Study reveals increased cannabis use in individuals with depression
December 9, 2019
Science Daily/Wiley
New findings reveal the prevalence of cannabis, or marijuana, use in the United States increased from 2005 to 2017 among persons with and without depression and was approximately twice as common among those with depression in 2017.
The prevalence of cannabis, or marijuana, use in the United States increased from 2005 to 2017 among persons with and without depression and was approximately twice as common among those with depression in 2017. The findings, which are published in Addiction, come from a survey-based study of 728,691 persons aged 12 years or older.
"Perception of great risk associated with regular cannabis use was significantly lower among those with depression in 2017, compared with those without depression, and from 2005 to 2017 the perception of risk declined more rapidly among those with depression. At the same time, the rate of increase in cannabis use has increased more rapidly among those with depression," said corresponding author Renee Goodwin, PhD, MPH, of Columbia University and The City University of New York.
The prevalence of past 30-day cannabis use among those with depression who perceived no risk associated with regular cannabis use was much higher than that among those who perceived significant risk associated with use (38.6% versus 1.6%, respectively).
Certain groups appeared more vulnerable to use. For instance, nearly one third of young adults (29.7%) aged 18-25 with depression reported past 30-day use.
In 2017, the prevalence of past month cannabis use was 18.9% among those with depression and 8.7% among those without depression. Daily cannabis use was common among 6.7% of those with depression and among 2.9% of those without.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191209131956.htm
This is your brain on (legal) cannabis: Researchers seek answers
For those suffering depression or anxiety, using cannabis for relief may not be the long-term answer
December 16, 2016
Science Daily/Colorado State University
For those suffering depression or anxiety, using cannabis for relief may not be the long-term answer.
That's according to new research from a team at Colorado State University seeking scientific clarity on how cannabis -- particularly chronic, heavy use -- affects neurological activity, including the processing of emotions.
Researchers led by Lucy Troup, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, have published a study in PeerJ describing their findings from an in-depth, questionnaire-based analysis of 178 college-aged, legal users of cannabis. Recreational cannabis became legal in Colorado in 2014. Since then, seven other states have enacted legalization for recreational use, while many others allow medical use.
"One thing we wanted to focus on was the significance of Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational cannabis, and its own unique population and use that occurs here," Troup said.
Through the study, which was based solely upon self-reported use of the drug, the researchers sought to draw correlations between depressive or anxious symptoms and cannabis consumption.
They found that those respondents categorized with subclinical depression, who reported using the drug to treat their depressive symptoms, scored lower on their anxiety symptoms than on their depressive symptoms - so, they were actually more depressed than they were anxious. The same was true for self-reported anxiety sufferers: they were found to be more anxious than they were depressed.
In other words, "if they were using cannabis for self-medication, it wasn't doing what they thought it was doing," explained co-author Jacob Braunwalder, a recently graduated student researcher in Troup's lab.
Study co-author Jeremy Andrzejewski led the development of the questionnaire, called R-CUE (Recreational Cannabis Use Evaluation), that took a deep dive into users' habits, including questions about whether users smoked the drug, or consumed stronger products like hash oils or edibles. The researchers are particularly motivated to study biochemical and neurological reactions from higher-tetrahydracannabinol (THC) products available in the legal market, which can be up to 80-90 percent THC.
The researchers are quick to point out that their analysis does not say that cannabis causes depression or anxiety, nor that it cures it. But it underscores the need for further study around how the brain is affected by the drug, in light of legalization, and by some accounts, more widespread use in Colorado since legalization.
For example, said Andrzejewski, "there is a common perception that cannabis relieves anxiety." Yet research has yet to support this claim fully, he said.
Graduate student and co-author Robert Torrence pointed to past research that shows that chronic use reduces naturally occurring endocannabinoids in the brain, which are known to play a role physiological processes including mood and memory.
"There is research to suggest that cannabis can help with anxiety and depression in the beginning, but it has the reverse effect later on," said Torrence, a U.S. Army veteran who is especially interested in studying cannabis' effectiveness in treating post-traumatic stress disorders.
Due to the federal government's stringent regulations around researching cannabis, which is a schedule I drug, the general public's perception of how it affects the brain is often based in "mythos," Braunwalder said. "We want to add more information to the entire body of research."
There are currently no CSU research labs that administer cannabis to study participants, as administration of the drug for research would require special licensing and security.
Moving forward, the researchers want to refine their results and concentrate on respondents' level and length of exposure to legally available high-THC products like concentrates and hash oils, around which there has been little scientific inquiry.
"It is important not to demonize cannabis, but also not to glorify it," Troup said. "What we want to do is study it, and understand what it does. That's what drives us."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161216115555.htm
How cannabis use affects people with Bipolar Disorder
Science Daily/March 13, 2015
Lancaster University
The first study to examine the use of cannabis in the context of daily life among people with Bipolar Disorder has shown how the drug is linked to increases in both manic and depressive symptoms.
Around 2% of the UK population has Bipolar Disorder, with up to 60% using cannabis at some point in their lives, but research in this area is limited and reasons for high levels of use are unclear.
Dr Elizabeth Tyler of the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University led the study published in PLOS ONE with Professor Steven Jones and colleagues from the University of Manchester, Professor Christine Barrowclough, Nancy Black and Lesley-Anne Carter.
She said: "One theory that is used to explain high levels of drug use is that people use cannabis to self-medicate their symptoms of bipolar disorder. " The study looked at people diagnosed with bipolar disorder but who were not experiencing a depressive or manic episode during the six days the research was carried out.
Each participant completed a paper diary about their emotional state and drug use at several random points daily over a period of week. This enabled people to log their daily experiences in the moment before they forgot how they were feeling.
An individual with experience of bipolar disorder and cannabis use commented: "I do smoke a small amount to lift my mood and make myself slightly manic but it also lifts my mood and switches me into a different mind-set."
"I do not use weed to manage depression as it can make it worse, making me anxious and paranoid."
"I have found though that if I have smoked more excessively it can make me feel depressed for days afterwards."
The study found that the odds of using cannabis increased when individuals were in a good mood. Cannabis use was also associated with an increase in positive mood, manic symptoms and paradoxically an increase in depressive symptoms, but not in the same individuals.
Dr Tyler said: "The findings suggest that cannabis is not being used to self-medicate small changes in symptoms within the context of daily life. However, cannabis use itself may be associated with both positive and negative emotional states. We need to find out whether these relationships play out in the longer term as this may have an impact on a person's course of bipolar disorder."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150313130855.htm
Cannabis: Potent Anti-depressant In Low Doses, Worsens Depression at High Doses
October 24, 2007
Science Daily/McGill University
A new neurobiological study has found that a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is an effective anti-depressant at low doses. However, at higher doses, the effect reverses itself and can actually worsen depression and other psychiatric conditions like psychosis.
It has been known for many years that depletion of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain leads to depression, so SSRI-class anti-depressants like Prozac and Celexa work by enhancing the available concentration of serotonin in the brain. However, this study offers the first evidence that cannabis can also increase serotonin, at least at lower doses.
Laboratory animals were injected with the synthetic cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 and then tested with the Forced Swim test -- a test to measure "depression" in animals; the researchers observed an antidepressant effect of cannabinoids paralleled by an increased activity in the neurons that produce serotonin. However, increasing the cannabinoid dose beyond a set point completely undid the benefits, said Dr. Gabriella Gobbi of McGill University.
"Low doses had a potent anti-depressant effect, but when we increased the dose, the serotonin in the rats' brains actually dropped below the level of those in the control group. So we actually demonstrated a double effect: At low doses it increases serotonin, but at higher doses the effect is devastating, completely reversed."
The anti-depressant and intoxicating effects of cannabis are due to its chemical similarity to natural substances in the brain known as "endo-cannabinoids," which are released under conditions of high stress or pain, explained Dr. Gobbi. They interact with the brain through structures called cannabinoid CB1 receptors. This study demonstrates for the first time that these receptors have a direct effect on the cells producing serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that regulates the mood.
Dr. Gobbi and her colleagues were prompted to explore cannabis' potential as an anti-depressant through anecdotal clinical evidence, she said. "As a psychiatrist, I noticed that several of my patients suffering from depression used to smoke cannabis. And in the scientific literature, we had some evidence that people treated with cannabis for multiple sclerosis or AIDS showed a big improvement in mood disorders. But there were no laboratory studies demonstrating the anti-depressant mechanism of action of cannabis."
Because controlling the dosage of natural cannabis is difficult -- particularly when it is smoked in the form of marijuana joints -- there are perils associated with using it directly as an anti-depressant.
"Excessive cannabis use in people with depression poses high risk of psychosis," said Dr. Gobbi. Instead, she and her colleagues are focusing their research on a new class of drugs which enhance the effects of the brain's natural endo-cannabinoids.
"We know that it's entirely possible to produce drugs which will enhance endo-cannabinoids for the treatment of pain, depression and anxiety," she said.
The study, published in the October 24 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, was led by Dr. Gabriella Gobbi of McGill University and Le Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin of Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, affiliated with l'Université de Montréal. First author is Dr. Gobbi's McGill PhD student Francis Bambico, along with Noam Katz and the late Dr. Guy Debonnel* of McGill's Department of Psychiatry.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.htm
Scientific guidelines for using cannabis to treat stress, anxiety and depression
April 19, 2018
Science Daily/Washington State University
In a first-of-a-kind study, Washington State University scientists examined how peoples' self-reported levels of stress, anxiety and depression were affected by smoking different strains and quantities of cannabis at home.
Their work, published this month in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggests smoking cannabis can significantly reduce short-term levels of depression, anxiety, and stress but may contribute to worse overall feelings of depression over time.
It marks one of the first attempts by U.S. scientists to assess how cannabis with varying concentrations of the chemical compounds tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) affect medicinal cannabis users' feelings of wellbeing when smoked outside of a laboratory.
"Existing research on the effects of cannabis on depression, anxiety and stress are very rare and have almost exclusively been done with orally administered THC pills in a laboratory," said Carrie Cuttler, clinical assistant professor of psychology at WSU and lead author of the study. "What is unique about our study is that we looked at actual inhaled cannabis by medical marijuana patients who were using it in the comfort of their own homes as opposed to a laboratory."
For example, the WSU research team found that one puff of cannabis high in CBD and low in THC was optimal for reducing symptoms of depression, two puffs of any type of cannabis was sufficient to reduce symptoms of anxiety, while 10 or more puffs of cannabis high in CBD and high in THC produced the largest reductions in stress.
"A lot of consumers seem to be under the false assumption that more THC is always better," Cuttler said. "Our study shows that CBD is also a very important ingredient in cannabis and may augment some of the positive effects of THC."
The researchers also found that while both sexes reported decreases in all three symptoms after using cannabis, women reported a significantly greater reduction in anxiety following cannabis use.
Data for the study were taken from the trademarked app Strainprint, which provides medical cannabis users a means of tracking how different doses and types of cannabis affect a wide variety of symptoms of wellbeing.
Strainprint users rate the symptoms they are experiencing before using cannabis on a scale of 1-10 and then input information about the type of cannabis they are using. Twenty minutes after smoking, they are prompted to report how many puffs they took and to rerate the severity of their symptoms.
Cuttler and WSU colleagues Alexander Spradlin and Ryan McLaughlin used a form of statistical analysis called multilevel modeling to analyze around 12,000 anonymous Strainprint entries for depression, anxiety and stress. The researchers did not receive any of the Strainprint users personally identifying information for their work.
"This is to my knowledge one of the first scientific studies to provide guidance on the strains and quantities of cannabis people should be seeking out for reducing stress, anxiety and depression," Cuttler said. "Currently, medical and recreational cannabis users rely on the advice of bud tenders whose recommendations are based off of anecdotal not scientific evidence."
The study is among several cannabis-related research projects currently underway at WSU, all of which are consistent with federal law and many of which are funded with Washington state cannabis taxes and liquor license fees.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419100110.htm
Possible use of medical marijuana for depression
February 4, 2015
Science Daily/University at Buffalo
Scientists at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) are studying chronic stress and depression, with a focus on endocannabinoids, which are brain chemicals similar to substances in marijuana.
The findings raise the possibility that components of marijuana may be useful in reducing depression that results from chronic stress.
"In the animal models we studied, we saw that chronic stress reduced the production of endocannabinoids, leading to depression-like behavior," says RIA senior research scientist Samir Haj-Dahmane, PhD.
Endocannabinoids are naturally produced chemical compounds in the brain that affect motor control, cognition, emotions and behavior. As the name suggests, they are similar to the chemicals found in marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and its active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
"Chronic stress is one of the major causes of depression," Haj-Dahmane says. "Using compounds derived from cannabis -- marijuana -- to restore normal endocannabinoid function could potentially help stabilize moods and ease depression."
He cautions this is preliminary research. "Our research thus far has used animal models; there is still a long way to go before we know whether this can be effective in humans," he says. "However, we have seen that some people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder have reported relief using marijuana."
Haj-Dahmane says the next step in the research is to see if using a marijuana extract, cannabidiol (CBD), restores normal behaviors in the animals without leading to dependence on the drug.
The study, co-authored by Roh-Yu Shen, PhD, RIA senior research scientist, was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. It appeared in the fall issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Medical marijuana remains a controversial issue. Although 23 states and the District of Columbia have approved its use to provide relief for health problems such as glaucoma, nerve pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and nausea from chemotherapy, some experts are concerned that medical use of marijuana may normalize attitudes about the drug and lead people -- especially youth -- to believe it is completely safe.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150204163012.htm