Schizophrenia

Remission Of Schizophrenic Symptoms

Dose rate:- 750mg of CBD, twice-daily, in conjunction with clozapine

Thursday, 20 December 2018
CBD Cannabidiol

Leipzig, Germany: The adjunctive use of cannabidiol is associated with a remission in schizophrenic symptoms in a patient previously unresponsive to conventional treatment, according to a case report published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Investigators from the University of Leipzig in Germany assessed the use of twice-daily dosing of 750mg of CBD in conjunction with clozapine in a patient with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Cannabidiol dosing was associated with remission criteria and improvements remained consistent over eight months.

“Our case report contradicts the assumption that CBD is not likely to be any superior than existing antipsychotics,” authors concluded. “In fact, CBD might be particularly suitable for those patients [who are] resistant to antipsychotics due to its different mode of action.”

https://norml.org/news/2018/12/20/case-report-daily-cbd-administration-associated-with-remission-of-schizophrenic-symptoms

Clinical Trial: CBD Administration Mitigates Stress Levels in Subjects with a Clinical High Risk of Psychosis

London, United Kingdom: The short-term administration of cannabidiol (CBD) is associated with reduced stress levels in subjects diagnosed with a clinically high risk (CHR) of psychosis, according to clinical trial data published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

A team of investigators from Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom assessed the effects of CBD administration on experimentally-induced stress in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. CBD recipients were administered 600mg of cannabidiol daily for one week.

Researchers reported that subjects who received CBD displayed reduced levels of stress as compared to those who received the placebo and/or healthy controls. “Collectively, these findings suggest that CHR participants under placebo displayed abnormal neuroendocrine and psychological responses to experimental stress compared with HC (healthy control) participants, and that 7- day treatment with CBD may potentially help partially attenuate these altered responses to experimental stress in CHR participants.”

They concluded, “Our results provide preliminary evidence that CBD may affect the altered neuroendocrine as well as the psychological responses to acute stress in daily life in CHR patients.”

Prior clinical trials have similarly reported that specific doses of CBD (300mgs) reduce anxiety levels in both patients with Parkinson’s disease and in healthy volunteers.

Study: CBD Effective As Adjunctive Therapy For Psychosis

London, United Kingdom: The daily administration of CBD (cannabidiol) as an adjunctive therapy mitigates psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, according to clinical trial data published online ahead of print in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

British researchers assessed the adjunctive use of CBD compared to placebo over a six-week period in a randomized trial of 88 schizophrenic patients. Participants ingested 1000mg of plant-derived CBD per day in addition to their conventional medications.

Subjects in the CBD treatment group “had lower levels of positive psychotic symptoms and were more likely to have been rated as improved and as not severely unwell by the treating clinician” at the conclusion of the trial. CBD administration was also associated with “improvements in cognitive performance and in the level of overall functioning,” although these changes did not reach statistical significance.

“These findings suggest that CBD has beneficial effects in patients with schizophrenia,” authors concluded. “As CBD’s effects do not appear to depend on dopamine receptor antagonism, this agent may represent a new class of treatment for the disorder.”

Results of a prior clinical trial published in the journal Translational Psychiatry determined that CBD is superior to amisulpride, a potent anti-psychotic agent, in mitigating psychotic symptoms in schizophrenic patients.