People using Marijuana show lower depression rates, says study

World: New research issued in Frontiers in Psychiatry revealed that those diagnosed with clinical depression or anxiety who applied medical marijuana had lower depression rates than non-users, and those who began using cannabis through the follow-up period encountered a decrease in both the anxiety and symptoms of depression.

The study authors noted that many people with anxiety and depression, two of the most common mental health conditions, are turning to medical cannabis as a way to manage their symptoms. Products can be predominantly made from THC, CBD, or equal amounts of both.

"Anxiety and depressive disorders are very common. Traditional antidepressants can treat these disorders effectively in many people, but they do not work for everyone and can have unpleasant side effects," said Erin Martin, a doctoral candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina and lead investigator, stated to PsyPost. "People are increasingly adopting medicinal cannabis products, particularly high-CBD products, to try to treat manifestations of anxiety and depression, even though scientific investigation in this area is short and shows mixed outcomes."

The team of researchers handled a study amongst a sample of members who reported having anxiety, depression, or both. Of those members, 368 were medical cannabis users, and 170 considered medical cannabis but had not yet started using it. The majority of respondents were female (79%) and Caucasian (83%).

Participants answered questions about their cannabis use and completed assessments of anxiety, depression, recent pain, quality of life, and quality of sleep. Every three months over a period of approximately four years, participants were invited to complete a follow-up evaluation. On average, the participants completed two assessments.

Of those studied, 34% reported anxiety, 15% reported depression, and 51% reported both. Additionally, 69% reported having a chronic pain disorder. Among cannabis users, CBD-dominant products were by far the most widely used cannabis product, with 82% of users using them.

Just under a quarter of respondents (23%) said they used THC-dominant products, 7% said they used products with an equal balance of THC and CBD, and 5% used products dominated by a minor cannabinoid, it found. the study.

Those who used cannabis reported lower levels of depression compared to non-users, especially if they used CBD-dominant products. Cannabis users also reported better quality of life, better sleep in the past month, less pain in the past month, and were more likely to display symptoms of depression that were below clinical concern, the study found.

People who were not using medical cannabis at the beginning of the study, but who started using it during the follow-up period, also showed reductions in both anxiety and depression. They also showed improvements in psychological domain scores in a shortened version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment.

"Medical cannabis products, especially high-CBD products, can help treat symptoms of depression, improve sleep, and increase quality of life," Martin told PsyPost. "There is also some evidence that medical cannabis can alleviate anxiety symptoms, particularly if administered over a long period of time, but this is less clear from our results and warrants further studies."

The researchers used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to analyze participants' experiences, according to Science Alert. On the HADS, a score greater than eight indicates clinical concern, but the score can go up to 21.

Those who were taking cannabis products showed lower levels of depression, but not anxiety. A higher proportion of those who took cannabis also scored below 8 on the HADS relative to controls. Cannabis users also reported that they slept better in the past month than controls and rated their quality of life better.

The study authors acknowledge that their findings are limited as they were based on participants' self-reports and cannot rule out the effects of expectations.