Does weed help with anxiety?

[Guest]

Doesn't weed make you relaxed and spaced out? So wouldn't that help reduce anxiety? I'd be interested to hear from those who have tried it.

 

[JCP]

Never tried it myself. I've heard it can help with anxiety in the short term. But over time it can actually worsen it, and can even cause paranoia. So I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Guest]

I have to say that weed even increased my anxiety and made me very paranoid. Not relaxing at all for me. I had the feeling, that I was out off my body and looked at myself from 2 meteres apart. I was really scary. As far as I know, it has the ability to trigger a psychosis, which it definitely did with me. I would not recommend it for anxious people or people with mental health issues.

 

[Piper]

I have never tried it, but my daughter in-law has. She smokes marijuana about once a week when her anxiety gets really bad. She always says it calms her and helps her go to sleep when nothing else well.

 

[Guest]

Used to smoke it at school, mostly because the other girls did it. It got me really high, and I really enjoyed that, but to be honest it didn't relax me much, I don't remember it ever having much effect on my anxiety.

 

[Guest]

Sometimes I smoke it after work to unwind, I do feel quite edgy afterwards, though. So if anything it probably increases it.

 

[JCP]

Going to try weed soon with a friend, I'll let you know how I feel. I'm not expecting any anxiety relief though. Trying it just for the experience, but we'll see.

 

[mauricioq]

Depends on the person and the situation. For example, for me I get way more relaxed specially if I'm at home, but sometimes when I smoke outside, with a lot of people around, the high can make more more paranoid and anxious. But that's a rare.

 

[pwarbi]

This is going to be one of the more controversial threads on the forum, as marijuana can cause extreme opinions from different people so I'll just give my take on it and then let the rest of you argue it out.


I've tried marijuana for my anxiety, and for me it does work and in the past when I've been at my worst it's allowed me to continue on with my day without the anxiety taking over. Even just carrying a joint around with me, even if I don't smoke it helped me as I knew in the back of my mind it was there just in case I needed it. Also a good friend of mine had been dealing with anxiety for a number of years and on some days she couldn't even be able to leave the house and it genuinely was making her feel suicidal at the prospect of spending the rest of her life indoors or having to live with the fear of having a panic attack at any time and any place. None of the medication appeared to be working and she genuinely was as low as a person could get.


While I'm not going to say that marijuana saved her life, she did try it and after having only maybe two joints a day for a week, she did actually start to feel better about herself and life in general. Her anxiety was almost zero and she's been smoking it ever since. she is still regulating herself to one joint in the morning and one in the early evening, and she's been doing that for a number of years now and the improvement in her as been remarkable.


That's just my stories on using marijuana and how its helped me and a good friend, but I'm in no way condoning it's use or saying it will have a positive effect on everyone. I see using marijuana as a last resort still and also we mustn't forget that in most parts of the world it IS still illegal and that's something to consider before you decide to try it.

 

[Androlo]

No, it absolutely doesn't. The relaxing and spaced out feeling you get from marijuana is very largely an illusion and is short lived. You also only really get that feeling when you're in a familiar surrounding with people you are comfortable with. If you take yourself out of that situation and put yourself in circumstances which are much more overwhelming in which you can't relax properly, the high from the marijuana can cause you to become very self-conscious, anxious and paranoid. It seems to affect you more. Additionally, in the long-term marijuana exacerbates anxiety and can even be the root cause of anxiety and paranoia. I also speak partly from personal experience. I was a long-term user of marijuana and I did genuinely believe that it was helping my anxiety but after many years I realized that it was actually making it worse and that it was just a temporary illusion, a kind of way of comforting myself but once I stopped and it was out of my system it was only then that I began to realize how it had truly been affecting me. I definitely do not recommend it, especially with the huge increase in the potency of marijuana over the course of the last ten years. Marijuana now has much higher levels of THC than it used to and it's the THC which has been found to be the main cause of paranoia and can even lead to schizophrenia in some cases though quite rare.

 

[justsayyes]

I haven't really tried but i don't think so. I think it will just make you more anxious especially if you're under situation that is out of your comfort zone. After the effects of the weed wears off, then you're on your own and you'll be anxious more than usual. I guess you can turn to music or positive affirmations when you're feeling anxious but they don't' always work.

 

[amonda]

I think smoking marijuana could go one of both ways when it comes to anxiety. On the one hand smoking heightens your senses and makes you sensitive to everything in your environment which could make you paranoid and add to your anxiety but for some, it does offer a calming effect.

 

[DeButters94]

I find that when I smoke it does nothing for my anxiety; if anything it makes it worse. I don't feel relaxed and calm, but disoriented and confused, leading to panic and angry. I've never had a pleasant experience smoking, though I do get some relief in the form of tincture. Maybe you can try other forms of marjiuana?

 

[bachelor56]

I never tried it but I definitely think it depends on the person and they get affected after smoking it. I used to smoke cigarettes a lot but because I am taking wellbutrin for my anxiety I have definitely noticed that I do not have the craving for smoking anymore. Instead I go to the gym and work out or I just chill out at home and watch funny videos or something to relax afterwards.

 

[Alex]

The problem with weed is that in some places it is illegal, and some jobs you will get screened for drugs and you can get sacked if you get tested and they find weed in your system. It can work short term, but the long term effects are more damning. I have a friend who was so hooked on it, he is an addict and I saw him spend every penny on weed and not have food or even heat.


The best thing is to find other ways to help with anxiety, even if it means taking time out for yourself alone. Some days I spend alone and just wander around a bookstore, or goodwill stores.

 

[SirJoe]

I have never smoked marijuana before but what I have heard from friends is that it doesn't really help with their anxiety. It might give them a temporary relief but what it ends up doing is making it more intense after the effects of the marijuana wear off.

 

[morgoodie]

I think it depends on the person and the level of their anxiety. I know that it would help mine sometimes but other times it would make my anxiety worse. I found that it eventually quite making me feel relaxed and I was better off without smoking weed. I think it can really cause you to have more anxiety than what you would have without it but then again it depends on the person.

 

[joshposh]

There are conflicting reports and studies on this subject. I know of people that have smoked marijuana before they get very agitated and paranoid. That is isn't going to help anyone who is already prone to anxiety attacks. On the other hand, some research believe that Cannabis does indeed help you relax and numb you. Which is why Marijuana is prescribed to those with life long pains.


So it's a toss up with everyone here and in the medical field. I think what it really comes down to is the individual. How do they react to Marijuana? Does it amplify their anxiety or the exact opposite. But as always, this is a temporary fix, a numbing agent, and when the effect are gone, then it's back to normal again. Long term suffers have to be cured in the head with self discovery and not dependent on medication for a cure.

 

[cecejailer]

It depends highly on what kind of person you are and what place in your life you're in. I, myself, love weed, and think it helps me one hundred percent. But some people get overly paranoid and that surely doesn't help.


To the people saying weed is addictive and harming: Yes, it can be addictive if you're a weak, dumb person that decides to smoke it like 5 times a day. Even food can be addicting if you don't make good use of it. Weed isn't supposed to be like cigarettes, you don't smoke like 10 a day. I smoke weed once a day, at night, when I'm relaxed and don't have to do anything/go out.


Weed isn't harmful, not physically anyways. If you have a predisposition to disorders like schizophrenia, stay away from it, but there is NO HARM physically. If weed causes any kind of physical harm, it's not because of it, it's because of the smoke. Any kind of smoke you inhale can be harmful. It's not about the weed, but how you consume it. Weed doesn't cause long term memory loss, only short term.


It doesn't kill neurons, by the way. The people who claimed this was true were wrong, because turns out the source of this claim is about an experiment with covering a monkey's nose and mouth with a plastic thingy that forced them to inhale the weed smoke. Thing is, the neurons were dying because it kept the monkeys from effectively breathing oxygen. Not breathing causes neuron death, not weed.

 

[SirJoe]

There are conflicting reports and studies on this subject. I know of people that have smoked marijuana before they get very agitated and paranoid. That is isn't going to help anyone who is already prone to anxiety attacks. On the other hand, some research believe that Cannabis does indeed help you relax and numb you. Which is why Marijuana is prescribed to those with life long pains.
So it's a toss up with everyone here and in the medical field. I think what it really comes down to is the individual. How do they react to Marijuana? Does it amplify their anxiety or the exact opposite. But as always, this is a temporary fix, a numbing agent, and when the effect are gone, then it's back to normal again. Long term suffers have to be cured in the head with self discovery and not dependent on medication for a cure.

That's what I have read and seen. It's not only restricted to the individual but what strain of marijuana he uses and in what state of mind he is when he consumes it. Something else that also plays a very important roll is the way it is consumed. I am 100% in favor of medicinal marijuana but I personally think that it should be prescribed. There have been certain strains that have been developed specifically for medicinal use. If a practitioner feels that marijuana can help a patient with their anxiety, he should be able to prescribe it.