Anxiety & CBD
According to a study done by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 13 people around the world live with an anxiety disorder, making them the most common mental health disorder worldwide.
When you are living a life affected by anxiety, finding a safe method of treatment that supports your body chemistry is one of, if not the first priority. In wake of the covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that a third of Americans show signs of clinical depression and anxiety. These along with other mental conditions are becoming exacerbated since the pandemic started back in 2019. In these trying times looking for support to further ease symptoms brought on by all that life brings is vital.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a natural compound that has gained popularity in recent years. You can now find CDB in a wide variety of products that range from CBD vapes to coffee. CBD is extracted from both marijuana plants and from hemp. It is one of almost 200 cannabinoids that can be found in marijuana plants. However, CBD is not psychoactive and has an individual profile than other cannabinoids found within the plant that do produce a psychoactive effect.
“CBD works by affecting the endocannabinoid system and, while further research is still ongoing into the long-term benefits of using CBD to treat anxiety, initial studies suggest that CBD oil has anti-anxiety, stress-reducing and antidepressant effects.”
If CBD is a tool you're wanting to determine may work to help manage your anxiety, doing proper research and education yourself is critical. Most studies on CBD are preclinical and use animal models, clinical studies using human participants are now emerging. Coupled with its popularity, a number of personal reports done on individuals reporting their experiences with CBD and its range of products are continually growing .
What is important to keep in mind when exploring CBD products is to track dosages and to take note of the potency of oil being used. This will help you determine which form of consumption best suits your needs. CBD reacts to your body differently at different doses, this is known as bidirectional effects. Overstimulation of the body’s endocannabinoid system may exacerbate symptoms rather than alleviating them.
If you are taking a higher dose of CBD relative to your baseline dose, CBD has been known to promote relaxation and sleepiness. On the flip side, lower level doses have been reported to create a more alert and elevated response in the user.
Recent studies done in the UK show that health educated millennials are seeking CBD oil over prescriptions for their mental health. Since the beginning of 2019, the number of UK users of CBD oil has almost doubled in the last year, with many of its users claiming the CBD products are an easily accessible and less ambiguous way to manage their mental health. According to Ecoscientific, 30% of Brits are wary of approaching a doctor about their mental health as they don’t want to be prescribed medication that may be too severe for their symptoms (47% of those aged 18-34.) 38% of Brits, representing almost 17.5 million UK adults, would use CBD oil to manage their mental health.
Managing Anxiety
CBD Oil can affect the way serotonin is received by the brain’s receptors. This can help with:
Reducing stress
Reducing the effects of anxiety, such as increased heart rate
Alleviating the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Currently, experts estimate that there are at least 10 million Americans who suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Those who are diagnosed with SAD can have lasting symptoms for major seasonal depression for a period of at least two years. The condition is more prevalent in women than in men and the onset age range of those affected are between 18 and 30 years old.
Insomnia and anxiety are the two most common symptoms of SAD that CBD has been shown to be effective in treating. In the Journal of Psychopharmacology, brain scans shown of participants display changes in blood flow in areas of the brain that are associated with anxiety. There have been continuing studies on the positive effects of CBD with patients experiencing insomnia and PTSD. Current treatment of these conditions involve the use of Pharmaceutical medications. These products can oftentimes only provide partial relief, but results may not be long-lasting and can lead to major side effects. A trial of cannabidiol oil (CBD) resulted in a maintained decrease in anxiety and a steady improvement in the quality and quantity of the patient’s sleep. Findings in 2014 indicated that CBD also has antidepressant properties.
Wherever you may be in your journey, always be mindful that psychological stress and anxiety is normal. You aren't alone. Whether it be that you experience panic attacks occasionally or suffer from chronic depression, experiencing issues with our mental health can feel isolating. Especially when it impacts your personal life and professional performance.
Many of those who suffer from anxiety don't seek any treatment for it, part of the reason being that they don't want to take pharmaceutical medication. However, exploring new avenues of treatment such as CBD can make a significant difference. When you take care of yourself by finding support in your community and by seeking accessible treatment options, it will get better.
ADD/ADHD often has a genetic component however it can also be a co-morbid condition with PTSD. There have been well over 75 studies done on cannabis and cannabinoids for the treatment of the symptoms of ADD/ADHD.
https://www.leafly.ca/news/health/how-to-use-cbd-for-anxiety
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cannabidiol-cbd-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-2018082414476
Popularity in CBD
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/cbd-oil-over-prescriptions-for-mental-health/63618/
A number of clinical trials, testing the efficacy of CBD in human epilepsy patients, are currently underway. But there is also evidence, mainly from animal studies and in vitro experiments, that CBD may have neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties, and potential therapeutic value in the treatment of motivational disorders like depression, anxiety, and addiction.
Case Study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101100/
A ground-breaking study on cannabis for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is being carried out in Arizona right now with 76 military veterans by Dr Susan Sisely. With 22 American military veterans committing suicide each day and the VA ignoring the potential benefit of cannabis for treating PTSD, this is an enormously important study.
CBD is a known non-psychoactive cannabinoid, and due to its low affinity for the CB1 receptor it would be expected that exploratory behavioural activity would be similar among treatment groups compared to negative side-effects associated with THC (Croxford, 2003; Malone et al., 2009). This was demonstrated in this study by lack of CBD-induced changes in open-field exploration among naive treatment groups. Combinatorial with psychoactivity, side-effects such as hypothermia and hypomobility induced by THC are avoided with use of CBD (Zimmer et al., 1999).