Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week between May 9^th – 15^th 2022, and this year’s theme is loneliness.

Loneliness affects lots of people in different ways at some stage in their lives. Evidence would suggest that loneliness can be both the driving force and product of poor mental health. Particularly following the Pandemic, there have been major societal shifts which have led to a rise in many individuals’ senses of isolation and loneliness.

In fact, according to the Mental Health First Aid England, 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues every year – that’s 792 million people worldwide.

What are mental health challenges?

According to Mind.org.uk ‘Good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and want to live your life. But if you go through a period of poor mental health, you might find the ways you’re frequently thinking, feeling or reacting become difficult, or even impossible, to cope with. This can feel just as bad as a physical illness, or even worse’

There are more common mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and to rarer conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Click here for more information.

How can medical cannabis help with symptoms of poor mental health?

Poor mental health can often impact the body as much as the mind, for example many individuals that suffer with anxiety are equally suffering with IBS. Depression can lead to a loss of appetite. In both these cases, using the right medicinal cannabis prescription can help these symptoms.

Here is what our patients have to say:

‘I had tried many drugs to help my …. anxiety, eating disorder , hyperactivity, not being able to concentrate and since I tried this natural plant based medicine I’ve had more relief than any tablets I’ve tried to help …. My doctor is really understanding and is easy to talk to and the video calls are good for being able to attend when my health is not great.   I would recommend this to anyone that could get health benefits from medical cannabis’

‘I didn’t think it would happen in my lifetime but here it is! Suffered with IBS for years before I found out the Benefits of medical marijuana & to no longer have to break the law to treat my condition is groundbreaking…’

Here’s what Dr. David Tang, our Associate Medical Director has to say:

Speaking as a pain doctor, I regularly see patients whose quality of life is significantly impacted by pain and the knock on effects of it, including their mental health.

Not only does the pain prevent them from living as freely as they like, but the pain medications can sometimes really make them sleepy, meaning they don’t want to do things they like to do. On top of that, the quality of their sleep most likely is affected by their pain, meaning they are cumulatively going into each day with less and less sleep.

I have first-hand found that by improving the quality of sleep with medical cannabis, a patient’s daytime experience of pain and thus their mood and energy levels are better. In fact, I have only just gotten off the phone with a patient with fibromyalgia who says she hasn’t had a pain free day in the 26 years prior to her receiving her prescription for medicinal cannabis. Now she feels her quality of life is vastly improved. We should never underestimate what it means to be able to have your life back and do the things you love!

It is important that we all remember that mental health is not just about the treatment of a severe cognitive condition, but how our lives and physical health can impact our mental health as well

Mental health is an issue which affects us all if not directly then indirectly. Now more than ever it is important we are mindful of the silent battle’s others may be facing and open in our hearts and minds on how we can support one another. Here at TMCC we strive to support all our patients and employees equally and recommend that you reach out to a colleague, friend or family member you feel may be suffering with loneliness.

Life together is better.