Cannabis for Grief – Healing or Numbing the Pain?

cannabis for grief

You know you’re alive when you have the scars to prove it. Let’s face it – shit happens and when it does, it hurts! Pain and Grief manifests in different ways and for different reasons, yet irrespective on how it manifests – it has the potential to derail one’s life and complete bring it to a shrieking halt.

Nevertheless, does that mean that grieving is bad? Of course not! Grief is a fundamental human program designed to help an individual adjust to a new reality configuration. In many cases – this new paradigm is a world without the presence of the object of desire or a level of inaccessibility towards the object of desire.

The object of desire [OOD] can be anything from a person, a place, an opportunity and so on. The way our subconscious work – to give us a world to live in – is establish a linear model of the world by creating past, present and future. All of the events that occur throughout our lives and the people that interact with us during these events – are also integrated into this internal universe.

When someone dies or we lose “something”, we deem important or crucial in sustaining the status quo of our internal universe – it has a direct impact on all of the other “assumptions” related to the loss. For example – losing a soulmate also means losing all the hopes, dreams and fantasies created by the couple. It requires a complete rewrite in projected future.

This process isn’t easy – the brain has to alter neurological pathways [physically], rewrite expectations, future projections while simultaneously, integrating the current reality and pain into the “self”. To do this – the brain needs all the resources and thus initiates the default “low-energy consumption state” known as Grief.

Healthcare workers are uncertain of the ideal time for grieving and there is no estimation. For some people it may take a few months to work through trauma, for others it may take years. Mental health professionals all agree that grieving is good – however, if grief isn’t handled properly – it can warp into chronic depression which becomes detrimental for recovery and manifests other physical and neurological negatives within the individual.

Does cannabis help with the grieving process or make it worse?

This brings us to the idea of Cannabis for Grief. We know that people have found great benefit in treating PTSD – which is a form of grief where the individual locks into the traumatic experience, reliving it over-and-over-again. Cannabis interrupts this loop and allows the individual to shift awareness away from the problem temporarily to dissociate from the issue.

This allows for the individual to observe the experience and redefine what it means to them. This integration then disengages or significantly reduces the emotional-charge ascribed by the individual allowing the grieving process to move forward.

And this is important – it’s a grieving process. It’s not a simple state of being and then you’re done. It’s a systematic neurological and physical overhaul of all the processes – recreating a new way for the ego to survive in a post-loss-world.

In the case of PTSD – the process short-circuits and creates a memory loop. In these cases – using cannabis is excellent for healing.

Additionally – cannabinoids like THC and CBD are known for their anti-depressant properties, this allows the individual to reduce the sensation of grief temporarily. However, it’s important to let yourself experience grief without distorting it.

Why it’s bad to distort grief

Distorting grief can take on many forms. Some people simply deny it and throw themselves into work whereas others try to “drown it with alcohol”. While cannabis has the ability to reduce the perceived intensity of the trauma – it should never become a substitute for dealing with the trauma.

“The only way out is through” is the healthiest way to get over loss, trauma and other difficult situations that may cause grief. It’s not easy – and this is where cannabis can help. It can allow you to take in the grief in consumable chunks – as opposed to being overwhelmed by the feeling.

Nonetheless – facing it, dealing with it, crying over it and allowing your body and mind to adapt to this new paradigm is a natural and beneficial thing we do as humans. It’s important to not try to distort the grief and allow it to run its course.

If you don’t fully deal with the issues at hand, it will eventually manifest itself in other areas of your life, creating continual conflict and never truly healing.

Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Good Grief indeed – because grief is good. It’s a sign that you are healing, it’s a sign that you are getting through it – you’re adapting and rewiring yourself. Allow it to flow and when you need to slow it down a bit and take a breather, relieve yourself with some cannabis.

Of course – one of the most important things about dealing with grief is not going through it alone. If there’s one thing that neuro-scientists can agree on it’s that being with people while going through grief will heal you much faster than going about it by yourself. If you need assistance, don’t be afraid to reach out to professionals or someone close to you.

Life can hurt sometimes, cannabis may help dealing with the hurt – but ultimately, learning and growing from it will always provide the greatest benefit from the experience.