Life has a curious way of leaving an imprint on us via the intensity of our lived experiences. Over time, this can manifest in what are commonly termed ‘mental health issues’ like depression, anxiety and other such states of being. The way our society deals with ‘mental health’ is to abdicate all decisions and responsibility for action to the ‘experts’: psychiatrists, doctors and of course to the powerful pharmaceutical industry. One can wonder if synthetic chemicals sold for vast profits and producing harmful side-effects are indeed the best way to encourage and foster a healthy mind, body and emotional state. Contemplating this state-of-play, a rather unsavoury picture begins to emerge of how ‘mental health’ can be manipulated for profit and how a lot of ‘medicine’ may actually be nothing of the sort. One might look around at our planet’s natural abundance and scratch one’s head, asking if – surely now – there might be a naturally occuring substance which could be used as an alternative to those brightly colored pills?

CBD for mental health

There are always alternatives, of course there are! A naturally occuring substance obtained from the Cannabis plant called CBD (Cannabidiol) is the perfect candidate for navigating the subjective road to recovery of one’s own mental health!

CBD (Cannabidiol) is one of around 100 cannabinoids contained within the Cannabis plant. Unlike THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD is not psycho-active and won’t get you ‘high’ because the THC content of CBD is below 0.3%. However, CBD contains numerous health benefits which work at the core-level of the Human Being and this makes it a very interesting and exciting Cannabinoid to consider for maintaining and improving mental health.

How Does CBD Help With Mental Health?

Medical Cannabis and mental illness

CBD is by far the main ingredient in medical Cannabis. CBD is all of the following and more: an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antipsychotic, neuro-protective, anti-tumoral and it also has minimal side-effects!

In humans CBD is commonly used to alleviate physical conditions such as chronic pain, insomnia, inflammation, migraines, epilepsy, autoimmune and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. CBD is increasingly being used for a variety of mental health conditions too, as we will see in a moment!

CBD is available in a variety of forms including vapes, oils, tinctures and creams. CBD can either be applied topically (to the skin) or else ingested (added to food or drink, smoked) so that it directly enters the bloodstream. CBD oil is very popular amongst those wanting to self-medicate as it allows the dosage to be measured out precisely in the required number of drops which can easily be added to food or drink.

Mental health benefits of CBD oil

Put simply, consuming CBD oil has a direct effect on the hippocampus region of the brain which is responsible for regulating our emotions. This triggers an increase in the body’s serotonin levels which has the effect of experiencing one’s emotions in a more positive manner – lighter, uplifted, relaxed, softer etc. The fact that ‘mental health issues’ usually mean experiencing one’s emotions in a negative way makes a harmless and natural substance like CBD that has a positive effect on these patterns, very attractive.

Indeed, the potential for CBD to assist with mental health has now been acknowledged far and wide! CBD is commonly being used to treat such conditions as epilepsy – especially childhood epilepsy, anxiety disorders including PTSD and depression in various forms. CBD is increasingly being used to treat cognitive illnesses like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia and it is considered to assist in treating opioid addiction as well.

Does CBD oil promote mental health?

Whilst there are those who denigrate the potential of CBD and instead promote pharmaceutical medicine for treating mental health issues, it is useful to consider that you – the living Being inside whom all mental processes take place – are the one best placed to determine what works and what does not in the realm of one’s own mental health. It is risk-free and easy to begin to experiment with CBD, to monitor how one feels from day-to-day and to observe the effect this has on mental health. If you have ever been prescribed pharmaceuticals in the past then you already have the experience to judge for yourself what the effects of CBD oil on mental health are and can usefully compare the CBD experience to what you went through when you were on, for example, anti-depressants.

The effects of CBD on mental health are initially subtle and slow to manifest but become increasingly visible over time. There are a number of studies which have been conducted on animals and humans showing positive and promising results in this regard. The WWW hosts numerous forums, blogs and other testimonials from people who have switched to using CBD oil to treat their mental health conditions. What they say speaks for itself as it emerges from their own directly-lived experience!