Depression can be a devastating condition, one that has a person laying in bed for months or longer and feeling as if they just aren’t what they should be, or on the other side of the spectrum, bouncing off the walls with angst.
It’s saddening, but the NIMH estimates that a whopping 6.8 percent of the US population experienced depression in 2012 alone. It is also approximated that 1 in 8 middle-age women suffer from depression, putting them at the highest population considering age and gender in the US.
Prescription drugs and lifestyle changes are the immediate go-tos in terms of advice given to the depressed. But drugs for depression have negative effects – many of them boast suicide as a “side effect” of the medication. Plus, 33 percent of those depressed and medicated say the medication doesn’t even work. And lifestyle changes are easier said than done when you’re down. If motivation and self-worth are low, so are the chances of making it to yoga or making time to mediate.
Now there is growing evidence that points to CBD as a treatment, which is wonderful news for anyone suffering from depression, as it has no side effects, is impossible to overdose on and comes in many different forms in which to ingest.
THC is the psychoactive component to the cannabis plant, while CBD does not get you high, eliminating the risk of anxiety or increased depression. CBD does, however, fit into the CB1 receptors in our body’s and brain’s endocannabinoid systems and goes to work. CBD calms the mind without making it foggy, it eases aches and pains, which can easily come from too much rest, and it soothes the nerves so that a positive mind space can surface.
There is a rapidly growing body of evidence that CBD is indeed the proper treatment for depression. Between side effects of taking medication to the bed rest that can happen when not treated at all, it’s no wonder that a substance that is as tame to the psyche as it is a warrior in the body is rising to the top.
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In 2010 there was an experiment with mice that showed that CBD did not only show immediate results in the mice, but their hyperactivity (another symptom of depression prevalent in humans) ceased in 30 minutes. In 2014 another study was conducted with a variety of animals who were put through stressful situations. The end result was that the animals who took CBD had much less stressful experiences than those that did not.
While it’s not advised to just give up one’s meds, adding CBD to the regimen and then seeing where it goes from there while working with a doctor or psychotherapist who’s down with CBD seem like a very comforting moves to make.
