
- 21 February 2022
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Due to the fact that cannabidiol (CBD) exhibits antipsychotic effects, it has come to the attention of both scientists and doctors, but also of patients who struggle with schizophrenia. This is because it has emerged that it can be an important element in the treatment of this disease.
Symptoms and diagnosis of schizophrenia
- hallucinations
- delusions
- thought disorders
- memory lapses
- social anxiety
- poverty of speech
- apathy
- excitement
- psychosis
CBD oil - hope for schizophrenia patients
Schizophrenia is unfortunately a chronic illness and its course includes periods of both exacerbation and remission, i.e. relief of symptoms. Their frequency is an individual feature of the patient, but also depends on the type of therapy used and the patient's compliance. The patient must also take antipsychotic medication, which can be divided into two generations. They differ in their ability to relieve specific symptoms, but also in the occurrence of side effects.
However, in many aspects of the illness, the patient has to cope on his or her own, such as social anxieties and impaired emotional responses. And this is where the really big problems arise, as the inability to function normally worsens, leading additionally to depression. This in turn results in suicidal thoughts and, subsequently, attempts to carry them out. For as many as 1% suffering from schizophrenia, these attempts end in death.
This is the reason for the growing interest in cannabidiol (CBD) and the increasing number of studies conducted with it. These have been and are being carried out on animals, but also on humans.
In the conclusions of a study conducted by Austrian researchers in 2017, it is clear that mice that were tested with cannabidiol regained their ability to concentrate. But it doesn't stop there. Their working memory has also increased and they have normalised their social behaviour enough to make it acceptable.
This is excellent news, especially as the drugs used previously were unable to restore these lost vital functions to patients. Also important in the conclusions of the study is the fact that pure cannabidiol was used, without the addition of other cannabinoids, especially RHC, which the Austrian researchers found to be downright undesirable.
- "Cannabidiol (CBD) as an adjunctive therapy for schizophrenia: a multicentre randomised controlled trial"; Philip McGuire, F.Med.Sci.,Philip Robson et al (2017) https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17030325
- "Cannabidiol, a component of Cannabis sativa, as an antipsychotic drug"; AW Zuardi, JAS Crippa, JEC Hallak, FA Moreira, FS Guimarães; (2006) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16612464/
- "Effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on cognitive function and symptoms in outpatients with chronic schizophrenia, a randomised placebo-controlled trial"; Douglas L. Boggs, Swapnil Gupta, Marek Niciu et al (2018).