Hi y’all! Congrats for your powerful site! It’s very informative and useful! I’m a 22 years old female and I am officially diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, ADHD, Asperger’s Disorder and Cannabis Abuse Disorder. I take medication and I go to a psychotherapist for BPD. I’d like to ask you a few questions. As a person with these disorders, is marijuana harmful for me? Because my psychiatrist said to me that cannabis can trigger psychotic symptoms. Is that absolutely true? Is it scientifically proven? Considering that I take medication, can weed affect my brain’s biochemistry? I don’t think I’m addicted to weed (2 psychiatrists believe this), I just enjoy it a lot. Basically, I love it! It calms me down and it makes me cheerful. I feel so cozy and satisfied. I’ve also experimented with MDMA and cocaine. Coke corrected my ADHD for as long as I was high. I could concentrate easily on stuff that I normally wouldn’t. Why did that happen? The last question I wanna ask is if there’s a cure for BPD. I asked my psychiatrist but she doesn’t know and she thinks it’s up to me in some way. Will I take my medication for my whole life? If not, for so long? I know you can’t tell me an exact number but I think you can guess! Will I be completely cured? Or I’ll always be a borderline? Sorry for the long text and if I made any mistakes (I’m not a native English speaker, I’m Greek). Thanks a lot in advance and I hope to answer me!
In general, and not just for people with certain mental illnesses, marijuana is dangerous. The federal government uses a schedule or a classification system to rank the danger of drugs. There are five distinct categories or schedules. Schedule 1 drugs are considered the most dangerous whereas schedule 5 drugs are considered the least dangerous. As it currently stands, marijuana (cannabis) is classified as a schedule 1 drugs which is defined as there being “no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse…with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.”
No one can say with certainty that marijuana triggers psychosis but studies have shown that individuals who use marijuana have a greater likelihood of experiencing psychosis than individuals who do not use marijuana.
If you want to learn more about the biochemical nature of drugs, you can do this by reading books, taking classes, and so forth. Your psychiatrist might be able to answer your specific questions about why you feel a particular way when using certain drugs.
People often experience pleasure from using drugs, which is why they use drugs in the first place, but drugs can ruin your life. Marijuana, cocaine, and illicit drugs in general, have led many people to addiction and some others to an early death. It’s not a symptom management strategy that I would ever recommend.
Regarding your final question about borderline personality disorder (BPD), there currently is no official “cure” but many people live relatively symptom-free and quality lives with treatment. One of the most effective treatments for BPD is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
Whether or not you will need treatment for the rest of your life is not a question that can be answered. It depends on many factors including how severe your disorder is, the quality of your treatment, and whether you continue to use illicit drugs, which could severely disrupt your treatment progress, among others.
Psychologically healthy people don’t use drugs. If you want to achieve optimal psychological health, then you should refrain from drug use and participate in treatment for however long it takes you to achieve your life goals. Please take care.
Dr. Kristina Randle
