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PTSD and Marijuana Use

By December 18, 2015Original Post
"Cannabis sativa (marijuana plants)" by James St. John from https://flic.kr/p/w9HnAm under a CC Attribution 2.0 license. Full terms at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

“Cannabis sativa (marijuana plants)” by James St. John
from https://flic.kr/p/w9HnAm under a CC Attribution 2.0 license. Full terms at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

A longitudinal (from 1992 through 2011) study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry looked at 2,200 veterans with PTSD and examined the effects of marijuana use on PTSD symptoms. Researchers found that those who started using marijuana after starting treatment for their PTSD had worse outcomes.Those who had never used or had stopped using had the best treatment outcomes .

The data suggest that marijuana use can impede specialized trauma treatment and cessation should be a clinical focus.

A summary of the journal article can be found in the PubMed archives here.

References

Wilkinson, S. T., Stefanovics, E., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2015). Marijuana use is associated with worse outcomes in symptom severity and violent behavior in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 76(9), 1174–1180. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.14m09475

 

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Cite this article as:
Robert Allred, "PTSD and Marijuana Use," Robert P. Allred, PhD, December 18, 2015, https://doctorallred.com/2015/12/ptsd-and-marijuana-use/.

or

APA Style, 7th Edition:
Allred, R. (December 18, 2015). PTSD and Marijuana Use. Robert P. Allred, PhD. https://doctorallred.com/2015/12/ptsd-and-marijuana-use/

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