“Post-traumatic stress disorder sharply increases the risk of depression and suicide. Individuals living with post-traumatic stress disorder frequently use cannabis to treat associated symptoms.
We sought to investigate whether cannabis use modifies the association between post-traumatic stress disorder and experiencing a major depressive episode or suicidal ideation.
Among 24,089 eligible respondents, 420 (1.7%) reported a current clinical diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. In total, 106 (28.2%) people with post-traumatic stress disorder reported past-year cannabis use, compared to 11.2% of those without post-traumatic stress disorder (p < 0.001). In multivariable analyses, post-traumatic stress disorder was significantly associated with recent major depressive episode (adjusted odds ratio = 7.18, 95% confidence interval: 4.32–11.91) and suicidal ideation (adjusted odds ratio = 4.76, 95% confidence interval: 2.39–9.47) among cannabis non-users. post-traumatic stress disorder was not associated with either outcome among cannabis-using respondents (both p > 0.05).
This study provides preliminary epidemiological evidence that cannabis use may contribute to reducing the association between post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depressive and suicidal states. There is an emerging need for high-quality experimental investigation of the efficacy of cannabis/cannabinoids for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31684805
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881119882806