Pregnant and recently postpartum women who suffer with mental health disorders may be vulnerable to using cannabis to self-medicate, according to a Rutgers-led study. In a nationally representative survey, Qiana L. Brown, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work, examined the relationship between mental health disorders, cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) among pregnant and postpartum women in the US. The findings were published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
“Before this study, we didn’t know much about the associations between cannabis use, CUD and specific mental health disorders, such as bipolar disorder or specific phobia, among pregnant and postpartum women in the US,” Brown said. “Most prior research grouped mental health disorders into general classes, such as any mood disorder or any anxiety disorder, without examining the relationship between specific types of mood and anxiety disorders and cannabis use and CUD during and after pregnancy.” To read the full story.