There’s much more to it than taking a hit when you’re blue

By Dan Reich

Depression is a pervasive health issue, affecting an estimated 260 million people worldwide. Patients suffering from depressive disorders experience a wide range of issues, including sadness, anxiety, guilt, irritability, impaired memory, thoughts of death and suicide, loss of motivation, disturbed sleep or appetite, as well as tiredness, neglect of responsibilities, changes in personal appearance, and withdrawal from others. Current antidepressant medications often fail to offer long-term relief, as perhaps a third of all patients develop resistance to the medications, which can take weeks to offer relief from symptoms and come with unpleasant side effects, including weight gain, loss of libido and more. Given this spotty history, many people with depression have difficulty finding relief via conventional treatments. Often an unpleasant experience using high-THC cannabis will mean there is resistance to trying a cannabis treatment for depression but CBD is not psychoactive and doesn’t induce anxiety.

A fair amount of research has gone into determining whether CBD has promise in improving the lives of those suffering from depression. Depression is believed to be caused – at least partly – by a lack of serotonin in the brain. CBD doesn’t necessarily boost serotonin levels, but it may affect how your brain’s chemical receptors respond to the serotonin that’s already in the body’s system, as it binds to serotonin receptors.

Researchers have discovered that CBD can be effective in addressing many conditions that contribute to depression, such as stress, insomnia, anxiety and PTSD. A 2018 NIH study concluded that CBD has anti-stress effects, which may reduce depression related to stress. Both CBD and THC have shown effectiveness as a sleep aid, and research has shown that CBD can reduce levels of anxiety significantly. In a clinical trial carried out in adults diagnosed with PTSD, CBD plus psychiatric medications and psychotherapy reduced the severity of PTSD symptoms after 8 consecutive weeks of treatment.

At the very least, the calming and sense of well-being that CBD can induce has produced a lot of anecdotal evidence that people with depression can obtain relief from CBD, or even from balanced cannabis strains that combine CBD and THC in a 1:1 ratio. (The CBD counteracts the anxiety-inducing properties of THC for many people.)

“Anxiety and depressive disorders are highly prevalent," says Erin L. Martin, a PhD candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina. "Traditional antidepressants may effectively treat these disorders in a lot of people, but they do not work for everyone and can have unpleasant side effects. Medicinal cannabis products, especially products high in CBD, may help to treat symptoms of depression, improve sleep, and increase quality of life. There is also some evidence that medicinal cannabis may alleviate symptoms of anxiety, particularly if administered over an extended period of time, but this is less clear from our results and warrants further study.

Getting the right balance of THC to CBD is important. "When it comes to sleep, generally that means identifying a strain that contains relaxing terpenes, and a balance of CBD and a not-too-high concentration of THC," says Michael Breus, PhD, the resident sleep expert on WebMD.

Terpenes that show particular relaxation properties include Limonene, a citrus-flavored terpene found in citrus peels as well as in cannabis and other plants, which has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress. Limonene may also have anti-depressant effects. Scientists think its calming, mood-lifting effects come from limonene’s ability to elevate serotonin levels in the brain.

Linalool, a lavender-scented terpene found in hundreds of plants, including cannabis, is an established relaxation and sleep aid. Studies show linalool can lower anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as help guard the immune system against damage from stress.

Synergy Wellness has a reputation as a specialist resource for CBD-rich supplements, curating many CBD-rich cannabis strains, including the Synergy -Tsu strain which was developed in-house and tests at 22:1 CBD/THC. A daily protocol of a high CBD preparation can yield significant results in mood enhancement without unpleasant side effects. A dose of CBD-rich tincture taken sublingually and then swallowed will elicit a rapid onset within twenty minutes, quickly relieving anxiety and tension. Similarly CBD-rich raw capsules are useful for delivering long-lasting relief from symptoms. CBD-rich cookies are a tasty popular choice with a sustained effect, while others prefer the rapid onset of a CBD-rich vape pen. Different CBD-rich strains have various terpene and cannabinoid profiles which is why Synergy Wellness is proud to offer such variety in their products.

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