Major symptoms include hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdrawal, decreased emotional expression, and lack of motivation.
Cannabis and mental health are strongly linked.Cannabis helps support health across various facets of mind, brain and body. But there is no end to the wellness advantages it can offer.Cannabis can assist with mental health, help clear your mind, and alleviate depression.It will help you concentrate, and open up a whole fresh realm of energy and liveliness.
The two most abundant cannabinoids in Cannabis are THC and CBD. Different forms of cannabis vary in the relative proportions of THC and CBD, and the risk of psychotic symptoms and impaired cognitive functioning following cannabis use is lower with cannabis preparations that have a relatively high CBD content.
The aim of the present study was to explore the safety and effectiveness of CBD as an adjunctive treatment in schizophrenia. Researchers examined the effects of CBD on positive and negative psychotic symptoms, cognitive performance, level of functioning, and the treating psychiatrist’s overall clinical impression.
The Study...
In a randomized double-blind trial, patients who had been partially responsive to antipsychotic medication received either CBD or placebo as an add-on treatment for 6 weeks.
Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive 1,000 mg/day of CBD (10 mL of a 100 mg/mL oral solution) or matching placebo, administered in two divided doses
Of 89 patients screened, 88 underwent randomized assignment to treatment across 15 sites. 5 patients subsequently withdrew from the trial, 2 because of adverse events and 3 because of withdrawal of consent, leaving 83 patients who completed the trial.
The Resaults...
At base line, the proportion of treatment responders was higher in the CBD group than in the placebo group, although the number of responders per group was small (12/6 patients) and the difference fell short of statistical significance.
-At the end of treatment, the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) was significantly higher in the CBD group were rated by their clinician as “improved” compared with those in the placebo group (78.6%/54.6%). The CBD group had higher proportions of patients in all three of the improvement subcategories (very much improved, much improved, and minimally improved) compared with the placebo group.
-Positive psychotic symptoms (PPS) were significantly reduced from baseline to end of treatment in the CBD group compared with the placebo group. Changes in the levels of negative psychotic symptoms, overall psychopathology and general psychopathology over the treatment period were not significantly different between the CBD and placebo groups.
-Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) were similar between the CBD and placebo groups, but by the end of treatment the CBD group showed a greater improvement, although the difference fell short of statistical significance. There were no significant group differences in patient and carer impressions of change in general functional ability.
-There were no significant changes in prolactin levels, Simpson-Angus Scale ratings, weight, waist circumference, liver function tests, inflammatory markers, or HDL cholesterol levels in either group.There were no group differences in the quality or quantity of sleep.
-One patient in the CBD group was cannabis dependent and the patient’s pattern of use did not change during the study but another patient in the CBD group who was dependent on alcohol at baseline, was not at the end of treatment.
-Low but quantifiable plasma levels of CBD were detected in 2 patients (5%) in the CBD group and in 5 patients (11%) in the placebo group. At the end of treatment, quantifiable plasma levels of CBD were detected in all 41 of the patients in the CBD group, and in 2 of the 43 patients (5%) in the placebo group.
Conclusions...
These findings suggest that CBD has beneficial effects in patients with schizophrenia.The data indicate that 6 weeks of treatment adjunctive to antipsychotic medication was associated with significant effects both on positive psychotic symptoms and on the treating clinicians’ impressions of improvement and illness severity. There were also improvements in cognitive performance and in the level of overall functioning, although these fell short of statistical significance.
Although the magnitude of the effect on positive symptoms was modest, it was seen in patients who were already being treated with antipsychotic medication at appropriate dosages and the improvement was thus over and above the effect of antipsychotic treatment. Moreover, the changes in CGI, indicated that there was an improvement that was evident to the treating psychiatrists and may therefore be clinically meaningful. These findings are consistent with previous evidence that CBD can reduce psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia,in Parkinson’sdisease and in THC-induced psychosis.
Because CBD acts in a way different from conventional antipsychotic medication, it may represent a new class of treatment for schizophrenia. The possibility that CBD could have beneficial effects on cognitive function in schizophrenia and its potential clinical utility will require further investigation in larger-scale trials.
Source: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org
No comments:
Post a Comment