Millions of people use cannabis as medicine for mental and emotional health. Yet scientific studies are often at odds with one another. Research suggests that cannabis can positively affect your emotions, primarily through its effects on brain and nervous system functions. Yet, other investigations draw conflicting conclusions on whether cannabis use has positive or negative mental health outcomes in the long run.
The key to discovering how cannabis affects your emotions may depend on your physiology, frequency of use over time, and dosage. The type of cannabis (e.g., CBD-rich or THC-rich) you use may also have an effect. Let’s explore.
Cannabis and the Brain
How does weed affect you emotionally? To answer that question, it’s essential to understand how marijuana’s primary psychoactive compound affects your brain activity. Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, has a chemical structure similar to your brain’s natural neurotransmitter, anandamide.
Known as the “bliss molecule,” anandamide is associated with mood elevation and increased energy. This structural similarity is one key reason that THC also enhances euphoric feelings. But how does this process work exactly?
The Human Endocannabinoid System
THC interacts with your body’s intricate communication network, the endocannabinoid system, or ECS. Chemical signals, known as neurotransmitters, and receptors intercommunicate within your ECS to manage critical processes like learning, memory, emotional processing, sleep, hormones, and temperature.
The ECS consists of several chemical receptors, but the two most consequential are CB1 and CB2. CB1 receptors exist primarily in the brain and nervous system, while CB2 receptors are located in the immune and peripheral nervous systems. When you ingest cannabis or cannabis-derived substances, cannabinoids interact with your body’s CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors to elicit various effects.
THC and the Brain
THC has an exceptionally high affinity for CB1 receptors, playing a critical role in your nervous system’s functioning. Depending on the person and usage level, this affinity can have positive and adverse cognitive outcomes.
For example, THC affects the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for memory formation, and chronic cannabis use is linked to decreased short-term memory. On the other hand, THC triggers cannabinoid receptors to activate your brain’s reward system. This, in turn, releases dopamine, which can make you feel more blissful, motivated, and creative.
Cannabis’ complex ECS influence also extends to your amygdala. The amygdala is an almond-sized brain region best known for driving your “fight or flight response,” affecting emotions such as fear, pleasure, and anger. An overactive amygdala can lead to hypervigilance or a state of chronic stress, while a regulated one can promote feelings of calm and relaxation.
How Marijuana Affects Emotions
Since THC is chemically similar to the “bliss molecule,” anandamide, it’s easy to understand why ingesting cannabis can make you feel so good. Consuming marijuana directly affects the same reward centers as anandamide, increasing dopamine levels and boosting motivation and pleasure.
Cannabis’s uplifting properties are precisely why some people managing anxiety and depression seek the plant for therapeutic benefits. Similarly, people managing chronic pain often turn to cannabis, finding that the compound improves overall mood and quality of life along with their pain perception.
Others with less persistent conditions turn to cannabis to unwind from a long day, claiming that the compound reduces stress and helps them sleep more soundly. Surveys indicate that people believe marijuana helps them feel happier, relaxed, in tune with their emotions and less stressed.