Can CBD Help Anxiety?
Regarded as the most common mental health issue by WHO, anxiety is a condition that is never easy for those suffering from it. Over the years, many professionals and researchers have addressed the issue of anxiety, with various studies, publications and other efforts made. This work has led to the discovery and manufacture of various potential remedies for anxiety. There are anti-anxiety medications patients use, but recently, something else is making way as a game-changer when it comes to treating anxiety.
Cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, is receiving a lot of attention as a remedy for anxiety and various other conditions. This ultimately has led to many exploring its effectiveness as an alternative to anti-anxiety medications. Right now, in the medical field, there’s a big question for those in the anxiety and mental health sector. Can CBD help with anxiety?
While the initial studies on whether CBD can be used to treat anxiety were preliminary, numerous other clinical researches done are pointing to this cannabinoid being effective in treating anxiety. Since it possesses therapeutic properties, CBD, according to many specialists, can be used to manage anxiety.
Is There Any Available Evidence That CBD Can Help With Anxiety?
A little research on people with social anxiety disorder, conducted in 2010, revealed that CBD could reduce the symptoms of SAD. There were changes in blood flow to brain parts linked to feelings of anxiety, seen in many of the subjects and revealed by brain scans.
Another study in 2011, looking to see if CBD can help with anxiety related to public speaking, showed the cannabinoid is effective. In 2014, an animal study found that CBD oil possesses anti-anxiety effects, pointing to promise for its use to treat humans suffering from anxiety.
An analysis of studies done to determine the effectiveness of CBD as a remedy for anxiety was conducted in 2015. Experts concluded that this cannabinoid has the potential to treat generalised anxiety disorder and various other forms of the condition, including SAD, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder.
Another study, this time in 2016 and exploring if CBD can aid in reducing anxiety provoked sleep disorder in children with trauma history, found that the cannabinoid reduces anxiety, helping such children to sleep.
A more recent study in 2019 was conducted with patients at a mental health clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado. The first-month assessment revealed that 79.2% of the patients improved. The second month had 78% of the patients experiencing more improvement in comparison to the previous month.
In other research, a double-blind study on Japanese teenagers with SAD, patients were given a dosage of CBD oil and assessed. After that, SAD symptoms were found to have reduced significantly when compared to a common drug used in treating anxiety. The research also helped some of the teenagers to seek treatment on their SAD condition after the intake of CBD. Because of stigma, it is not common for teenagers with SAD to look for a form of treatment for their condition, and this was considered another positive effect of CBD.
How Should I Go About CBD Intake For My Anxiety?
Despite the positive signs from these studies, it is, of course, advisable to take care when consuming CBD. Should you be looking to use cannabidiol to manage anxiety, take time to learn from experts, trusted CBD brands and sellers in the market who can offer highly reliable information as well as the ideal products.
There are experts who can help you learn how to use CBD, its pros and any cons if there are any. Clinical experts also inform on dosage and forms of consumption and the one that best suits a patient’s needs. Carefully consider whether you’ll need to smoke, vape CBD oil, intake it as edibles or get the cannabinoid as tinctures and oils.
Vaping and smoking bring with it lung health concerns and oral consumption has effectiveness issues due to bioavailability of CBD that reduces its metabolism by the liver. Tinctures and oils are found to have no issues and offer results in as quickly as 10 minutes. Some basic factors for CBD dosing in anxiety patients include Bodyweight, metabolism, the concentration of the cannabinoid and the seriousness of the patient’s condition.
Are There Any Concerns With The Use Of CBD For Anxiety?
One concern is that CBD might cause a high effect. CBD is not psychoactive and doesn’t have a high effect despite it being a cannabinoid extracted from cannabis plants. In some studies, there were very little cases where it was suggested that CBD might make one more vulnerable to anxiety since the condition can result from recreational marijuana use. It is unlikely this would be the case since cannabidiol, unlike many cannabinoids, lacks psychoactive properties.
There might be some negative health effects for those who intake CBD via smoking or vaping as aforementioned. From all the studies conducted, it would be accurate to say that CBD can help anxiety with very little negative effects. There is the possibility that more clinical researches on humans will be done on this promising remedy for anxiety.