The Clinical Impact of Marijuana: When the Use of Marijuana Has Gone Too Far – Hayden Center

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As a mental health clinician, you’re more likely than ever before to have clients who use marijuana and cannabis products.

And while the last decade has seen a cultural shift toward acceptance of marijuana use, cannabis has significant addictive potential that you can’t afford to overlook as a mental health clinician. Cannabis Use Disorder can exacerbate your clients’ mental health problems as they self-medicate to avoid uncomfortable emotions, thoughts, and memories.

Even if addiction isn’t the focus of your practice, you need to be prepared when your client’s use of marijuana and cannabis products goes too far!

Watch this recording and you’ll get:

• Tools and tactics to identify Cannabis Use Disorder in your clients
• Techniques for successfully treating co-occurring disorders with marijuana users
• Evidence-based approaches to manage cannabis withdrawal symptoms
• The latest on Medication Assisted Treatment

Ensure you’re confident in your ability to provide your clients’ the best care possible and ready to navigate the ever-changing impacts of drug use on your work!

1. Characterize how the addictive properties and physical impacts of marijuana on the body and how this information informs treatment approach.
2. Detail how beliefs about marijuana can negatively impact treatment and articulate how clinicians can employ techniques to combat this obstacle.  
3. Articulate how screening tools can be used with marijuana use disorder clients to identify co-occurring disorders that can negatively impact treatment outcomes. 
4. Examine the latest research regarding the efficacy of psychosocial approaches for effective marijuana cessation.

Effective Approaches to Marijuana Cessation

• Prevalence of Marijuana Use
• Modes of intake
• Potency
• Pharmokinetics

The Impact of Cannabis Use Disorder on the Brain

• Brain centers – the relationship between brain centers and pain
• The pleasure factor and the addicted brain
• Differences from other substance use disorders
• How chronic marijuana use changes the brain

Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome (CWS)

• Cutting edge research
• Symptoms and course of withdrawal
• Clinical Screening Tools
• Techniques to lessen symptoms and reduce cravings

Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Treat Cannabis Use Disorder

• Signs of marijuana use disorder and questions to ask
• CBT – recent studies 
• Motivational Interviewing and Motivational Enhancement Therapy
• Contingency Management
• 12-Step Counseling
• Family counseling
• Adjunct approaches
• Assessing and modifying treatment to ensure effectiveness
• Research limitations and risks of psychotherapeutic approaches

Identify and Treat Co-Occurring Disorders When Marijuana is Involved 

• The impact of co-occurring disorders on treatment outcomes
• Primary disorders vs. substance-induced co-occurring disorders
• Screening procedures and tools
  • Questions to ask
  • Recording results
  • Safety issues
  • Trauma history
• Validity in co-occurring treatment research
• Risks associated with co-occurring treatment options

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)

• Medications that are being used in current trials
• Limitations of research and potential treatment risks