Medical Cannabis & Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that can cause extreme changes in mood. This can include low, depressive episodes and high, manic episodes. These mood swings can be both extreme and unpredictable.

Patients with a bipolar disorder may have psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions which can be exasperated by extreme cases of depression. When experiencing hallucinations or delusions, people with schizophrenia often seem to “lose touch” with reality. “Voices” are the most common type of hallucination in schizophrenia. In bipolar disorders, the psychotic symptoms tend to reflect the person’s extreme depressed or elated mood. When psychotic symptoms are present, bipolar disorder is sometimes misdiagnosed as schizophrenia.