Studies suggest that cannabis can reduce OCD symptoms in half in the short term-health

A new study from Washington State University reports that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have had their symptoms reduced by about half within four hours of smoking cannabis.

The researchers analyzed the data entered into the Strainprint app by people who self-identified that they had OCD. This is a condition characterized by intrusive and lasting thoughts and repetitive behaviors such as forcing a door to be locked. After smoking cannabis, OCD users reported that cannabis reduced obsessions by 60%, invasion or unwanted thoughts by 49%, and anxiety by 52%.

The study, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, also found that high doses of cannabis and high levels of CBD, or cannabidiol, were associated with a significant reduction in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“Overall, the results show that cannabis can have short-term, but not really long-term, beneficial effects on obsessive-compulsive disorder,” said the study’s corresponding author. Carrie Cuttler, assistant professor of psychology at WSU, said. “For me, the discovery of CBD is really promising because it doesn’t intoxicate. It’s a field of study that really benefits from clinical trials that look at changes in obsession, invasion, and anxiety with pure CBD.”

The WSU survey was derived from data from over 1,800 cannabis sessions in which 87 people logged into the Strainprint app for 31 months. Over the long term, researchers have been able to assess whether users have developed resistance to cannabis, but their effects have been mixed. As people continued to use cannabis, the associated reduction in invasion decreased slightly, suggesting that they were building tolerance, but the relationship between cannabis and reduced obsession and anxiety remained fairly constant. ..

Traditional treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder include exposure and reaction prophylaxis that directly challenge people’s irrational thoughts about behavior, and antidepressants called serotonin reuptake inhibitors to relieve symptoms. That is included. While these treatments have a positive effect on many patients, they do not cure the disorder and do not work well for everyone with OCD.

“I’m trying to build knowledge about the relationship between cannabis use and OCD, because it’s a field that hasn’t really been studied,” said Dakota, a PhD student in Cutler’s lab and lead author of the dissertation. Mauzai says.

Apart from their own study, researchers found only one other human study on this topic: a small scale of 12 participants who revealed a reduction in OCD symptoms after cannabis use. Clinical trials, but these were not much greater than the associated reductions in placebo.

WSU researchers pointed out that one of the limitations of their study was the inability to use placebo controls, and that “expected effects” could affect outcomes. That is, when people expect to feel better from the general. The data were also from a self-selected sample of cannabis users, and the results varied. This means that not all people have experienced the same symptom relief after using cannabis.

However, according to Cutler, this analysis of user-supplied information via the Strainprint app provided a large dataset and participants were using market cannabis in their home environment, so the federal government in the lab. It was especially valuable as it can affect the cannabis grown by. reaction. While Strainprint’s app aims to help users decide which type of cannabis is best for them, the company gives WSU researchers free access to their anonymous data for research purposes. Provided.

Cutler said the study points out that further studies, especially clinical trials on the cannabis component CBD, may reveal therapeutic potential for people with OCD.

This is the fourth study conducted by Cutler and her colleagues to investigate the effects of cannabis on a variety of mental health conditions using data provided by an app created by the Canadian company Strainprint. is. Other studies include studies on how cannabis affects PTSD symptoms, reduces headache pain, and affects emotional well-being.

(This story is published from the news agency feed without changing the text.)

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