Mood disorders are common psychiatric disorders defined as pervasive and sustained disruptions in emotions that are internal and impact almost all aspects of a person’s behaviour. They lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Depression is a highly prevalent mental health condition with approximately 1 in 5 people affected by at least one episode of depression in their lifetime. First line treatment for mood disorder is always nonpharmacological, addressing fundamentals such as nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, exercise and social triggers. Psychological therapies from simple counselling to more formal cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) are sensible early treatments. However, if mood disorder is more severe or unresponsive to these, first line medication includes Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). These are anti-depressants such as Fluoxetine or Sertraline. Medication impacts brain chemistry only; it is always recommended to be allied with appropriate psychological therapy which impacts brain pathways.
Standard medication-based treatments, as described above, can be either ineffective or problematic with regards side effects, in which case, an alternative treatment modality may include cannabinoids. Cannabis based medicinal products (CBMPs) have been shown to be associated with reduced depressive symptoms for some people (Mangoo et al., 20221). This study showed reduced depression severity at 1, 3 and 6 months as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9).
References
1 Mangoo et al. 2022 “Assessment of clinical outcomes of medicinal cannabis therapy for depression: analysis from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry”. Expert Rev Neurother. Nov-Dec.