The impact of CBD on mental health remains a topic of intense debate. Can CBD truly relieve symptoms of depression and PTSD? This article explores the potential benefits of CBD for mental well-being.
What is mental health?
What is mental health really? Mental health involves our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. All which impact our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and influence our ability to cope with stress, to create social connections and make daily decisions. In general, mental health is determined by how we manage our stress, our daily relationships and how we make healthy choices.
How can our mental health be affected?
There are many factors that may affect our mental health. These factors may vary, such as:
- Biological factors, such as genetics or brain chemistry.
- A life traumatic event or any sort of abuse.
- Drug/alcohol induced.
In this article I would like to solely focus on mental health being affected by trauma. As we all know, Memorial Day is just around the corner, being celebrated on the last Monday of May, every year. But, what exactly is celebrated on Memorial Day? No, it is not just a holiday, it is a remembrance of our beloved troops that lost their lives while defending their country.
In honor of Memorial Day, and the unfortunate deaths of our beloved troops that lost their lives during combat, we will discuss how their mental health has been affected by the wars they’ve had to face. How difficult it is for them to adjust to our American daily living.
The most publicized mental health challenges facing veterans service members are PTSD and depression. Although, these two mental health disorders are emphasized, other main concerns are suicide, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, interpersonal violence among other concerns.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
According to DSM-IV, a history of exposure to a traumatic event and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms. This means that a person has been exposed to a catastrophic event involving an actual or threatening situation. In other words, a person continues to relieve the past events that cause panic, terror, dread, grief, or despair. As well as a person that attempts to reduce the likelihood that they will expose themselves to the same traumatic situation or a similar situation.
Depression
It seems like depression is the most spoken about mental health illness across social media, however, what does it look like for a war veteran? Depression affects 20% of veterans. Suicidal ideations or attempts occur in 11% of veterans. The rate of depression among our war veterans are higher than the rate in the general population. Depression not only affects our war veterans, but also their families. Depression may be caused due to a physical concern, legal concerns, frequent relocations, deployments and adjusting to non-combating environment. Depression according to the DSM-IV, is measured by having a loss of interest or pleasure in life activities for at least 2 weeks and affects their social life, work, or other important areas of functioning almost every day.
How can CBD help?
In summary, dealing with Depression and PTSD will affect anyone’s life, however, the unique experiences that our beloved military have seen, affect not only their daily interactions, but also their concentration and sleeping patterns. According to a study published in 2013, CBD could help alleviate anxiety disorders and experience unpleasant memories of a situation.
In another study in 2018, researchers Bitencourt and Takahashi stated that the use of CBD alone with other treatment options such as exposure-based therapy could benefit in restoring a healthy mental health. Other interesting findings are that CBD could potentially support the body in forming new neurons in the hippocampus. In other words, CBD is a great tool to use to restore a balanced and healthy mental health. It will help re-wire the brains chemistry to create an equilibrium in an individual. It is encouraged to not only rely on CBD alone, but also combine it with professional help, such as medical and mental health professionals.
At CBD Farmhouse, we strive to support our war veterans by offering a range of products aimed at achieving a balanced mental well-being. Our Balance and Sleepy Time products are specifically designed promote restful sleep and relaxation.
