PTSD Test and How It Is Used with Medical Marijuana

PTSD can manifest differently for everyone. Managing your symptoms is possible, but first, it’s important to know how PTSD affects you. Our PTSD test is a way of measuring whether what you are experiencing is mild or severe. Essentially, we give you a questionnaire with possible symptoms and you rate how severely they affect you on a scale of 0 to 4.

Not all of the questions on the test are PTSD-related. Some are just for us to see how your mental health is in general. It’s also worth noting that this isn’t a full diagnostic—it’s mainly for us to gauge how to manage your PTSD in a healthy and beneficial way. Management can include a number of different tools such as therapy, medication, and marijuana use.

If you want a more detailed diagnosis, we recommend checking in with your doctor. Keep reading for more information regarding the PTSD test and how medical marijuana is used by patients.

A Brief History

While marijuana use for PTSD is a relatively new development, the framework for measuring and formulating such treatments started around 1989. The US Department of Veterans Affairs wanted a more thorough way to check for and understand PTSD symptoms. 

The National Center for PTSD, a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, created the first screening test known as the Clinician-Administered PTSD scale (CAPS).

Before long, CAPS was being used everywhere across the country, both in psychology and healthcare. The beauty of the test was how it managed to check for physical, measurable symptoms along with each person’s subjective experiences with PTSD.

The 17 Primary Symptoms

Our PTSD test tracks the 17 primary symptoms ranging from mild to severe, which helps us evaluate how marijuana use can help with managing your PTSD. However, keep in mind that our PTSD symptoms list is not exhaustive. We’ve simplified it to the most basic symptoms to make it easier for people to get through. These symptoms include:

• Vivid flashbacks to traumatic events
• Nightmares
• Disturbing memories you can’t get out of your head
• Panic in response to triggers/reminders of the trauma
• Avoiding thinking or talking about the trauma
• Avoiding places or situations related to the trauma
• Feelings of hopelessness or emotional vulnerability
• Emotional distance between friends and family
• Problems managing relationships
• Negative worldview or self-image
• Lack of interest in doing things you used to enjoy
• Becoming startled or easily upset 
• Extreme stress in dangerous situations
• Insomnia
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feelings of shame and guilt
• Self-destructive behavior

Even if you feel like your symptoms aren’t included in our PTSD test, you may still be able to use medical marijuana. Start by contacting us or your doctor to talk about your specific concerns. We can help you better understand your symptoms and how to treat PTSD with medical cannabis.

Our Experiences with PTSD Patients

At Ozark MMJ Cards, we’ve seen many patients from mass shooting survivors, child abuse victims, and war veterans with PTSD symptoms ranging from mild to severe. With our test, we’ve been able to help people manage their PTSD with medical cannabis treatments. The best approach we’ve used for evaluating PTSD symptoms is to take into account their physical manifestations and psychological effects. This gives us a more fully-realized vision of your PTSD experience and how we can use marijuana to treat it.

We also made sure the test could be free and HIPAA-compliant to provide quality results while ensuring no one had to pay for access to their personal analysis. We believe that all visitors should have equal access to the test, so we designed ours with these principles in mind. It’s free, incorporates CAPS scoring, and still allows for a personalized analysis.

How We Use the Test

Our version of the test incorporates a freeform section where you can write freely about your history with PTSD and how it’s affected you personally.

For any new patients, we also have a special form to tell us all about your current medications, smoking habits, and previous therapy or counseling.

The Outcome

By allowing users to tell us their personal history, we gather a lot more information that ultimately helps us determine how effective medical marijuana use will be in managing your PTSD. We want to be active, caring listeners and make you feel as secure as possible through this process.

Every patient is unique and deserves dedicated, personal efforts to meet their needs. Whether you’re struggling with child abuse PTSD or a veteran looking for advice about PTSD and medical cannabis treatment, we are here to help you.

If at any time you have any questions regarding PTSD and how marijuana use can help treat it, feel free to reach out to us. Figure out if you qualify for a medical marijuana card by taking our free PTSD Test today!