umm.....Marijuana.

[Smooch]

So basically I'm wondering if this is just a me thing or possibly an INTP thing. And I have no where else to talk about this.

sorry in advance if this is uninteresting :/

I used to enjoy getting high. There were always things I didn't enjoy about being high, but most of the time it was great. Lately though, I haven't been able to get high without feeling guilty, getting chills, feeling like people are out to get me, or just feeling depressed in general. That's right, I get depressed when I smoke marijuana. Isn't it supposed to do the opposite?!
It also makes me more emotional. I cry almost every time I smoke weed. I feel intensified rage, sadness, fleeting euphoria, and it all comes and goes very quickly.

I guess I'm looking for answers. I seem to be the only one who experiences these things while high. Am I just weird? Why does this happen to me?

Needless to say I have stopped smoking the stuff. Wish I could still get joy out of it.

 

[Iximi]

How long have you been sober? If you have been sober for over a month and no longer feel any sort of depression/anxiety then it was probably just the effects of having thc never fully leaving your system. If you still feel depressed and anxious at times WITHOUT smoking/consuming then the weed probably wasn't the REAL issue (more likely just a catalyst bringing these feelings into the forefront.). From my experience the "paranoia" effects of Marijuana usually are stronger in people that are experiencing stress/feeling anxious in their day-to-day lives (I don't have a study to back this however).

Also something to think about- are you smoking alone or with people you do not feel completely comfortable with? Those things can make a big difference.

 

[systembust]

Went through the same thing. Smoked for 8 or 9 years constantly but it got worse and worse towards the end; had to stop doing it socially because it started inducing anxiety... always overanalyzing, too cerebral to stay attuned with the moment. Was diagnosed as a reefer addict and alcoholic. I have pretty much stopped but I will still buy the occasional sack as a diversion here and there; it's important for me to do it carefully and keep the resolve not to get sucked back into being a straight pothead. I would advise that you do the same. If you need to smoke, get a dime or so for the weekend here and there, but put limits on it and stick to them.

btw, I've found that really good weed tends not to have these adverse effects, but that's too costly for my current budget, so.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

Yup, marijuana started not being fun for me too. I smoked for ~ 2 years. Near the end I was mostly smoking by myself, and I was getting pretty bad anxiety. And yeah, I was also getting more emotional, and crying when I was high. (I actually kinda liked it... at the moment I haven't cried for a few months and I could kinda go for it.)

I think the freakiest part was that I started feeling like I could hear people's voices. Sometimes it seemed like the thoughts of people around me, or voices in the other room, or just... random voices. And I'd be anxious about it, so I would just replay what I heard in my head. The garble would get enhanced, syllables drop into place, and I'd end up getting a kind of freaky and paranoid message or phrase.

So yeah. I can occasionally take one hit, but that's it. I don't identify as being a pothead, either.

I do miss it, though. I loved the hypomania, the rush of thoughts, that would entertain me as I was coming down. And it being 4am, with just me and my college room.

 

[The Gopher]

I think the freakiest part was that I started feeling like I could hear people's voices. Sometimes it seemed like the thoughts of people around me, or voices in the other room, or just... random voices. And I'd be anxious about it, so I would just replay what I heard in my head. The garble would get enhanced, syllables drop into place, and I'd end up getting a kind of freaky and paranoid message or phrase.

Yeah that just happens normally for me, well when I am half asleep anyway. I hear people around me say things that I know they haven't said.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I think INTPs often appreciate cannabis, but just shouldn't do it too often, and definitely not when they are feeling a little gloomy already.
A lot of INTPs(all, basically) I know suffer from racing thoughts and skepticism already. When you smoke too much weed, that shit just gets worse.

Take it easy, lower your smoking frequency and dose, and smoke with people you trust. If you know what you're doing, it's pretty fun/relaxing.
It also depends on the type of cannabis you're smoking. Hash tends to contain a lot of CBD, thus causing you to become relaxed, and less paranoid. Sativas may give you the negative effects like paranoia and anxiety more often. (Not if you're in a good mood, though. Then they can be mind-expanding and may bring on euphoria and such.) Indicas tend to be somewhere in between. Indicas used to have a lot of CBD I think, but the last few years breeders have been breeding only to get a high THC content, and kind of ruined all other cannabinoids. Although that trend luckily seems to be stagnating, and people are becoming more and more aware of the other aspects of weed besides the THC ratio.

 

[Smooch]

@systembust- "too cerebral to stay attuned with the moment" seems to describe how I'd feel pretty well. btw, I've had good weed (cryp) and regs and neither one of them was good for me.


@Reverse Transcriptase- When you heard voices were thy always negative messages?

@Dimensional Transition- When you say hash do you mean oil? cause I have heard it's more relaxing rather than making your mind race and so I've been wanting to try it.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

@systembust- "too cerebral to stay attuned with the moment" seems to describe how I'd feel pretty well. btw, I've had good weed (cryp) and regs and neither one of them was good for me.


@Reverse Transcriptase- When you heard voices were thy always negative messages?

@Dimensional Transition- When you say hash do you mean oil? cause I have heard it's more relaxing rather than making your mind race and so I've been wanting to try it.

Yeah, hash can come in the form of hash oil, too. The oil is usually much stronger. So you'll probably only need to sprinkle a little bit over some tobacco or so.
But yeah, that's what it does. Hash/hash oil is generally much more of a soothing experience. It relieves physical pain and basically slows down your thoughts rather than making them race. I prefer to use hash more than weed, to keep everything balanced. It seems to be working. For example I will smoke 1 weed-spliff for 4 hash-spliffs.(Not necessarily all in one day, but you get the idea. )

 

[Smooch]

^ lol I think you were editing your post in the middle of me reading it :O cause the message kept disappearing and then the words changed.

haha but anyway, Are the effects of hash like the effects of alcohol? Cause that's kind of what it's sounding like.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Yeah, I kept noticing little grammatical errors and such that I had to fix haha.

Hmmm, I guess it's a little like alcohol, but generally more clear-headed and just... chill. You won't start embarrassing conversations and such with everybody.

PS: Hash smells really, really nice. I love it. Kind of... herbal, minty, earthy... Really hard to explain, actually.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

I think INTPs often appreciate cannabis, but just shouldn't do it too often, and definitely not when they are feeling a little gloomy already.
A lot of INTPs(all, basically) I know suffer from racing thoughts and skepticism already. When you smoke too much weed, that shit just gets worse.

I think you meant "gets better". :-P (Okay, okay, it's highly situation.)

@Reverse Transcriptase- When you heard voices were thy always negative messages?

Not always. Sometimes they were just neutral or informative. But they weren't ever ego-boosting, positive or congratulatory.

 

[Smooch]

Not always. Sometimes they were just neutral or informative. But they weren't ever ego-boosting, positive or congratulatory.

YOu know, it's weird though. In a way I can imagine myself liking it. Hearing shit, I mean.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

YOu know, it's weird though. In a way I can imagine myself liking it. Hearing shit, I mean.

Oh yeah. It's bizarre. But the problem is that like... you should be prepared to take action for what you hear. Or you should have the decision made. One night I was smoking with my roommates and I heard a girl scream! It sounded like it came from outside and I was like "wait, did you guys here that?!" They looked at me with dumb looks on their faces. It bothered me for awhile, and I think I really should have gone outside... just to be sure. It wasn't that safe of a neighborhood.

So. If you are going to welcome voices, you need to know how far you'd go to appease them.

(I probably sound totally nuts right now. I stopped smoking and the voices went away. And even when they were around, they were rare-- a "few times a month" kind of thing. And let me again remind you that they were not crystal clear voices, they were highly distorted.)

 

[Causeless]

Can't say this has ever happened to me.

I mean, I've had highs that went south and a little overly paranoid, but I've always chalked that up to a bad dose, mindset, or environment and told myself to work through it. I've heard voices, but was able to understand they were essentially my own. I may have terrible discipline, but I can display some awesome willpower.

Then again, I've been smoking weed for a very long time. Not as long as most, but nearly a decade, and I started rather young.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Can't say this has ever happened to me.

I mean, I've had highs that went south and a little overly paranoid, but I've always chalked that up to a bad dose, mindset, or environment and told myself to work through it. I've heard voices, but was able to understand they were essentially my own. I may have terrible discipline, but I can display some awesome willpower.

Then again, I've been smoking weed for a very long time. Not as long as most, but nearly a decade, and I started rather young.

How young were you when you started?

 

[Causeless]

I was 13, if I remember correctly.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Daily? Or just the first time you tried?

Sorry if this comes over as annoying or so, merely interested.

 

[Causeless]

Not at the onset, no. Even if I wanted to, I just didn't have the access at that age. I quickly ramped up as I got older, though, as I had better access to both product and cash. Hiding it was never an issue, as both my parents were cool with it.

My use overall is mitigated pretty much only by availability. When I can get it I smoke, when I can't I don't.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Seems like a good method!

 

[attar]

I sometimes get paranoia then I smoke weed. It just reinforces the usual paranoiac thoughts that I get normally, but then I am not high it is just fun, it doesn't scare me.

As for the voices, I get it sometimes than I am high, but I get it much more often then I am just stressed or tired. Its neither negative nor positive messages, it just seems that a person near me said something quite disturbing very clearly, but then I ask them to explain what they mean by that or to repeat it, it becomes obvious that no one said anything. I wonder if I should get worried about this? It doesn't affect my life, but I guess hearing voices is never a good sign.

 

[Smooch]

I honestly don't think hearing voices is something to worry about if it's not affecting your life. I think the cause of it is that's just our own thoughts we're hearing, not realizing that that's the source XP

 

[areilla10]

I've never been high. Probably never will be unless I bake some up into a batch of brownies or something. I just can't bring myself to suck smoke (of any sort) into my lungs intentionally. I've been drunk, and I find it has some nice emotional lubricating effects. As long as I'm ready to be happy, it allows me to stop stressing and second-guessing, at least temporarily, and just be happy in the moment. If I'm already moody to begin with however, I become undistractably fixated on all the inequity in the world and just end up crying in the shower. Yay. Great way to spend date night.

I know it may not appeal to a lot of INTPs, but I have a keen interest in the so-called supernatural. I don't really believe in anything supernatural: it either exists or it does not. Our current understanding doesn't allow for it, so we refer to anything outside of our narrow definition as "supernatural". Anyway, your experiences with disembodied voices is interesting. I think it's entirely within the capability of the human organism to communicate energetically. Proven or not, the phenomena of clairaudience (hearing things), clairvoyance (seeing things), clairsentience (sensing, feeling things), and empathic response exist. Perhaps something about weed enables the mind to quiet its ego long enough to let the subconscious have its say. Maybe they're your own voices, maybe they belong to someone/something else? Who knows? If marijuana amplifies this though, I could do without it. I get this without any assistance, TYVM. Holy crap, being in a crowd feels overwhelming to begin with without being inundated with their static mind-fuzz. I think I hear the sirens now... Where is the straitjacket smiley?

 

[Causeless]

If I'm already moody to begin with however, I become undistractably fixated on all the inequity in the world and just end up crying in the shower. Yay. Great way to spend date night.

There's a story behind this, I feel.

Care to tell it?

I'll bake you some cookies if you do.

 

[Smooch]

"Perhaps something about weed enables the mind to quiet its ego long enough to let the subconscious have its say."

I do think that, in a way, weed brings out things from our subconscious.

 

[NoMan]

I smoke weed regularly, and don't have any adverse feelings about it. I used to, but all things are products of their environment and all environments are products of their things; when "I used to," it was because of overbearing, hypocritical people who tried to hold me to standards that they often didn't fulfill themselves.

Now I live in a household where everyone smokes the stuff. It's really communal and pressure-free, even if we all have different personalities.

I'm nineteen, started when I was sixteen, have smoked more or less gratuitously since. Tripped on shrooms a few significant times, too. It's not really a bother to my wallet or my mind. I live transparently: The shit gets offered to me constantly because I live in a house with it and I do manual/dirty work for fun all the time (this is an ISTJ habit that I'm glad I was able to pick up; In a house full of stoners, simply smiling at people and doing dishes/laundry/trash earns you free weed).

I'm pretty comfortable with my mortality, and I acknowledge that respiratory problems will inevitably occur if I keep using bowls and bongs, which is why I plan on getting a vaporizer eventually.

Eventually, my mantra.

 

[NinjaSurfer]

So basically I'm wondering if this is just a me thing or possibly an INTP thing. And I have no where else to talk about this.

sorry in advance if this is uninteresting :/

I used to enjoy getting high. There were always things I didn't enjoy about being high, but most of the time it was great. Lately though, I haven't been able to get high without feeling guilty, getting chills, feeling like people are out to get me, or just feeling depressed in general. That's right, I get depressed when I smoke marijuana. Isn't it supposed to do the opposite?!
It also makes me more emotional. I cry almost every time I smoke weed. I feel intensified rage, sadness, fleeting euphoria, and it all comes and goes very quickly.

I guess I'm looking for answers. I seem to be the only one who experiences these things while high. Am I just weird? Why does this happen to me?

Needless to say I have stopped smoking the stuff. Wish I could still get joy out of it.

I'm the same way--
it's not the weed
cleaning your system might be good;
I'm still in the stage debating whether or not I should quit cold turkey for a couple weeks and flush it out;

this is just my hypothesis based on personal experience, of being high for the past 3 yrs and still functioning as a normal human being, creating/running a business as best I could, etc...

I think weed acts more as a mood stabilizer, reducing the peaks and troughs of our emotions-- to where it could be worse if one were not high. However, I do relate to the "paranoia"-- much worse for an INTP since we are very good at framing arguments to prove whatever we want it to prove; don't look at paranoia in a negative light, because what's really happening is that you're becoming logically hypersensitive, and the best clinical definition I can come up with is temporary "hypervigilance"

I think that paranoia/hypervigilance occurs because weed numbs some physical senses so that some mental senses become stronger, more aware, more sensitive; for example, the pain relieving properties are more commonly discussed-- but I personally gain a super ability to focus, which is less commonly discussed in popular weed literature that I have seen. Because when I'm high, there is less focus on physical sensations, as an introvert-- it is almost heaven in a sense because it allows me to fully retreat into my mind, making it easier to block out sensations that don't matter. Call it artificially induced latent inhibition. It's not surprising that paranoia can result from this drug... but I'll take it-- there are very few other negative side effects I can produce. I am actually in the healthiest and best shape of my life, and i do the bong/pipe every day, lungs not noticeably damaged and I have also been asthmatic my whole life.

So-- my point is. Don't blame the weed. Sure it can be a good scapegoat. Just explore your inner awareness to find out what's really troubling you. For INTP's it's almost so easy that it's difficult:

for example, someone accused me of being gay. I am so very NOT gay-- but my openmindedness did not immediately challenge it; I went through a process, (imagine naked women) i like, (imagine naked man) feelings of disgust; "okay, I'm pretty sure I am not gay"

anyways-- the more self aware you are, the more paranoid you will also become about the outside world; because the better you know yourself, the less you will focus on yourself and the more you will see the outside world;

however, you could just be a paranoid person too, I'm not excluding that!

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Ah, NinjaSurfer, you might've just given the reason why I sometimes feel lonely when high. I'll feel lonely when talking to friends. I won't feel any connection to them at all. It feels like everything around me is just nothingness, space, and my mind is the only real thing. When I watch a movie, however, I get completely sucked in.

 

[argyleprawnhand]

I had the exact same experience after awhile. I used it primarily as a means of divesting from reality, and after a time, it really just triggered horrible anxiety attacks. I realized that the group of people I was associating with were nothing like me except for our mutual drug dependence. They were awful people, and I felt bad about lowering myself and my standards just to feel some kind of belonging. It's been my experience, that after you cross that physiological precipice, there isn't really any turning back. I don't miss it though. I'd listen to what your body and mind are telling you.

 

[areilla10]

There's a story behind this, I feel.

Care to tell it?

I'll bake you some cookies if you do.

Sadly there isn't. Just my annoying INFP personality rearing its weepy, melodramatic head. I've got one of those "perfect storm" personalities that pairs the INTP's inability to stop thinking and the inability to ignore the truth with the INFP's ability to see the potential in everyone/everything and the INability to settle for anything less. My poor ESTJ hubby pours me one too many drinks for a romantic night in when I'm a tad hormonal, he leaves me to shower and comes back to find me slobbering all over myself, sobbing inconsolably over every hurt the world has ever felt and I can't do anything about it.

Can I have just one cookie? Maybe if I made something up...

 

[Pizzabeak]

Same thing that happened to me, glad it's a relatively normal issue. Considered stopping altogether. If I smoke more than at least a hit it's like I'm just there observing, rarely able to talk & if I do manage to speak there might be like a 50/50 chance it's something 'unsatisfactory', I guess. I dunno.

 

[The Gopher]

Yeah that just happens normally for me, well when I am half asleep anyway. I hear people around me say things that I know they haven't said.

...! Just coming back into this thread I was thinking of saying something then I ran into myself....

 

[bds4206]

"Perhaps something about weed enables the mind to quiet its ego long enough to let the subconscious have its say."

I do think that, in a way, weed brings out things from our subconscious.

I agree with this. I've fallen on hard times the last 6 months or so and I can't smoke any more. Any time I do, I just feel like a failure and I feel extreme guilt and sadness. But all I think it's really doing is making me face the issues that I have been having and the feelings maybe should be there...but I chose to quit smoking pot until things get better and instead I'll ignore life with booze

But when things were going very well for me I FUCKING LOVED SMOKING WEED!!!!!!

I've smoked off and on since 14~ I'm 30 now. I've noticed that when I quit for an extended period of time and then start again the first few sacks will mess with my head a little but after that it goes back to the way it should be....me getting stoned and playing video games or watching a movie and loving every second of it.

Interesting thread and topic. This is actually my first post on this site.

 

[Jedi]

Take a break for a month or so. Also, the type of weed can make a difference. Try buying mid-grade shit, it's usually grown under the sun as opposed to under florescent lights in your neighbors closet.

 

[Affinity]

I can relate. When I was younger, I never really had a problem with smoking weed but nowadays when I do, it most likely leads to extreme over-analyzing, being overly self conscious, and overly critical. All that leading to anxiety. Not to say it happens every time I touch it now but more often times than not. I have to be in an extremely carefree state in order to enjoy it otherwise I just feel like a POS, well a bigger POS anyways.

 

[Essence]

I used to get the same feeling. Like the worst case scenario is constantly playing out, and i was the only one aware of it. It always involved people finding out, or me being afraid that i was going to freak out and weird everyone out in some way. I stopped for a while because of it. The biggest thing that helped me is realizing that as long as i don't turn an unconscious thought into a conscious one by freaking out about it, nobody really knows anything. It doesn't really matter how you get to the final result, as long as you get there. And whatever happens, stay chill.

 

[Smooch]

wow, I made this thread a while ago it seems like :/

Anyhow, I have smoked weed sense. I had good and bad experiences...it seems like mostly, when I'm high, I would get negative/paranoid/anxious thoughts and push them out, and FORCE myself to be happy. Which worked! but then when the high wore off, the anxiety (worrying about how people were perceiving me when I was high) came back.

I'm still iffy about it. :/

On a side note, my boyfriend smokes weed and claims it helps his asthma by letting him take deep breaths, something he can't do when he's not smoking. Anyone know anything about this?

edit: Oddly enough because I consider myself an introvert, I feel better, generally speaking, the more people I am hanging out with when I am high. If it's just me and two other friends, or one other person-it's like my thoughts get WAY TOO LOUD.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Here's a question:

You know how sometimes you get all paranoid and it appears as if people are talking about you? Are they? If you're sober would they still be talking about you? Most people don't go out of their way to talk shit via wordplay, but some actually do (!), so those instances are just uneeded 'data', I guess, and you should only focus on when it sounds like they're talking about you but they can't be for whatever reason - if that makes sense.

 

[Otherside]

Marijuana messed up my life pretty badly. I'd used it regularly for most of my adult life, and then around the age of 32 I was hit with a double-whammy of being laid off from my job and the birth of my daughter. I became increasingly paranoid when getting high and gradually slipped into a psychosis. It was so traumatic (internally devastating) that I still haven't recovered ten years later.

I think it's OK to use it sparingly (once a day or less) under normal circumstances and have always been in favor of its legalization. However, it is not benign under all circumstances.