Depression
Depression is a complex disease that has surged in recent decades. The mental health charity and campaign group Mind says that depression ranges from low spirits ‘that makes everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile’ to life-threatening suicidal thoughts. The many faces of depression are quoted by an anonymous sufferer on Mind’s website: ‘Sometimes it feels like a black hole, but sometimes it feels like I need to cry and scream and kick and shout. Sometimes I go quiet and lock myself in my room and sometimes I have to be doing something at all times of the day to distract myself.’
It is believed that the depression currently affects an estimated 300 million people across the world and that the collective grief following the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic will continue to send numbers surging. A major study into the mental health impact of the pandemic, conducted with King’s College London, surveyed more than 3,000 adults about their mental health during lockdown restrictions and it found that in the early stages of lockdown 57% reported symptoms of anxiety, while 64% described common signs of depression. Women, young people, and those in high-risk categories for Covid-19 were most affected, the researchers found
What Causes Depression?
Depression isn’t as straightforward as having a chemical imbalance, although research has found that depressed people have a reduction in certain neurotransmitters, specifically serotonin, ‘the happy chemical’, and norepinephrine, which regulates arousal and mood, specifically stress, among other functions. There are many possible causes of depression, including genetic vulnerability and family history. It can be related to other mental health issues like anxiety, eating problems, and PTSD or to medications, a poor diet, and a lack of sleep and exercise. Stressful life events like childhood trauma, financial problems, bereavement, or chronic pain or illness can trigger an excessive response from the immune system, causing inflammation in the brain, which in turn causes depression. It’s also believed that several of these factors can interact and create a depressive episode. Modern life is believed to be driving the numbers of depressed young people and new data released by The Office for National Statistics says that excessive social media use is to blame for a rise in depression in young UK women aged 16-24.
In a paper titled Depression as a disease of modernity: explanations for increasing prevalence, the researchers state how drastic changes in daily life over the past century are fuelling the growing burden of chronic diseases, including hormone-related and gastrointestinal cancers, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and also depression, which they say is caused by greater competition, inequality, loneliness and a lack of sunlight and sleep.
Inflammation is also linked to depression and new research from the Netherlands Study of Anxiety and Depression (NESDA) that analysed blood samples from 304 people with current depression, 548 with anxiety, 531 with both depression and anxiety, 807 with remitted disorders, and 634 healthy controls, and found that the depressed group showed evidence of greater inflammation which was not seen in the anxious group.
The researchers hope that these findings will lead to better treatments. “Our group is now planning to test whether depressed people with altered inflammation might respond to treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs,” said Hilde de Kluiver.
What Are The Symptoms?
According to Mind, you may feel down, upset or tearful, restless, agitated or irritable, guilty, worthless and down on yourself, empty and numb, isolated and unable to relate to other people, unable to find pleasure in life or things you usually enjoy, a sense of unreality, a lack of self-confidence or self-esteem, hopeless and despairing and suicidal.
Your behaviours might include avoiding social events and activities you usually enjoy, self-harming or suicidal behaviour, difficulty speaking, thinking clearly or making decisions, losing interest in sex, difficulty remembering or concentrating on things, using more tobacco, alcohol or other drugs than usual, difficulty sleeping, or sleeping too much, feeling tired all the time, no appetite and losing weight, or eating too much and gaining weight, physical aches and pains with no obvious physical cause, and moving very slowly, or being restless and agitated. Other symptoms including delusions, which typically manifest as paranoia, and hallucination, like hearing voices, are also related to depression. Your doctor can help you find the right support.
How Can Medical Cannabis Help With Depression?
Research has shown that the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and emotion, shrinks in people who have recurrent depressive episodes. In 2015, a global study consisting of fifteen research institutes around the world, including from the US, Europe, and Australia, collaborated to combine the results of their existing, smaller studies comparing the hippocampus of depressed and healthy people.
The researchers found that those experiencing their first depressive episode had a normal hippocampus size, leading to the conclusion that the damage to the brain comes from recurrent illness and that identifying and treating depression effectively when it first occurs is vital to prevent this damage.
Using medical cannabis, specifically the non-active compound CBD, has been proven to have a positive effect on the neurons in the hippocampus.
A 2018 study published in the journal Molecular Neurobiology found that CBD had anti-depressant effects on mice and rats by making rapid changes to the synaptic plasticity in their medial prefrontal cortex and by elevating proteins in their medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
CBD also appears to affect how your brain’s chemical receptors respond to the serotonin that’s already in your system. In a 2014 study, the researchers stated that ‘depressed patients present symptoms such as mood changes, apathy, lack of ability to feel pleasure, increased levels of irritability, prostration, cognitive and psychomotor changes and changes in appetite and sleep regimen’ and that CBD’s effect on these receptors created anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects in animal models.
Further Reading
How and where to safely buy RSO medical cannabis oil online
Introduction to Medical Cannabis
Help and Advice
If you need advice or help with Medical Cannabis, please use the contact form provided. We try to answer all emails within 24 hours and are happy to help and advise on all aspects of Medical Cannabis treatments in complete confidence.
Disclaimer: Please note that whilst we consider ourselves subject matter experts regarding Medical Cannabis, we are not medical professionals. We are a Medical Cannabis information resource, educating and helping those in need. Whilst we are very strong believers in the benefits of Medical Cannabis, there is still limited evidence that Medical Cannabis can treat/cure all the illnesses we discuss on our website. We recommend you do as much research as possible, and where practical seek professional medical advice before proceeding with Medical Cannabis oil.