Due to the wide expression of cannabinoid receptors throughout limbic regions of the brain, endocannabinoids control both emotional behavior and cognitive processes. Endocannabinoids have an essential role in maintaining emotional homeostasis. Endocannabinoids regulate affective states and participate in memory consolidation, retrieval, and extinction. Clinical findings showing a relationship between Cannabis use and PTSD, as well as changes in endocannabinoid activity in PTSD patients, further suggest the existence of a link between endocannabinoids and maladaptive brain changes after trauma exposure. Along these lines, we suggest that endocannabinoid degradation inhibitors may be an ideal therapeutic approach to simultaneously treat the emotional and cognitive features of PTSD, avoiding the unwanted psychotropic effects of compounds directly binding cannabinoid receptors.
Link: The Endocannabinoid System As A Possible Target To Treat Both The Cognitive And Emotional Features Of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Year: 2013
DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00100
Likely probability of the efficacy of cannabis for treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder according to the results found in this study.
Cannabinoids
Endocannabinoid degradation inhibitors