What Impact Does Marijuana Have On Veterans With Chronic PTSD (Essay Sample)

The impact of marijuana on veterans with PTSD Name Institution The impact of marijuana on veterans with PTSD Bedard-Gilligan, M., Garcia, N., & Feeny, N.C. (2018). Alcohol, Cannabis, and Other Drug Use: Engagement and Outcome in PTSD Treatment. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 32(3), 277-288. This article from Psychology of Addictive Behavior avails the study on the impact of alcohol, marijuana and other drugs on people with chronic PTSD. The findings by the authors reveal that people diagnosed with PTSD and were on treatment, had high likelihood of dropping out of treatment if they use either alcohol, marijuana or other drugs. The authors believe that the use of cannabis can be linked to the prolonged cycle of PTSD if the patient is not engaged or retained on the treatment. The authors also noted that people with a lifetime use of cannabis recorded a rise in PTSD symptoms. The findings of the research are important to anyone interested in establishing the impact of marijuana use on individuals diagnosed with PTSD. However, the study was bias to patients with historical record of alcohol and substance abuse limiting its application on people who become addicted once diagnosed with PTSD. Despite the weaknesses, the author will use this article in her study because it critiques the purported benefits of marijuana. Betthauser, K., Pilz, J., & Vollmer, L.E. (2015, August 1). Use and effects of cannabinoids in military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacists, 72, 1279-1284. The authors of the article provide a review of the studies that have examined the use of marijuana among the military veterans, to treat the symptoms associated with PTSD. The authors examined eleven studies that have concluded that veterans with severe PTSD are highly motivated to use marijuana. From their reviews, the authors believe that marijuana reduces anxiety, improves coping ability and reduces insomnia to people with PTSD symptoms. The study used cross-sectional studies method to collect data; however, the research was bias to studies that showed positive correlation between cannabis use and the reduction of PTSD symptoms. Also, lack of control group in the study reduces the reliability of the findings. Nevertheless, the article provides an excellent review of the studies that have shown that medical marijuana is an alternative treatment of PTSD symptoms. The author will use this article because it explores the impact of marijuana on anxiety, coping behavior and insomnia. Bonn-Miller, M.O., Moos, R.H., Boden, M.T., Long, W.R., Kimerling, R., & Trafton, J.A. (2015).The impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on cannabis quit success. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 41(4), 339–344. The article analyzes the impact of PTSD on the use of marijuana following the attempts of the veteran to quit using it. Although their findings noted that there was no association between PTSD diagnosis and first lapse or relapse, the study has several limitations. For instance, the authors based their study only on men. Also, the sample of 103 patients was small to guarantee generalization of the findings to all the veterans using marijuana. The researchers relied on self-reports to made conclusions on the study; such reports could be biased and leading to wrong deductions about the variables. However, the article has provided another perspective on the issue of marijuana and PTSD; that people with PTSD tend to use more marijuana than other users. Hence, the article can be used to analyze the relationship between the long-term effects of marijuana and the PTSD symptoms to the veterans. Bujarski, S.J., Short, N.A., Gifford, E.V., Kimerling, R., Mckee, L.G., Galang, J.N.,… Bonn-Miller, M.O. (2016). Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment Barriers and Facilitators Among Veterans With PTSD. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 30(1), 73–81. This article explores the variables that are likely to cause cannabis use disorders (CUD) by looking at the system, patient-level factors and the clinician who engages the patient in the diagnosis or treatment process. The article asserts that the clinicians fear about the negative effects linked to the diagnosis of CUD and issues related with potential facilitators contributed to CUD. Hence, there is need to improve the facilities and train the clinicians on the formal assessment approaches to improve CUD diagnosis and treatment. The findings from the study are based on a small sample; the research focused on the health care providers and only inferred from the PTSD veteran patients. This limits the application of the study to the systems and the clinicians since the views of the patients on CUD were not considered. Therefore, the article can be used by researchers who would like to examine how to improve the systems and personnel when dealing with CUD. Chan, S., Blake, A., Wolt, A.,Wan, A.B., Zaki, P., Lam, H., … O’Hearn, S. (2017). Medical cannabis use for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Journal of Pain Management, 10(4), 385-396. The authors examine the patient-reported results from 688 patients who were diagnosed with PTSD and registered for treatment using medical marijuana. An online survey was used to collect the responses from the participants who reported a reduction in the number of symptoms associated with PTSD in at least 4 months since they were prescribed to marijuana. The authors concluded that cannabis can be used as an alternative treatment for PTSD symptoms. However, the study did not have a control experiment. The sample was biased because 84 percent of the participants were Caucasian and 77 percent male. Also, 78 percent of the sample had no prior experience with marijuana; this might have affected their first response to it compared to the 12 percent who had used it before. Despite the shortcomings, the article is a good source of information for anyone studying marijuana as an alternative treatment of PTSD symptoms because the research has demonstrated that medical marijuana reduces depression, anxiety and sleep disorders. Drost, L., Wan, B.A., Blake, A., Chan, S., Wolt, A., Ganesh, V., … O’Hearn, S. (2017). Efficacy of different varieties of medical cannabis in relieving symptoms in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients. Journal of Pain Management, 10(4), 415-422. This article from Pain Management explores various types of marijuana and their effects on PTSD; the objective is to determine the best marijuana that can relieve the symptoms of PTSD. The study involved contacting 3,076 PTSD participants who were using licensed marijuana through an online survey and recording their progress between 4 and 10 months, follow up interval. The findings showed that various types of marijuana reduced symptoms of PTSD; however, the study did not isolate the type of marijuana that was more effective in relieving the majority of PTSD symptoms. The study was not controlled in that any PTSD patient that was using marijuana from a licensed Canadian supplier was eligible for the study. Despite the weaknesses, the findings are useful for anyone interested in determining the importance of marijuana to PTSD patients and the type of marijuana that is more effective in relieving a specific type of PTSD symptom. Therefore, the author will use this source in her study. Elliott, L., Golub, A., Bennett, A., & Guarino, H. (2015). PTSD and Cannabis-Related Coping Among Recent Veterans in New York City. Contemporary Drug Problems, 42(1), 60-76. The authors employ interviews and focus-group methods to gather data from the veterans on their use of marijuana as a coping tool to alleviate PTSD. The article examines the preference of cannabis over alcohol, in dealing with the symptoms of PTSD. The veterans interviewed in the study felt that marijuana effectively reduced their PTSD symptoms compared to alcohol and other drugs. The 269 veteran patients involved in the study were less to make generalizable conclusions to the larger population. Again, the method of data collection relied on the feedback and experiences given by the respondents. Depending on the feedback from the respondents in one day to make conclusions on the impact of marijuana to the user may not be exhaustive. However, the article can be a good source of information to anyone intending to carry out the research on the prevalence of cannabis use among the veterans and why it is preferred over other drugs. Galang, J. N., Babson, K. A., Boden, M. T., & Bonn-Miller, M. O. (2015). Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with panic symptom severity following a quit attempt among cannabis dependent veterans. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 28(2), 192-204. The article provides a study on the relationship between regulating emotions and panic symptoms that are attributed to the individual efforts of stopping to use marijuana. The authors discovered that the veteran suffering from PTSD symptoms was likely to experience fewer difficulties regulating emotions as panic symptoms reduced in trying to withdraw from the use of marijuana. However, from the study, the researchers relied on self-reports as the main source of information concerning panic reduction and emotional regulation. The non-veterans were not included in the study. The sample size cannot be used to represent the entire veteran population since the sample was biased in composition and size. The article is not suitable for a person looking for a resource on the benefits of marijuana on reducing the PTSD symptoms. However, the findings can be used by anyone interested to research on whether withdrawing from marijuana can impact on the PTSD symptoms. Gentes, E.L., Schry, A.R., Clancy, C.P., Collie, C.F., Dennis, M.F., Beckham, J.C., … Calhoun, P.S. (2016). Prevalence and Correlates of Cannabis Use in an Outpatient VA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinic. Psychology of ...