The CBD can treat the psychosis? It is the same question posed by an international study, which starting from the incredible therapeutic properties of cannabidiol, will definitively answer this question.
What are psychoses
As explained byHigher Institute of Health, "The term psychosis defines a type of psychiatric disorder that causes alterations in the perception or interpretation of reality. Psychosis manifests itself with serious disturbances (symptoms) of memory, attention, reasoning, affectivity and behavior. It can also cause hallucinations and/or delirium."
CBD and psychosis: international study begins
Coordinated by the Prince of Wales International Center for SANE Research, the study, which will be the first to test CBD on such a large scale of individuals, will include 1000 participants e 35 centers worldwide to understand whether CBD can effectively treat psychosis.
The patients, who will be divided into two groups, will receive either a placebo or cannabidiol and will be monitored both before and after treatment with clinical, digital, cognitive, neuroimaging and blood measures.
Philip McGuire, professor at the University of Oxford who leads the STEP programme, stated that: “Cannabidiol is one of the new more promising treatments for people with psychosis, people who are very open to trying cannabidiol given the previous small-scale studies that have indicated its beneficial effects.”
“In addition to treating already established psychosis, the study will also investigate whether cannabidiol can prevent the onset of psychosis in people at high risk of developing it,” McGuire concluded.
CBD and psychosis: encouraging results from previous studies
Even if small in size, one study of 2012 conducted on 39 people suffering from schizophrenia verified the antipsychotic properties of CBD. Divided into two groups, 20 patients took cannabidiol and 19 took sulpiride, a drug used to treat psychosis.
At the end of the test, the results showed that those who had received CBD boasted the same improvements of those who received sulpiride. But with a difference. CBD had not caused the hormonal and weight imbalances dictated by the drug.
In 2014 however, after having reviewed 66 studies on CBD and psychosis published on Neuropsychopharmacology, scientists have stated that cannabidiol “may have antipsychotic properties,” but with advantages compared to traditional drugs: It has no obvious side effects nor any lethal dose.
And again, one study of 2017 conducted by researchers at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry on 88 patients with schizophrenia, highlighted that: "Canabidiol could be effective in the treatment of psychosis. Patients treated with CBD showed a significant reduction in symptoms and the psychiatrists who followed them rated them as improved overall.”
In addition to CBD, there are numerous studies investigating the correlation between cannabis and psychosis. Studies which, although not to be considered definitive, define the following guidelines:
- it is advisable not to consume cannabis in adolescent age, when our brain is still fully developed
- there is no definitive scientific evidence that associate the consumption of cannabis with THC with an increased risk of psychosis
- The consumption of high THC cannabis is not recommended for people who have already developed psychotic disorders.
| For further information: "Can cannabis cause psychosis?"
