Does CBD (Cannabidiol Oil) Help With Anxiety?

Check out this answer from Consensus:

Current evidence suggests that CBD holds considerable potential as a treatment for various anxiety disorders, demonstrating efficacy in both preclinical and human studies. It is generally well-tolerated with minimal adverse effects. However, more research is needed to establish standardized dosing guidelines, understand long-term effects, and explore sex and gender differences in treatment response. Additionally, controlling for expectancy effects is crucial in future clinical trials to accurately assess CBD’s anxiolytic properties.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive component of the Cannabis sativa plant, has garnered significant interest as a potential treatment for anxiety disorders. This synthesis aims to evaluate the current evidence on the efficacy and safety of CBD in managing anxiety and anxiety-related disorders.

Key Insights

• Efficacy in Anxiety Reduction:
  • CBD has shown promising results in reducing anxiety in various disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder1 3 4 6 9.
  • Both preclinical and human studies support the anxiolytic effects of CBD, although most human studies have focused on acute dosing rather than chronic use3 6.
• Mechanisms of Action:
  • CBD interacts with multiple molecular targets in the brain, including serotonin receptors and endocannabinoid signaling pathways, which may contribute to its anxiolytic effects8.
  • Neuroimaging studies suggest that CBD reduces anxiety by affecting activity in limbic and paralimbic brain areas9.
• Safety and Tolerability:
  • CBD is generally well-tolerated with minimal adverse effects, the most common being fatigue and sedation1 6 7.
  • No serious adverse events have been reported in studies involving CBD for anxiety treatment1 7.
• Expectancy Effects:
  • The belief that CBD has anxiolytic properties can influence subjective anxiety reduction, highlighting the importance of controlling for expectancy effects in clinical research2.
• Dosing and Administration:
  • Studies have used a wide range of CBD doses, from 6 mg to 800 mg per day, administered either as capsules or sublingual sprays1 7.
  • There is no consistent linear relationship between CBD dose and anxiety reduction, making it challenging to establish standardized dosing guidelines5.
• Population-Specific Findings:
  • CBD has shown efficacy in reducing anxiety in treatment-resistant young people and teenagers with social anxiety disorder4 7.
  • Most research has been conducted on male subjects, indicating a need for studies focusing on females to understand sex and gender differences in CBD’s effectiveness6.

Does CBD (Cannabidiol oil) help with anxiety?

Andrea Giuffrida has answered Uncertain

An expert from University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in Neuroscience, Pharmacology

According to a recent review assessing the potential therapeutic actions of CBD in humans (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30730563) the beneficial effect of an acute dose of CBD before anxiety-provoking events is likely but not yet proven. More controlled clinical studies are needed to understand whether CBD does have anxiolytic properties. There are issues related with doses which could explain lack of consistency across different studies, and which are further complicated by the poor quality of non-FDA-approved products available in the market (which often contain less CBD than labeled) (see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5818782/)

On Clinicaltrials.gov there is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study comparing the efficacy of CBD Oil capsules (different doses) for the treatment of the following anxiety disorders: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Panic Disorder (PD), or agoraphobia. The outcomes of this research will help to enhance our current understanding of the effects of CBD on anxiety disorders. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03549819

Does CBD (Cannabidiol oil) help with anxiety?

Aviv Weinstein has answered Uncertain

An expert from Ariel University in Cannabis, Neuropsychology, Addiction

There is pre-clinical evidence for efficacy of cannabidiol for treatment for anxiety. There are few human clinical studies that show that CBD is effective for treatment for anxiety but there is a need for a double-blind placebo controlled studies to prove its therapeutic effects in clinical populations.

Does CBD (Cannabidiol oil) help with anxiety?

Roger Pertwee has answered Near Certain

An expert from University of Aberdeen in Pharmacology

It is almost certain that CBD oil (Cannabidiol oil) could help with at least some kinds/levels of anxiety. Thus, for example, there is evidence that:

1. CBD can reduce human “experimental” anxiety, in a simulated public speaking test (Zuardi et al. 1993);
2. CBD can also reduce signs of anxiety in rats (Rock et al., 2017).

It has been found, more recently, that CBD displays a “bell shaped” dose response curve for its reduction of human “experimental” anxiety in a simulated public speaking test. Thus, CBD’s anti-anxiety effect in this test disappeared at doses above as well as below its effective dose (Linarees et al., 2019). This suggests that when attempting to relieve anxiety with Cannabidiol oil, the dose taken may need to be selected with particular care.

Interestingly results from animal experiments suggest that cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), from which CBD is formed in the cannabis plant, has greater anti-anxiety potency than CBD (Rock et al., 2017), However, CBDA is rather unstable, prompting the development of a stable synthetic analogue of CBDA, called HU-580 (Pertwee et al., 2018). CBD, CBDA and HU-580 all seem to reduce anxiety, at least in part, by enhancing the activation of brain serotonin (5-HT1A) receptors.

References 

Linares IM, Zuardi AW, Pereira LC, Queiroz RH, Mechoulam R, Guimaraes FS, Crippa JA (2019). Cannabidiol presents an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve in a simulated public speaking test. Revista Brasileira De Psiquiatria 41: 9-14.

Pertwee RG, Rock EM, Guenther K, Limebeer CL, Stevenson LA, Haj C, Smoum R, Parker LA, Mechoulam R (2018). Cannabidiolic acid methyl ester, a stable synthetic analogue of cannabidiolic acid, can produce 5-HT1A receptor-mediated suppression of nausea and anxiety in rats. British Journal of Pharmacology 175: 100-112.

Rock EM, Limebeer CL, Petrie GN, Williams LA, Mechoulam R, Parker LA (2017). Effect of prior foot shock stress and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiolic acid, and cannabidiol on anxiety-like responding in the light-dark emergence test in rats. Psychopharmacology 234: 2207-2217.

Zuardi AW, Cosme RA, Graeff FG, Guimarães FS (1993). Effect of ipsapirone and cannabidiol on human experimental anxiety. Journal of Psychopharmacology 7: 82-88.

Does CBD (Cannabidiol oil) help with anxiety?

Tiziana Rubino has answered Uncertain

An expert from University of Insubria in Cannabis, Addiction, Autism

preclinical studies suggest a potential antianxiety effect of CBD which, however, has been poorly investigated at clinical level.

Does CBD (Cannabidiol oil) help with anxiety?

Ethan Russo has answered Likely

An expert from International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute in Cannabis

Likely, but it is primarily CBD that is beneficial with contributions from linalool, if present. A little THC is anti-anxiety, while too much exacerbates it.