Is there a connection? Professor Cecilia Hillard of the Medical College of Wisconsin will be doing a 5-year study investigating one possible link between the chemicals in marijuana and the development of bipolar disorder and psychoses.
In a news brief somewhat sensationally titled Marijuana Use = Bipolar Disorder? Dr. Hillard told Corrine Hess of The Business Journal of Milwaukee that lifetime use of cannabis is 20 to 40 percent in bipolar patients compared to 6 percent in the general population. Dr. Hillard said there are three possible explanations - (1) that bipolar disorder brings on cannabis use; (2) marijuana use precedes the disorder and brings it on; or (3) an "X" factor causes both bipolar disorder and marijuana use. Generic Diazepam Online Sales.
Dr. Hillard says the second explanation is most likely, and will be testing mice with the primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis to see if it leads to a particular reaction in the brain to see if that initiates bipolar disorder.
I have to wonder if the College's press release and news brief are leaving something out or aren't being clear. The three explanations seem awfully simplistic. Is Dr. Hillard's second theory, the one that is to be tested, really saying that marijuana initiates bipolar disorder in persons with no family history of the illness and no prior symptoms? What about a fourth explanation, that the possibility of bipolar disorder exists (possibly with unrecognized symptoms already occurring), and cannabis activates or exacerbates the condition?
Obviously not everyone who smokes cannabis develops BP, and not everyone with BP has used marijuana at some point. Here's my case: I smoked marijuana (and used hallucinogenics) during my freshman year, and peer pressure was the main reason (actually, he was gorgeous, I wanted him, he wanted me to smoke dope). I had shown plenty of signs of depression since childhood, and racing thoughts were a problem already. I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar disorder till much later.
If you used or have used marijuana, what's your story? Did it come before or after you had bipolar disorder symptoms?
In a news brief somewhat sensationally titled Marijuana Use = Bipolar Disorder? Dr. Hillard told Corrine Hess of The Business Journal of Milwaukee that lifetime use of cannabis is 20 to 40 percent in bipolar patients compared to 6 percent in the general population. Dr. Hillard said there are three possible explanations - (1) that bipolar disorder brings on cannabis use; (2) marijuana use precedes the disorder and brings it on; or (3) an "X" factor causes both bipolar disorder and marijuana use. Generic Diazepam Online Sales.
Dr. Hillard says the second explanation is most likely, and will be testing mice with the primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis to see if it leads to a particular reaction in the brain to see if that initiates bipolar disorder.
I have to wonder if the College's press release and news brief are leaving something out or aren't being clear. The three explanations seem awfully simplistic. Is Dr. Hillard's second theory, the one that is to be tested, really saying that marijuana initiates bipolar disorder in persons with no family history of the illness and no prior symptoms? What about a fourth explanation, that the possibility of bipolar disorder exists (possibly with unrecognized symptoms already occurring), and cannabis activates or exacerbates the condition?
Obviously not everyone who smokes cannabis develops BP, and not everyone with BP has used marijuana at some point. Here's my case: I smoked marijuana (and used hallucinogenics) during my freshman year, and peer pressure was the main reason (actually, he was gorgeous, I wanted him, he wanted me to smoke dope). I had shown plenty of signs of depression since childhood, and racing thoughts were a problem already. I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar disorder till much later.
If you used or have used marijuana, what's your story? Did it come before or after you had bipolar disorder symptoms?
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