Bipolar Disorder – Here What Science Is Telling Us Today

I was talking to a friend of mine today, and he told me his brother is bipolar. He doesn’t really know what that means, he told me, and he is quite scared because he would really love to do something to help him, but he really needs to understand first. This article is dedicated to him.

Let’s begin by define what bipolar disorder is. Once that is done, we’ll move one to consider the latest news on how cannabis can help those who suffer from this terrible disorder.

We don’t really know what causes the so-called bipolar disorder, although we do know it tends to run in families. It is also very possible, if not probable, environmental factors play a major role in the development of the disorder. What we do know, as stated by the National Institute of Mental Health, is that “bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks”, and that people who suffer from bipolar disorder experience mood episodes: “each mood episode represents a drastic change from a person’s usual mood and behavior. An overly joyful or overexcited state is called a manic episode, and an extremely sad or hopeless state is called a depressive episode. Sometimes, a mood episode includes symptoms of both mania and depression”. And let’s not forget irritability, of course, plus hallucinations and delusions.

Here is what cannabis can do.

According to a recent article published by Raphael J. Braga, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry who works at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, “cannabis use may have a beneficial effect on cognitive functioning in patients with severe psychiatric disorders”, including the infamous bipolar disorder. This claim mirrors the results of two studies, published in 2010 (by a group of scientist guided by Dr. Ringen) and 2005 (by a team of researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne), which indicated cannabis is related to improved neurocognition in bipolar disorder and can have anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, antidepressant, sedative, hypnotic, antipsychotic effects.

As it is often the case, these results must be carefully considered: there is a lot we don’t know about cannabis… mainly because we call it “outlaw” for so long, and in many places we still consider it illegal. Enjoy it carefully, then: choose only the best strains you can find (http://greenhouseseeds.nl/) and make sure to keep on reading what science says.