CBD for Anxiety

Medical researchers are aggressively investigating CBD and other cannabinoids for their potential as treatments for a variety of symptoms and maladies. One of the most promising lines of research is for CBD as a supplemental treatment for anxiety and depression. 

CBD’s popularity as an anxiety management tool has led many CBD companies to make specialized products and blends specifically formulated for anxiety reduction. 

These products shouldn’t be confused with a treatment or cure for depression or anxiety, and the passionate advocacy of CBD users who swear by cannabidiol’s anxiety reducing effects shouldn’t be considered unassailable proof. Further clinical trials and studies are still necessary. 

Everyone gets worried and experiences fear at different times of their lives and for different reasons. The clinical definition of anxiety is experiencing excessive fear and worry on an intense and persistent basis. From a diagnostic standpoint, anxiety occurs when the excessive fear and worry is unwarranted, meaning there’s not a legitimate reason the person should be experiencing anxiety. 

Anxiety is especially disruptive when it becomes all consuming. People whose lives are disrupted and those who struggle with the basic tasks of daily living due to anxiety should seek treatment. 

Some of the physical manifestations of anxiety include increased heart rate, sweating, rapid breathing, insomnia and exhaustion.

Anxiety is often closely linked to depression, OCD and other psychological disorders that can be developed or are congenital in nature. Some of the common mental health conditions related to anxiety include: 

• Anxiety disorder
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
• Separation anxiety
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

field. There is some broad agreement that many disorders are likely brought on or exacerbated by genetics, environmental factors and brain chemistry. The brain chemistry conditions are likely related specifically to the parts of the brain tasked with controlling and regulating fear response. 

The one source of anxiety where the source is more clearly understood is PTSD. In most cases, PTSD can be traced back to one particular incident or a series of mentally scarring experiences, such as domestic abuse, car accidents or being involved in warfare as a willing or unwilling participant, victim or witness. 

CBD may help anxiety sufferers by modulate signaling systems in the nervous system. A comprehensive paper published in 2017 by Pharmacology & Therapeutics reported that CBD had been found to offer relief from anxiety by reducing muscular tension, restlessness, difficulty concentrating and fatigue and by alleviating stress associated with social anxiety. It’s believed that CBD does this by acting on the paralimbic and limbic areas of the brain – the areas that deal with emotions, memories and arousal. 

Studies have also been done to evaluate CBD’s effectiveness in treating the type of stress-induced anxiety experienced by those who suffer from conditions such as panic attacks and PTSD. In lab animal testing, CBD has been shown to dampen conditioned fear responses, escape responses and defensive immobility responses by acting as a blockade to certain receptors in the brain. 

CBD has also been shown to reduce stress-induced compulsive behaviors, which means it could alleviate symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In studies on humans, CBD “potently reduces experimentally induced anxiety or fear,” specifically symptoms associated with social anxiety disorder (SAD) in a simulated public speaking test done with healthy humans.