is smoking weed bad for bipolar disorder?

I started typing and this got long. I hope I give a balanced answer

Weed is different for everyone, and there's really no way to know how it is for you. It's entirely possible it really isn't. I think it's about 20% of ALL people don't get a positive benefit from it. I would speculate that it's a higher percentage for anyone with any mental illness, especially if it's strong enough that you've ever needed to spend time in a hospital. But this is just a guess.

I believe it helps me personally, but I'm also careful to moderate my infrequent consumption and keep my tolerance really low, largely because of availability (Closest retail availability is vacation in Amsterdam, and all Europe is in lockdown right now). I feel that it calms and stabilizes me, but the effect tapers off after a few days. It has however given me a different perspective on existence, reality, being nice to people and kindness. If I concentrate, I can recapture that. This brings me peace.

The thing about potent weed is that it really depends on "set and setting", so it's best when you are in a comfortable place with people you love, and perhaps focus on them. I'm lucky that I have the best wife in the world, and I really focus on her. Then I can be in a nice happy place. Sometimes even days afterwards I have a real sense of calm peacefulness which is a nice break from the usual crap inside my head.

If you're not in a good environment when you get high, it's super easy to have a really uncomfortable time, especially if too much is consumed. So far I've been lucky.

In any case, going super slow is important. The very first time I tried it, I ate HALF of a 10mg edible, in a comfortable vacation cottage with some friends around. No high, just really mellowed. The next day, I had a whole one. I was really peaceful. Some months later I was a bit overly daring and had 3/4 of an Amsterdam spacecake. I would really not recommend to try that much uninitiated. It was strong, very strange and in the end enjoyable, but it could have very easily been many extremely uncomfortable hours.

I'll also say that (Assuming cannabis is OK for you personally), it you haven't ever tried it before, it really isn't like how you probably expect what it's like.

CBD bud is also available retail everywhere here, the calming effect is pretty subtle. Because of this, I think CBD is probably more helpful and less likely to cause problems for someone that potent weed would be a problem for them.

/r/bipolar Thread