Anxiolytic Effects of Repeated Cannabidiol Treatment in Teenagers With Social Anxiety Disorders.

Nobuo Masataka

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02466

Abstract

Accumulated evidence indicates that cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychotomimetic and nonaddictive main component of the Cannabis sativa plant, reverses anxiety-like behavior. The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of CBD treatment for Japanese late teenagers with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Thirty-seven 18–19-year-old Japanese teenagers with SAD and avoidant personality disorder received, in a double-blind study, cannabis oil (n = 17) containing 300 mg CBD or placebo (n = 20) daily for 4 weeks. SAD symptoms were measured at the beginning and end of the treatment period using the Fear of Negative Evaluation Questionnaire and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. CBD significantly decreased anxiety measured by both scales. The results indicate that CBD could be a useful option to treat social anxiety.

Highlights

The primary noneuphorizing and nonaddictive compound of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), has recently been shown to possess considerable therapeutic potential for treating a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders (De Gregorio et al, 2019)
Subsequent analyses of simple main effects, which were performed because of the significant interactions between MEASUREMENT and PARTICIPANT, revealed that the mean score of the CBD group was lower in the postintervention measurement than in the preintervention measurement (p = 0.02), while no such difference was found in the placebo group (p = 0.29)
The anxiolytic effects of CBD have been extensively demonstrated in animal studies and in healthy volunteers subjected to anxiety induced by several procedures, including the simulation of public speaking (Zuardi et al, 1993; Blessing et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

The primary noneuphorizing and nonaddictive compound of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), has recently been shown to possess considerable therapeutic potential for treating a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders (De Gregorio et al, 2019). They include chronic pain (Costa et al, 2007), nausea (Parker et al, 2006), epilepsy (Devinsky et al, 2016), psychosis (McGuire et al, 2018), and anxiety (Scuderi et al, 2009; Whiting et al, 2015). A review (Blessing et al, 2015) concluded that existing preclinical evidence strongly supports CBD as a treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic disorder when administered acutely

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