Emotions are one of the binding forces of human nature that connect people. This is the force that makes and breaks the relationship, some get a sense of justice, some feel loved and some feel hate. Emotions are the difference between a lover and a killer; do you now see the power one’s emotions hold?
Story Stages
But did you ever consider what happens when you lose your emotions?
Without emotions, you will forget how to be you. There will be no joy in marrying your loved one or getting that promotion you work so hard for. There will be no sadness about losing a close friend or getting anxious over an upcoming meeting.
Unfortunately, it is not just a concept, it is a reality some people live in and it is not as fun as it might sound. Oh yeah, fun is also a concept that is stunted.
This absence of emotions and feelings is what we called emotional blunting.
But how is emotional blunting connected with cannabis use?
Although many reasons can be the cause of emotional blunting, cannabis has recently got in the headlines for the new studies that did find a connection between the two.
This new research article indicates the effects of consuming cannabis for a long period on the emotional state of the consumer.
Between the time period of 2002 to 2017, a sharp increase in the consumption of cannabis was seen. The consumption increased from 10.4% to 15% which became a topic of concern among scientists.
A lot of research indicates that chronic cannabis use may have negative effects on one’s cognitive functioning, memory, attention, and learning along with emotional processing.
These are some of the effects that chronic cannabis users showed:
- Little to no responsiveness to external stimuli
- Difficulty in identifying and distinguishing between the emotions like happiness, anger, sadness, etc
- Researchers found that there is lower neural activity even when exposed to emotional stimuli.
- Decrease in the prefrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex in showing emotional images was also seen when measured by fMRI.
And as per marijuana doctors, the main culprits behind these effects might be THC and CBD, two sub-components of marijuana. This is because THC and CBD work by interfering with the emotional processing of the consumer. For instance, THC makes its consumer anxious and CBD tends to lower it.
So does this mean taking marijuana/ cannabis even for medical purposes is harmful?
This might be a topic of concern for people with Marijuana cards who have to take marijuana regularly for medical purposes. But you can take a breath of relief for now, as there is much more research that needs to be done on this topic.
Scientists still need to study the effect of chronic use of cannabis-based on sex, age, and other relevant factors like mental health. Because the majority of the existing research on this topic includes adolescents and youngsters.
Since there is not much information on whether cannabis can cause emotional blunting in adults or not you can keep using your New Jersey Medical Marijuana Card for the time being.
