Australian Researchers: Cannabis May Reduce Anxiety Symptoms
International researchers have found that anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental health disorders, and that anxiety disorders affect an estimated 301 million people around the globe. Additionally, anxiety disorders are more common in women than men, and only 1 in 4 people with anxiety disorders receive treatment for it.
A team of academic researchers based in Australia and affiliated with various institutions recently conducted a systematic review focusing on medical cannabis use and how it may impact the symptoms in patients with anxiety-related disorders. The review’s findings were published in the academic journal Psychiatry Research.
“With rising anxiety disorder diagnoses, many individuals are seeking alternatives to standard pharmacotherapies, like medicinal cannabis. This systematic review focuses exclusively on anxiety-related disorders and examines a wide range of cannabis-based preparations and interventions.” the researchers wrote about their review.
“We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycInfo (October–December 2023) for peer-reviewed empirical studies, excluding case series, case studies, and review papers. Inclusion criteria were studies on adults (18+ years) diagnosed with anxiety-related disorders, examining the efficacy or effectiveness of medicinal cannabis. Studies on recreational cannabis or cannabis-use-disorder were excluded. The MASTER and QualSyst tools were used to assess bias.” the researchers wrote about their methodology.
“Among the 13 highest-quality studies, 70 % (n = 9) reported a positive improvement for disorders including generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 30 % (n = 4) reported a negative result for conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder, trichotillomania, test anxiety and SAD.” the researchers found.
“Medicinal cannabis demonstrates potential in reducing anxiety symptoms, but the long-term benefits and overall impact on quality of life remain unclear. Further high-quality, longitudinal research with standardised dosing is needed.” the researchers concluded.
The results of the Australian systematic review build on previous research, including a prior clinical trial conducted last year in India, which found that a “CBD oral solution showed therapeutic efficacy, excellent safety, and tolerability in treating not only mild to moderate anxiety disorders, but also associated depression and disturbances in sleep quality with no incidences of withdrawal anxiety upon dose tapering and at the end of the treatment.”
Another prior study conducted in the United Kingdom found that “treatment with CBMPs [cannabis-based medicinal products] is associated with statistically significant improvements across anxiety-, sleep-, and HRQoL-specific PROMs [patients-reported outcome measures] after 12 months…”
