Category Archives: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Therapeutic potential of cannabinoid medicines.

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Drug Testing and Analysis

“Cannabis was extensively used as a medicine throughout the developed world in the nineteenth century but went into decline early in the twentieth century ahead of its emergence as the most widely used illicit recreational drug later that century. Recent advances in cannabinoid pharmacology alongside the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) have re-ignited interest in cannabis-based medicines.

The ECS has emerged as an important physiological system and plausible target for new medicines. Its receptors and endogenous ligands play a vital modulatory role in diverse functions including immune response, food intake, cognition, emotion, perception, behavioural reinforcement, motor co-ordination, body temperature, wake/sleep cycle, bone formation and resorption, and various aspects of hormonal control. In disease it may act as part of the physiological response or as a component of the underlying pathology.

In the forefront of clinical research are the cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, and their contrasting pharmacology will be briefly outlined. The therapeutic potential and possible risks of drugs that inhibit the ECS will also be considered. This paper will then go on to review clinical research exploring the potential of cannabinoid medicines in the following indications: symptomatic relief in multiple sclerosis, chronic neuropathic pain, intractable nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight in the context of cancer or AIDS, psychosis, epilepsy, addiction, and metabolic disorders.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24006213

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1529/abstract

Cannabinoids and glucocorticoids modulate emotional memory after stress.

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“Bidirectional and functional relationships between glucocorticoids and the endocannabinoid system have been demonstrated. Here, I review the interaction between the endocannabinoid and glucocorticoid/stress systems. Specifically, stress is known to produce rapid changes in endocannabinoid signaling in stress-responsive brain regions. In turn, the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the downregulation and habituation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity in response to stress. Glucocorticoids also recruit the endocannabinoid system to exert rapid negative feedback control of the HPA axis during stress. It became increasingly clear, however, that cannabinoid CB1 receptors are also abundantly expressed in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and other limbic regions where they modulate emotional arousal effects on memory.

 Enhancing cannabinoids signaling using exogenous CB1 receptor agonists prevent the effects of acute stress on emotional memory.

 I propose a model suggesting that the ameliorating effects of exogenously administered cannabinoids on emotional learning after acute stress are mediated by the decrease in the activity of the HPA axis via GABAergic mechanisms in the amygdala.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23954749

The endocannabinoid system as a possible target to treat both the cognitive and emotional features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder of significant prevalence and morbidity, whose pathogenesis relies on paradoxical changes of emotional memory processing. An ideal treatment would be a drug able to block the pathological over-consolidation and continuous retrieval of the traumatic event, while enhancing its extinction and reducing the anxiety symptoms. While the latter benefit from antidepressant medications, no drug is available to control the cognitive symptomatology. Endocannabinoids regulate affective states and participate in memory consolidation, retrieval, and extinction. Clinical findings showing a relationship between Cannabis use and PTSD, as well as changes in endocannabinoid activity in PTSD patients, further suggest the existence of a link between endocannabinoids and maladaptive brain changes after trauma exposure. Along these lines, we suggest that endocannabinoid degradation inhibitors may be an ideal therapeutic approach to simultaneously treat the emotional and cognitive features of PTSD, avoiding the unwanted psychotropic effects of compounds directly binding cannabinoid receptors.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23950739

Effects of endocannabinoid and endovanilloid systems on aversive memory extinction.

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“In contextual fear conditioning animals have to integrate various elemental stimuli into a coherent representation of the condition and then associate context representation with punishment. Although several studies indicated the modulating role of endocannabinoid system (ECS) on the associative learning, ECS effect on contextual fear conditioning requires further investigations. The present study assessed the effects of the increased endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) tone on acquisition, retrieval and extinction of the contextual fear conditioning…

 The present study indicates that ECS controls the extinction of aversive memories in the contextual fear conditioning.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23948212

Study: Cannabinoids Offer Likely Therapeutic Option For Patients With Post-Traumatic Stress

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“Future research targeting cannabinoids and their receptors may lead to evidence-based treatments for patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to clinical trial data published in May in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Investigators at the New York University School of Medicine reported that subjects diagnosed with PTSD typically possess elevated quantities of endogenous cannabinoid receptors in regions of the brain associated with fear and anxiety. Investigators also determined that many of these subjects experience a decrease in their natural production of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitter, resulting in an imbalanced endocannibinoid regulatory system.

Researchers speculated that an increase in the body’s production of cannabinoids would likely restore subjects’ natural brain chemistry and psychological balance. They affirmed, “[Our] findings substantiate, at least in part, emerging evidence that … plant-derived cannabinoids such as marijuana may possess some benefits in individuals with PTSD by helping relieve haunting nightmares and other symptoms of PTSD.”

Authors concluded: “The data reported herein are the first of which we are aware of to demonstrate the critical role of CB1 (cannabinoid) receptors and endocannabinoids in the etiology of PTSD in humans. As such, they provide a foundation upon which to develop and validate informative biomarkers of PTSD vulnerability, as well as to guide the rational development of the next generation of evidence-based treatments for PTSD.”

More: http://norml.org/news/2013/05/30/study-cannabinoids-offer-likely-therapeutic-option-for-patients-with-post-traumatic-trauma

Cannabis News: The Cannabinoid System Reverses Dementia, Treats PTSD and Controls Diabetes Top May’s News Digest from Publius

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“The Cannabinoid System’s role in reversing dementia, treating PTSD and controlling diabetes highlight May’s cannabis news from Publius, the pen name used by the authors of The Cannabis Papers – Federal ignorance goes on unabated.”

“The Cannabinoid System’s (CS) role in reversing dementia, treating PTSD and controlling diabetes highlight May’s cannabis news from Publius, the pen name used by the authors of The Cannabis Papers: A citizen’s guide to cannabinoids (2011).”

More: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10787154.htm

Marijuana May Cure PTSD – NBC

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“Veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder may find help through marijuana.”

Cannabis Cup Cake Anyone?
  

“Could cannabis cure PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder, which can also affect civilians who undergo a traumatic episode, may be cured by using marijuana, according to an East Bay Express report.

A researcher at Yale University is conducting a long-term study with 120 people — veterans with “intractable cases of PTSD” — who he thinks can be cured of their dehabilitating condition with marijuana.

Most people suffering from PTSD go through a regimen of drugs or more-invasive “exposure therapy,” in which they dig as deeply as possible into their trauma for 12 weeks. Most drop out in Week 3, according to the report.

The theory of R. Andrew Sewell is that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, one of the active ingredients in cannabis, can help the brain learn new information. This in turn helps people suffering from PTSD forget the old — as in bad — information.

This is called “extinction learning,” Sewell says. And such learning is made easier when a “switch” in the brain called CB1 is activated. It turns out cannabis is very good at activating the CB1 receptor.

“We’re talking about a cure,” said Sewell, who noted that after treatment, no drugs — not cannabis and not antidepressants — would be required.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Marijuana-May-Cure-PTSD-208900021.html 

Marijuana May Help Cure PTSD

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“A Yale associate professor of psychiatry is giving American veterans with intractable post traumatic stress disorder the main active ingredient in marijuana as part of search for a better PTSD cure.”

“Former chief resident in neuropsychiatry at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine R. Andrew Sewell said PTSD and other anxiety disorders might hinge on a defect in brain cells that the marijuana molecule, “THC”, can help alleviate.

In addition to being part of a potential cure, marijuana (aka cannabis) is already being used for PTSD symptom management by thousands of veterans, said MAPS scientist Dr. Sue Sisley.

“Veterans use cannabis for two reasons, one it makes them less irritable, which is really socially destructive and also it helps them sleep. Cannabis is excellent for sleep, it is much better than alcohol.”

Still, the U.S. government maintains a research blockade on the 10,000 year-old medicinal botanical. For example, the D.E.A. has blocked MAPS from carrying out an FDA-approved study of smoked cannabis on veterans with PTSD.”

More: http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2013/05/23/marijuana-may-help-cure-ptsd/

The endocannabinoid system and its therapeutic exploitation.

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Image result for Nat Rev Drug Discov.

“The term ‘endocannabinoid’ – originally coined in the mid-1990s after the discovery of membrane receptors for the psychoactive principle in Cannabis, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and their endogenous ligands – now indicates a whole signalling system that comprises cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands and enzymes for ligand biosynthesis and inactivation. This system seems to be involved in an ever-increasing number of pathological conditions. With novel products already being aimed at the pharmaceutical market little more than a decade since the discovery of cannabinoid receptors, the endocannabinoid system seems to hold even more promise for the future development of therapeutic drugs. We explore the conditions under which the potential of targeting the endocannabinoid system might be realized in the years to come.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15340387

http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v3/n9/full/nrd1495.html

Marijuana Can Help Prevent Suicide, Study Suggests

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“Marijuana does many magical things, not the least of which is make dubstep listenable. In Los Angeles, we use it pretty much legally for back pain, nausea and hot tubbing.

But a new study from Germany says that, in U.S. states like California where marijuana has become medically legit, rates of suicide have gone down.

The researchers note that suicide is often triggered by “stressful life events.” And you know what can take away the pain?

No. Not Enrique Iglesias. Stress! Or rather, chronic. Depending.

The academics note that “California includes anxiety as a qualifying condition” to obtain medical pot, “while Delaware and New Mexico both allow the use of medical marijuana for post traumatic stress disorder … ”

The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, with the help of American researchers such as Daniel I. Rees of the University of Colorado’s Department of Economics, recently published their findings in a paper called High on Life? Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicide (PDF):

Our results suggest that the passage of a medical marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent reduction in the total suicide rate, an 11 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 20- through 29-year-old males, and a 9 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 30- through 39-year-old males.

The study takes some wild guesses, and one of them is that maybe medical marijuana users are cutting out the alcohol, which can be depressive:

The strong association between alcohol consumption and suicide related outcomes found by previous researchers (Markowitz et al. 2003; Carpenter 2004; Sullivan et al. 2004; Rodriguez Andres 2005; Carpenter and Dobkin 2009) raises the possibility that medical marijuana laws reduce the risk of suicide by decreasing alcohol consumption.

The academics cite research on animals where there was “a potent anti-depressant effect” when they were injected with low doses of synthetic cannabinoid.

Of course this flies in the face of tons of research — not to mention what Dr. Drew Pinsky has said several times — that cannabis and depression go together like milk and cookies.

And, it seems clear to us, the only solid argument to be made here is there might be a correlation between medical marijuana states and lower rates of suicides.

Hmm. National suicide rates have been decreasing across the board.

Researchers say they focused mostly on young men because most medical marijuana patients in states like Arizona, Colorado and Montana are males, and roughly half are under 40. Data on women, apparently, was weak. (Women are four times less likely to commit successful suicide in general).

The German study’s rosy conclusion:

… The legalization of medical marijuana leads to an improvement in the psychological well being of young adult males, an improvement that is reflected in fewer suicides.

Believe that. Or not.”

By Dennis Romero

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/02/marijuana_suicide_medical_states_california.php