Bipolar disorder is defined by the unpredictable outbursts of both depression and mania in patients. Depressive symptoms of bipolar disorder include physical fatigue, guilty feelings, suicidal fantasies, excessive sadness, disrupted concentration, life ambivalence, and sleep disorders. On another note, mania symptoms of bipolar disorder include mood elevation, addictive behavior, rapid thoughts, sleep disorders, uncontrolled talking, reckless sexuality, impulsiveness, and psychosis. Looking the aforementioned bipolar disorder symptoms of both mania and depression, it’s evident that the mental illness is difficult to diagnose and treat. Mainly because, the disorder exhibits symptomatically in an array of contradictory fashions. A large challenge being pre sentenced here, for example, is how can a doctor treat energetic outbursts and fatigue with the same medicine?
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When considering medical marijuana use in treating bipolar disorder, there are a variety of considerations to be made. First of all, marijuana strains, phenotypes, and products have drastically different psychoactive effects. To illustrate, indicas and sativas, THC products and CBD products, all induce disparate mental states. Secondly, cannabis use, as seen with a majority of drugs, is a radically subjective affair. Point being, every marijuana user experiences the drug differently. Finally, as the disorder presents such a vast assortment of symptoms, which are often times conflicting with one another, it’s difficult to predict how marijuana will effect bipolar outbursts.
As many know, there is a universal lack of credible medical research into the benefits of medical marijuana on a number of fronts—this notion is exemplified when it comes to bipolar disorder. As a result, research findings into bipolar disorder in conjunction with cannabis use present a mish-mosh of contradictory “facts” and personal accounts.
A majority of mainstream medical publications discourage marijuana consumption in bipolar patients. For example, research shows that cannabis use can reduce the “psychotic threshold” in bipolar cases; this means that the psychoactive effects in cannabis can potentially trigger a psychotic episode in situations when one normally wouldn’t manifest. Also, there are serious speculations into the idea that marijuana consumption can amplify the debilitating nature of bipolar symptoms. However, none of these theories is accepted as a worldwide dictum concerning bipolar disorder.
Perhaps the most promising element of medical marijuana treatment regarding bipolar disorder has to do with CBD. Because, CBD does not have the psychoactive effects that THC supplies. As a result, CBD is much less likely to trigger, or intensify, a patient’s bipolar disorder. Moreover, CBD has been researched relatively well as a mood stabilizing drug—and shown some promising results. To illustrate, it is proven that CBD escalates the amount of serotonin produced in one’s brain, without the ill-faded side-effects present in a majority of pharmaceutical drugs that accomplish a similar feat. As a result, the mood stabilizing, serotonin inhibiting properties of CBD warrant more research into the compound’s ability to stabilize, as well as lessen, bipolar outbursts.
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All these considered, if one is contemplating the use of medical marijuana in treatment of bipolar disorder, they should carefully way their own psychological thresholds and tendencies—especially related to drug use—against the potential benefits of the herb. Moreover, a doctor’s advice and extremely careful planning must be implemented.
