The effects of marijuana – Marijuana addiction

The effects of marijuana are a complex issue. Cannabis smoking can be seen as a simple and quick way to relieve internal tension, especially when the nervous system is in a state of chronic activation due to trauma. Trauma, especially if it is not processed, can have serious consequences for the body and mind. People often turn to cannabis as a means of temporary relief because it allows them to temporarily distance themselves from their unpleasant feelings, such as anxiety, depression, tension or pain.

What happens on a neurophysiological level is that trauma leaves the nervous system in a state of “freezing” or overexcitement. When a person is under the influence of trauma, their body often remains in a state of “struggle, fight or freeze”, which is perceived through constant tension, feelings of helplessness or overstimulation. In such a situation, cannabis can provide the prospect of calming the nervous system and enabling a temporary “exclusion” or relief from this emotional overflow.

But while this may seem helpful in the short term, in the long term, cannabis smoking leaves a person trapped in a cycle of avoidance and suppression. Instead of a person struggling with trauma and emotions that need to be processed, cannabis allows these emotions to ‘freeze’ and remain unexperienced. This leads to a state of stagnation – a place where the person feels unable to progress, unable to experience emotional clarity and unable to release internal tension.
Marko (fictitious person and fictitious scenario), a 34-year-old man, came to therapy because of feelings of chronic anxiety and a problem with insomnia. During the course of the conversation, he revealed that he had been smoking cannabis every day for several years. If he felt intense stress or anxiety, he would turn to cannabis because, as he says, it “helped him to calm down”. Marko also admitted that he rarely experienced feelings of anger or violence because cannabis would simply “soothe” them.

But during therapy we discovered deeper layers to his story. As a child, Marko grew up in a dysfunctional family environment, with parents who often argued and never provided emotional support. These experiences created a deep insecurity and a feeling of constant tension in him, but Marko never processed these feelings. Instead, when he discovered cannabis in the early 2000s, he began to use it as a way to distance himself from emotional pain. However, despite temporary relief, his anxiety worsened and his sleep problems increased.

In therapy, we worked through the Somatic Experiencing (SE) method, which enabled Mark to start paying attention to his bodily sensations. Instead of immediately reaching for cannabis in moments of stress, he learned to recognize where he felt tension in the body – often as a feeling of tightness in the chest or heaviness in the stomach. Through progressive interventions, such as focusing attention on breathing or bodily sensation, Marko began to feel how tension naturally decreases. He gradually developed the ability to tolerate unpleasant emotions such as anger, sadness or fear, without the need to escape.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) and trauma processing

Somatic Experiencing therapy is based on the idea that trauma is not just a mental state, but also a bodily experience that remains frozen in the nervous system. When we experience trauma, the body is unable to naturally release the stress energy that was created during the traumatic event. Instead, this energy remains blocked and constantly activates our nervous system. For example, a person may constantly feel tension in their muscles, experience problems or chronic stress.

By smoking cannabis, this tension is temporarily reduced, but the body remains in a state of “freezing”. The person ceases to feel unwell, but also ceases to feel the capacity for growth and fulfillment. SE offers a way for the person to start feeling their body again and to gradually release the pent-up energy.

One of the key aspects of SE is progress. The person does not have to immediately approach the most difficult and most intense feelings, but rather takes small steps. For example, the client may first realize how they feel safely, focusing on minor bodily experiences. Through practice, the person learns to recognize when their nervous system is in a state of overload and develops strategies to return to a state of regulation.

Example from practice

Ana (fictitious person and fictitious scenario) is a 28-year-old woman who has used cannabis since adolescence to cope with the emotional pain associated with the loss of her parents at an early age. When she started therapy, she often spoke of feeling “empty” and “emotionally numb”. She could not feel any joy or sadness, and she said that her life was “on hold”. Although she used cannabis every day to “remain functional”, she also felt that she could not progress or connect emotionally with people.

Through therapy, Ana began to work on recognizing the physical sensations associated with this emotional numbness. One day she realized that her heart would beat faster every time she touched on the subject of the loss of her parents, but at the same time she felt how she wanted to escape and “quench” that feeling at that moment. Through guided practice, she learned how to gently tolerate these physical reactions, allowing herself to feel the tension, but without becoming overwhelmed.

After several months of therapy, Ana reduced her cannabis use because she developed the ability to regulate her emotions in a healthier way. She began to feel emotional clarity and a stronger connection to herself, instead of running from painful emotions.

Cannabis smoking is often a way of avoiding processing painful emotions and traumas that the body has not processed. Although it offers a temporary relief, in the long term it prevents the person from processing their inner world and repressed feelings. Somatic Experiencing therapy offers a path to genuine healing, enabling the person to re-establish contact with their body and emotions. Through a gradual, safe process, the person learns to tolerate difficult feelings and frees the nervous system from a constant state of overwhelm, providing a greater sense of peace and freedom.

*Keywords: Marijuana dependence, somatic experiencing therapy, psychotherapist zagreb, gestalt therapy

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