Cannabis reduces OCD symptoms by half in the short-term

Date:
October 20, 2020
Source:
Washington State University
Summary:
People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) report that the
severity of symptoms was reduced by about half within four hours of
smoking cannabis. After smoking cannabis, users with OCD reported it
reduced their compulsions by 60%, intrusions, or unwanted thoughts,
by 49% and anxiety by 52%. The study also found that higher doses
and cannabis with higher concentrations of CBD were associated
with larger reductions in compulsions.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== People with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, report that the
severity of their symptoms was reduced by about half within four hours
of smoking cannabis, according to a Washington State University study.


==========================================================================
The researchers analyzed data inputted into the Strainprint app by people
who self-identified as having OCD, a condition characterized by intrusive, persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviors such as compulsively checking
if a door is locked. After smoking cannabis, users with OCD reported
it reduced their compulsions by 60%, intrusions, or unwanted thoughts,
by 49% and anxiety by 52%.

The study, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, also
found that higher doses and cannabis with higher concentrations of CBD,
or cannabidiol, were associated with larger reductions in compulsions.

"The results overall indicate that cannabis may have some beneficial
short-term but not really long-term effects on obsessive-compulsive
disorder," said Carrie Cuttler, the study's corresponding author and WSU assistant professor of psychology. "To me, the CBD findings are really promising because it is not intoxicating. This is an area of research
that would really benefit from clinical trials looking at changes in compulsions, intrusions and anxiety with pure CBD." The WSU study drew
from data of more than 1,800 cannabis sessions that 87 individuals logged
into the Strainprint app over 31 months. The long time period allowed
the researchers to assess whether users developed tolerance to cannabis,
but those effects were mixed. As people continued to use cannabis, the associated reductions in intrusions became slightly smaller suggesting
they were building tolerance, but the relationship between cannabis and reductions in compulsions and anxiety remained fairly constant.

Traditional treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder include exposure
and response prevention therapy where people's irrational thoughts around
their behaviors are directly challenged, and prescribing antidepressants
called serotonin reuptake inhibitors to reduce symptoms. While these
treatments have positive effects for many patients, they do not cure
the disorder nor do they work well for every person with OCD.

"We're trying to build knowledge about the relationship of cannabis use
and OCD because it's an area that is really understudied," said Dakota
Mauzay, a doctoral student in Cuttler's lab and first author on the paper.

Aside from their own research, the researchers found only one other
human study on the topic: a small clinical trial with 12 participants
that revealed that there were reductions in OCD symptoms after cannabis
use, but these were not much larger than the reductions associated with
the placebo.

The WSU researchers noted that one of the limitations of their study
was the inability to use a placebo control and an "expectancy effect"
may play a role in the results, meaning when people expect to feel better
from something they generally do. The data was also from a self-selected
sample of cannabis users, and there was variability in the results which
means that not everyone experienced the same reductions in symptoms
after using cannabis.

However, Cuttler said this analysis of user-provided information via
the Strainprint app was especially valuable because it provides a large
data set and the participants were using market cannabis in their home environment, as opposed to federally grown cannabis in a lab which may
affect their responses.

Strainprint's app is intended to help users determine which types
of cannabis work the best for them, but the company provided the WSU researchers free access to users' anonymized data for research purposes.

Cuttler said this study points out that further research, particularly
clinical trials on the cannabis constituent CBD, may reveal a therapeutic potential for people with OCD.

This is the fourth study Cuttler and her colleagues have conducted
examining the effects of cannabis on various mental health conditions
using the data provided by the app created by the Canadian company
Strainprint. Others include studies on how cannabis impacts PTSD symptoms, reduces headache pain, and affects emotional well-being.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Washington_State_University. Original written by Sara Zaske. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dakota Mauzay, Emily M. LaFrance, Carrie Cuttler. Acute Effects of
Cannabis on Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Journal of
Affective Disorders, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.124 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201020081733.htm

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