We are often told that we live in a world that is sat on a ticking time bomb with regards to our collective mental health. Not a day goes by where a celebrity or other well-known person says that they have struggled with their mental health at some point in their lives. Why are we in this position? Well, it could be argued that the advent of social media brought us to this point, where we compare ourselves to our peers, who portray to the world how perfect their life supposedly seems. Even though we hate using social media, we always seem to log on and have a “quick fix”, almost like a drug addict, to get us through our day.
I have been a sufferer of anxiety for a number of years, and its no coincidence in my view that my symptoms started to take hold when I first used social media. It could be argued that not only did social media start my suffering, it also compounded the symptoms and made them worse over the years.
For anxiety, we are often told to take prescription meds and speak to a councillor. This isn’t for everyone, but it can be effective for some. When I tried speaking with a councillor, I felt like it didn’t address the root of my problems, as my mind seemed to race at all times of day, and this is what lead me to feel anxious.
So, I took to the internet, and looked at alternative unconventional treatments for anxiety – and there it was – I was told that cannabis was the way to dull my symptoms and help me lead a normal life. Of course, I was sceptical at first, and so would most people who have always been brought up to think that drugs are wrong under all circumstances, but I read into it further, and realised housewives and elderly people were making use of cannabis to great effect. The success with which cannabis works is based upon what strain you choose, as its quite easy to choose strains that exacerbates your symptoms. So, I gave it a go for 2 months, and I was blown away by the improvement. Gone were the anxious episodes that left me confined to my bedroom, gone were the nervous sweats and gone were the feelings of impending doom. It was as if I was reborn.
I am not atypical with this, there have been thousands of anecdotal stories such as this which point to the effectiveness of cannabis. But, in order to make this treatment available to all and let go of the stigma that surrounds cannabis, we need to make this unconventional treatment method conventional, and for that we would all benefit.