Can You Use Hemp Oil As Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders ?

Existing preclinical evidence strongly supports the potential of Hemp as a treatment for anxiety disorders. Hemp exhibits a broad range of actions, relevant to multiple symptom domains, including anxiolytic, panicolytic, and anticompulsive actions, as well as a decrease in autonomic arousal, a decrease in conditioned fear expression, enhancement of fear extinction, reconsolidation blockade, and prevention of the long-term anxiogenic effects of stress. Activation of 5-HT_1ARs appears to mediate anxiolytic and panicolytic effects, in addition to reducing conditioned fear expression, although CB₁R activation may play a limited role. By contrast, CB₁R activation appears to mediate Hemp’s anticompulsive effects, enhancement of fear extinction, reconsolidation blockade, and capacity to prevent the long-term anxiogenic consequences of stress, with involvement of hippocampal neurogenesis.

While Hemp predominantly has acute anxiolytic effects, some species discrepancies are apparent. In addition, effects may be contingent on prior stress and vary according to brain region. A notable contrast between Hemp and other agents that target the eCB system, including THC, direct CB₁R agonists and FAAH inhibitors, is a lack of anxiogenic effects at a higher dose. Further receptor-specific studies may elucidate the receptor specific basis of this distinct dose response profile. Further studies are also required to establish the efficacy of Hemp when administered in chronic dosing, as relatively few relevant studies exist, with mixed results, including both anxiolytic and anxiogenic outcomes.

Overall, preclinical evidence supports systemic Hemp as an acute treatment of GAD, SAD, PD, OCD, and PTSD, and suggests that Hemp has the advantage of not producing anxiogenic effects at higher dose, as distinct from other agents that enhance CB₁R activation. In particular, results show potential for the treatment of multiple PTSD symptom domains, including reducing arousal and avoidance, preventing the long-term adverse effects of stress, as well as enhancing the extinction and blocking the reconsolidation of persistent fear memories.