“It’s actually quite amazing how little we really know about something that has been used for thousands of years,”

A natural signaling molecule that activates cannabinoid receptors in the brain plays a critical role in stress-resilience -- the ability to adapt to repeated and acute exposures to traumatic stress.

"Self-medication with cannabis is commonly reported in patients with a variety of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders and PTSD,"

Even though pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most common reasons people use medical marijuana in the U.S., there isn’t much proof cannabis works for either one of these conditions, two research reviews suggest.

Northwestern Medicine welcomed Sachin Patel, MD, PhD, as its new chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in January 2022. In this video, Dr. Patel shares his background, breakthroughs occurring at Northwestern Medicine and his vision for the future.

Advancing Mental Health Research, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern with Sachin Patel, MD, PhD

Sachin Patel, MD, PhD, is the new chair and Lizzie Gilman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg and psychiatrist-in-chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Norman and Ida Stone Institute of Psychiatry. In this episode, he talks about the current mental health crisis in this country, his research and vision for the department.