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marijuana and depression

In my experience, cannabis does wonders for the emotional aspects of depression (suicidal thoughts, extreme sad feelings, hopelessness, etc.) and it lasts for several days, not just the duration of the high. However, it doesn't really do anything for the apathetic aspects of depression (not wanting to go out, etc.) Sure is better than nothing though. Also, I only light up if I'm in a neutral or good mood. I have absolutely no desire to light up if I'm in a bad mood.
 
try taking a break till your urine's clean. log your progress or lack of progress and go from there i.e. if you continue to be depressed then it's not the marijuana's fault or if you aren't then it is. that's pretty much the best you can do to figure it out for sure.
 
man ive smoked for 2 years now t hrouh depression an everything.
Im not depressed when im high or when i have weed, but when imout i literally have nothing. I couldnt find any last night, and i fucking cried last night ant this mornign...not alot just for like a minute or to.

Honestly, i jsut feel like without weed, i feel like im going insane.
Shit takes on a different hue and feel..it fucking sucks.
Maybe i went insane a while back but the antipsychotic properties of weed made me feel sane.
Idk but if i dont find it soon, next stop is pills and liquor...fuck prohibition and shitty dealers
 
drzoidbergphd said:
try taking a break till your urine's clean. log your progress or lack of progress and go from there i.e. if you continue to be depressed then it's not the marijuana's fault or if you aren't then it is. that's pretty much the best you can do to figure it out for sure.
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Not exactly a double-blind study though.

A while ago a psychiatrist (court-ordered) told me bipolar patients often self-treat with cannabis as it seems to level out some of the symptoms. I dismissed the idea that I was bipolar but in the year of probation that ensued I experienced some evidence that she may have been correct to a degree. My cannabis habit follows a loose 'dosing' regimen (rigidly self-titrated) and the ritual proceeds almost like a therapy session, with loud music, self-coaching, and objective activity (typically studying or playing music), usually in that order. The periods of my life where Im able to do this correlate with increased productivity, socialization, feelings of well-being, and self-control relative to periods of non-use. During non-use periods instances of the above seem very fleeting and difficult to reliably cultivate before giving way to withdrawal, disinterest, and feeling overworked regardless of actual workload in spite of good diet and exercise.
 
Liric said:
Not exactly a double-blind study though.

A while ago a psychiatrist (court-ordered) told me bipolar patients often self-treat with cannabis as it seems to level out some of the symptoms. I dismissed the idea that I was bipolar but in the year of probation that ensued I experienced some evidence that she may have been correct to a degree. My cannabis habit follows a loose 'dosing' regimen (rigidly self-titrated) and the ritual proceeds almost like a therapy session, with loud music, self-coaching, and objective activity (typically studying or playing music), usually in that order. The periods of my life where Im able to do this correlate with increased productivity, socialization, feelings of well-being, and self-control relative to periods of non-use. During non-use periods instances of the above seem very fleeting and difficult to reliably cultivate before giving way to withdrawal, disinterest, and feeling overworked regardless of actual workload in spite of good diet and exercise.
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that does not sound like mental illness at all. it sounds more like dependence, in my opinion
 
bufotenin buddy said:
do you think my regular use of marijuana adds to my depression?
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It could, how often do you smoke? Do you smoke to get high or to escape? Are you majorly depressed right now?

Self medicating depression with herb is not a good thing. Are you talking to anyone about being depressed?
 
I think marijuana can exacerbate depression.

I've been smoking for 14+ years and have noticed that a healthy diet does wonders (even with daily smoking) make sure you keep those neurochemicals in check and balance - getting enough sleep, a proper nutritious diet (free from empty calories and constant junk food)

I know that marijuana can cause apathy. It can also cause depression.

It also changes people's personality and behaviour with long-term use. So make sure that if you're experiencing the blues to take a break from it every now and then. Because smoking weed is not essential to living. It can help alleviate boredom - though if you use it for this purpose you'll find that you'll become dependant upon it. Find other ways to alleviate boredom (there's many things you can do)

It's easy to turn a blind eye to many things when you're stoned. Don't fall into the same trap as I did.
 
I seen someone spark it up multiple times a day, multiple times a week, to get rid of his panic attacks, schizophrenia, and shit and I think he was in depression after doing it so much. I mean yeah it helped things but covering those things up it made his anger so much worse as well, we fought everytime we talked and eventually drifted apart.
 
i feel like for me, it does.
today is my first day of not smoking.

Im going to see if my depression changes and if it doesent, ill be back chiefing.
 
I have been smoking for 15 years and suffered with depression for about 3 of them years.

At the time I believed my marijuana use to be a big part of the problem, and at the very least enhancing my depression.

I quit smoking pot for 3 months, and basically refused the medication offered to me by my good Dr, and nothing changed. If anything, I felt worse.

The Dr was only concerned with shoving pills down my throat and giving me a new addiction to a new chemical and the false sense of being OK.

In the end I began smoking pot again, and I saved money, and went to a Therapist.

I have been smoking pot since, and I do want to quit, but it is certainly not because of depression.

Pot can not cause you to be depressed, in my honest opinion, and you need to find the real underlying cause of that depression and work it out. I guess Pot could make you too lazy to do so, therefore making things seem worse.
 
No.. Marijuana expands the material it is presented with, aka your brain. If your brain is full of depressive, moody thoughts then yeah. Smoke when you are feeling more optimistic and see if it doesnt expand these feelings of elation.
 
Yes it definitely can 2 years ago I started smoking weed all day everyday to escape my problems. I would smoke by myself a lot of the times because I would just be at home wanting to be high. By the time I would get burned out I would get even more depressed and think about how shitty my life was and smoked some more. That is really dangerous behavior you should never turn to drugs to escape your problems because your life will spiral down from there. But anyways I would suggest stopping for at least a while or smoking in moderation. After I realized how bad it had gotten I quit smoking for 2 years and now that I do, I do it in moderation. Good luck I really nope this helped because my heart goes out to you.
 
Lol the discussion of marijuana and depression is depressing. Shit won't really make you depressed, it can actually do the opposite... Especially while you're on it. When you're on the stuff, you're numbed of all emotions that you wana block out. You're only feeling what you WANT to feel, not what you were previously feeling. It can bring you up when you're down, but if you're weak it can bring you down. If you're not strong and you're vulnerable to depression, staying away from pot would probably be the better choice.

But weed can actually impact neurotransmitters and leave you with an imbalance, an imbalance that isn't all in your head. Overdo it to the max, and you can expect it to start fucking with your mental health. Don't fuck up your mental health cause you can't stay away from drugs, that's just stupid.
 
bufotenin buddy said:
do you think my regular use of marijuana adds to my depression?
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It all depends how it makes you feel, man. If it makes you feel better about yourself or whatever it is your depressed about in the long run, then you can stay on it to aid you with your symptoms. If it only makes you feel ok in the SHORT term then get off it.

You gotta do what's best for you in the long run, that's what counts.
 
I would think that regular use of cannabis would lead to more of a chance of depression. I've got some mental health issues (borderline probably being the biggest one) and I smoke everyday, and I often wonder if that's why I tend to be depressed so often. I'm gonna drop my usage down soon though, to see if that could be a factor. Judging by the replies to this, I'm thinking this is a YMMV type of situation.
 
Weed may shoot you up while you're under the influence of it, but can leave you feeling drained and out of it.

Vulnerable to depression? Don't make weed your priority.
 
zyNc973 said:
If you're not strong and you're vulnerable to depression, staying away from pot would probably be the better choice.
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You really think depression has anything to do with mental strength? Are you the kind of asshole who thinks depression is just an issue of willpower?
 
Marijuana actually is the best anti-depressant I ever had. After I smoke my mood is so elevated it's unbelievable, no matter what strain I smoke. Right now I'm on 40 mg's of some celexa and it does nothing to help with my depression. I wish I had medical marijuana in my state but for now I'll have to just get my weed the old school way... My mother doesn't like me smoking but she does notice it helps me. Yet it's different with everyone. Also the certain strain can effect your mood in either a negative or positive way.
 
Really depends on how much you are using it. If you are smoking throughout the whole day then I would suggest you try and cut your usage to only at night.

Eat healthy and exercise
 
I had an epiphany a week ago about my pot usage that might help some of you. I've been an every day (frequentley all day) smoker for around 14 years now. I know I was depressed when I started smoking weed, but it took it all away for a solid four or five years. It was a good routine till some shit happened, and then I relaized I was still depressed and had just been masking it. So... I'm 21-22 on medication and still a pot head.
I thought that medication would solve my problems, after all I was depressed before I started smoking, now I'm on meds for that, so I kept right on blazing. To make a long story short, I'm 30 now, and still a chronic pot smoker and still suffer from really serious depression (I'm on meds, success right now with WellButrin).
My point is that through all the years I used pot to turn off my brain, and to turn down the volume on those unsettling thoughts (You're smoking your life away, you're becoming a loser,You're losing your friends etc,etc), that depression has a way of never letting you forget.
Recently I went through some more shit, and discovered that no matter how much I smoke, that voice (not literally a voice, I'm not schizo), just doesn't want to turn down anymore. And once I've smoked I lose a good part of any rational analytical ability I might have had regarding my thoughts. It's like when I'm stoned my thoughts and emotions affect me on a much deeper level, and I have much less control over them. So... I smoke, feel good for five minutes, and then literally within another five, I want to get stoned again.
But it doesn't make a difference anymore, because I've discovered you can only turn yourself off to your real problems with drugs for so long, before you have to increase the dose for it to be effective, and you can keep increasing for awhile, and deal with the issue that way, But a drug like pot is only going to work for so long, For me I've basically got the choice to switch to a stronger drug to deal with the pain in my life, Or try the one thing I haven't made an effort at to cure my depression; which is quitting weed, Because it's hard, and it's scary to lose a big part of my identity (even though I don't want it to be anymore), and it's frightening to think about if it's not pot causing my depression, and I'm just going to have to deal with being fucked in the head for the rest of my life.
So today is day one of what is going to be a one month attempt at sobriety, I'm 30, unemployed, have no friends, had a knee surgery 6 weeks ago that's going to keep me off work for another two months, haven't gotten laid in a year, and pot feels like the one thing that's bringing me happiness in my life right now, and that seems a little wrong to me.
So good luck to everyone who's dealing with depression, I hope you find what works for you, and I hope at least a few of you stoners read this whole thing!
 
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