, driving in general, ordering at restaurants, sometimes i get panic attacks out of no where) i can handle my mary jane, but i probably should only smoke it every once in a while to be honest. i smoked everyday for nearly 9 months, and it really put s stress on my mental state. this one night i smoked a bowl before bed and i couldnt get to sleep, my mind began racing and i couldnt stop the incoherent thoughts. suddenly i felt as if i were starting to have a panic attack, and i crawled inside of the fitted sheet i was laying on top of. things got really weird, i saw squiggly patterns in the sheet, so i would close my eyes and i had this scene of men sitting around a table all talking about me in hushed whispers. i was genuinely worried for my sanity at this point, it felt as if i were falling down the rabbit hole and into some weird psychotic meltdown i wasnt prepared for. it felt like someone cut a wire in my noggin, like i broke for a little bit. sometimes ill smoke and start having difficulties controlling my breathing, other times ill have a panic attack later on in the day or following days ill get kind of apathetic or really down on myself. i cant play guitar, or really function in a group setting when im stoned, driving freaks me out even more because the street lines begin the blend together and crossing the street gets weird. since the first 'break', ive had 3 other weird psychotic episodes all after smoking 3 times a week. i feel its all up to the way the individual's brain is hooked up.

 

[East]

I've had a panic attack after smoking but at the time I was very prone to them. Since though, my anxiety has lessened due to lack of external stresses such as daily grinding at jobs I hate and crunching for tests in classes I loathe. I'm happy to say I can enjoy it now and then again with no ill side effects. I will echo what many have said here and that is marijuana tends to magnify your current state of mind. I do believe it does have therapeutic effects for some with mental illnesses as I've seen first hand. Sometimes I still become hyper aware of myself when smoking but in these moments I come to realizations of conflicts in my life and think creatively about ways to solve and address them. The last time I had been at a state of indecision for just shy of a year regarding two people I was interested in romantically. Sober me kept this going for a long time, so long that it was creating a major source of stress in my life. After partaking it become blatantly clear what I should do. Something clicked and I could see everything clearly for what it was. I could see the pain I was experiencing, the pain I was causing, all of it. I took action afterwards and my life improved drastically. This is just one of many many examples in my life where a little marijuana went a long way. It's hard for me to explain why I don't have this kind of foresight or courage when I'm not high, but I wish I did.