Are you struggling with PTSD and looking for a natural way to improve your situation? CBD oil is an option.
The best CBD oil for PTSD is either vape (for fast relief) or oral tincture for ongoing, regular relief.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a long term condition that affects people who have experienced a major trauma. It is most widely known to affect veterans who have served in active combat, who often end up homeless or addicted to drugs due to their inability to cope with the disorder.
However, it can affect anyone who experienced trauma or even had a loved one who experienced trauma. Hearing about a tragic death of a loved one, for example, can lead to PTSD. Current research shows a strong link between CBD oil and PTSD treatment.
Table of Contents
- The roots of PTSD
- Treatment of PTSD
- The endocannabinoid system and extinction learning
- Studies on CBD oil and PTSD
The roots of PTSD
PTSD is essentially caused by a breakdown in what is called extinction learning. Extinction learning refers to the natural decrease of a conditioned response over time. For example, a veteran without PTSD, who is jolted into action by loud bangs, will stop responding this way over time.
A person with PTSD, however, will continue responding to the stimulus, even if it has not been reinforced for months or years.
Treatment of PTSD
Mainstream treatment of PTSD targets the disorder in a number of ways. Medication is used to decrease anxiety and associated mood changes. Most famously, PTSD specialists use prolonged exposure therapy to help kickstart the processes that facilitate extinction learning. By being exposed to the situation over and over again in a safe environment, the hope is that eventually the conditioned response is overpowered. Mindfulness is another approach that is commonly used.
Mainstream PTSD treatment has moderate results. It does not work for everyone, and many have been led to try alternative approaches. New evidence about the role of the endocannabinoid system in PTSD has led researchers to investigate CBD as a treatment.
The endocannabinoid system and extinction learning
Recent studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the process of extinction learning. Since the endocannabinoid system has receptors throughout the body, this could explain the range of symptoms of PTSD, from its effect on the nervous system to its role in sleep disorders.
CBD targets receptors in the endocannabinoid system, thereby enhancing the physical processes that facilitate extinction learning. In other words, it treats the root cause, rather than targeting it indirectly through the symptoms.
Studies on CBD oil and PTSD
While cannabis has commonly been prescribed as a treatment for PTSD since the legalization of medical marijuana, the psychoactive effects of THC are not always beneficial, especially when it is used on a day-to-day basis. The non-psychoactive CBD is therefore a significant alternative, and research has thus far indicated that it works.
CBD oil is already being used by many sufferers of PTSD, with reports of positive results that exceed mainstream treatments. Furthermore, there are no major side effects, with the minor effects of possible drowsiness and dizziness relatively uncommon. CBD oil will not be harmful, nor will it compromise any other treatment regime that you are currently trying.
