RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARIJUANA AND ANXIETY
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Running head: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARIJUANA AND ANXIETY PAPER
The relationship between Marijuana Anxiety Paper
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Abstract
Perhaps, in the last few decades, there has been confusion in understanding the relationship between marijuana and anxiety. Whereas most people believe that marijuana is a causative agent of anxiety, some believe that anxiety is the leading cause of smoking marijuana. In this paper discusses the negative and positive psychological relationships of the two aspects in question. Anxiety as a feeling of fear, while marijuana is defined as a type of a cannabis plant species that contain cannabidiol compound, and it is taken by either smoking, ingesting or sniffing depending on the environment and culture.
Keywords: cannabis, anxiety, stress, cannabidiol
Marijuana is a drug developed from the cannabis plant that is illegal in many states, but efforts are made to legalize due to some important reasons for instance, for medicinal purposes. People have different perceptions and notions concerning marijuana; for example, some people believe that marijuana can cure and treat some of the mental health disorders such as anxiety and to control and manage some of the symptoms of the deadly diseases such as cancer (Villarosa‐Hurlocker et al. 2018).
There are various components of marijuana that are exclusively termed as cannabinoids which normally attach themselves on the different receptors of the brain of the user. Different kinds of marijuana have different levels of components, and so, they may affect people differently. Marijuana and anxiety, therefore, correlate in that cannabidiol can be used to treat anxiety, and as well, it has anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties.
However, many people still do not know the knowledge of taking cannabidiol on its own by extracting it from marijuana and therefore, it reduces ingesting or smoking marijuana. Moreover, THC is a compound that is also found in marijuana responsible for making people feel so high which may later results to the development of some of the symptoms related to anxiety (Liao et al. 2019).
Generally, anxiety is a sense of worry, and it is believed it is normal to experience such feeling in daily life. On the other hand, it may now become abnormal to experience persistent that interferes with normal daily life.
Anxiety is categorized into different ways depending on the clinical manifestations. For instances, there are traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive stress disorder and, panic disorder. Therefore, it is difficult to say that marijuana helps either anxiety or cause because it depends on some of the fundamental factors. It is imperative to consider the environment one is based when using marijuana since it plays a key role in one’s reactions after smoking it. Marijuana can alter your feelings, behavior or the general physical characteristics of the user. Marijuana effects go hand in hand with anxiety; the users may not feel a pleasant or relaxing when us (Sarvet et al. 2018).
Research shows that using marijuana and anxiety for very long can cause problems to the user. This means that marijuana may be relaxing in the short-term, with chronic use; it can cause signs and symptoms of anxiety or can worsen them. It is also capable of creating long-term problems such as cognition issues and memory loss.
Over the last decades, research shows that the acute impacts of smoking marijuana include a sense of deep relaxation. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Panic is also one of the effects of marijuana that the users have to grapple with. Besides, the increased risk of psychotic symptoms is also associated with smoking marijuana. Panic reactions result from excessive use of cannabidiol where someone may start feeling general anxious, which may late develop into full-scale panic. As a result of the panic reaction, the user may feel weird and do not mind losing their lives. When the panic reactions become more severe, hallucinogenic behavior may prevail coupled with harmful behaviors. Studies show that with marijuana and anxiety, the brain is not able to filter particularly filter out some of the stimuli, which can later lead to hallucination and panic (Sarvet et al. 2018).
It is also important to note that the users of marijuana are more likely to experience symptoms of both depression and anxiety since their brain slowly reacts to dopamine. It is always a notion that lowered reaction to dopamine may be the result as to why some people, specifically the addicted users, begin showing signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Most of the people feel profoundly relaxed in both their mind and brain after sniffing, injecting or smoking marijuana. Marijuana can reduce anxiety to some people. Some people can extremely function well when high on marijuana. Consequently, this is the primary reason as to why some people cannot survive without smoking marijuana. Various questions may then arise as far as the relationship between marijuana usage and anxiety is concerned. For instance, is marijuana a proper treatment for anxiety and anxiety disorders? Alternatively, can marijuana cause anxiety when regularly used?
It is of great concern to note that different people smoke marijuana for different personal reasons. On the other hand, some people are aided by marijuana while others are severely harmed. As a result, some people are encompassed with a reduction in anxiety after smoking marijuana while for others, their anxiety increases exponentially. One may experience psychiatric problems because of smoking marijuana while others do not. Therefore, it is very vital to note that the level at which marijuana may affect an individual positively or negatively is much different from the way it may change another individual (Cancilliere et al. 2018).
It is perceived that most of the people make recreational use of marijuana because it makes them feel good. Moreover, marijuana is the most widely used recreational drug in the world (Gunn et al. 2018). People assume that smoking marijuana makes them feel relaxed, calm and less anxious. Indeed, these are the major reasons as to why people smoke marijuana; increased awareness of sensory experiences, enhanced perception of the current activities, increased the salience of stimuli and finally internal sensations of the body.
Many people, especially the teens, frequently subscribe to notions about marijuana functions, perceiving that the drug will not cause damage that is considered as long-term damages (Bravo et al. 2019). Indeed, the use of marijuana to the teens may cause breathing problems, memory difficulty and aggression Studies show that those who continuously use marijuana since their childhood have a high possibility of experiencing a decline in neurological functioning. Parts of a developing brain may be affected by marijuana, and the degree of controlling emotion, cognition, and responses to emotion may adversely reduce. This eventually gets to contribute significantly to their levels of anxiety which they are no longer able to control.
In conclusion, it is therefore very clear that there is a relationship between marijuana usage and anxiety levels as discussed in this paper. It should of great concern that the users of marijuana should be adequately educated on both the negative and positive effects of using marijuana. This will help them in making amicable decisions on their daily usage of marijuana. As a result, the users should not only consider the positive impacts, but also, they should take into consideration the negative effects.
References
Bravo, A. J., Weinstein, A. P., Pearson, M. R., & Protective Strategies Study Team. (2019). The relationship between risk factors and alcohol and marijuana use outcomes among concurrent users: a comprehensive examination of protective behavioral strategies. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 80(1), 102-108.
Cancilliere, M. K., Yusufov, M., & Weyandt, L. (2018). Effects of Co-occurring marijuana use and anxiety on brain structure and functioning: A systematic review of adolescent studies. Journal of Adolescence, 65, 177-188.
Gunn, R. L., Jackson, K. M., Borsari, B., & Metrik, J. (2018). Negative urgency partially accounts for the relationship between major depressive disorder and marijuana problems — borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation, 5(1), 10.
Liao, J. Y., Mooney, L. J., Zhu, Y., Valdez, J., Yoo, C., & Hser, Y. I. (2019). Relationships between marijuana use, severity of marijuana-related problems, and health-related quality of life. Psychiatry research.
Sarvet, A. L., Wall, M. M., Keyes, K. M., Olfson, M., Cerdá, M., & Hasin, D. S. (2018). Self-medication of mood and anxiety disorders with marijuana: Higher in states with medical marijuana laws. Drug and alcohol dependence, 186, 10-15.
Villarosa‐Hurlocker, M. C., Bravo, A. J., Pearson, M. R., Protective Strategies Study Team, Prince, M. A., Madson, M. B., … & Cuttler, C. (2019). The relationship between social anxiety and alcohol and marijuana use outcomes among concurrent users: a motivational model of substance use. Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research.