CBD for Schizophrenia - Does it help?

Clinical research shows that CBD is as effective as antipsychotic medication, but with fewer side effects.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person's ability to think, feel and behave clearly. It can cause psychotic episodes, and treatment is usually lifelong and involves antipsychotic medication with toxic side effects. In 2012, researchers published a study in Translational Psychiatry showing that a CBD isolate can treat schizophrenia as effectively as antipsychotic drugs—and with far fewer side effects. In this study, researchers led by Markus Leweke, MD, from the University of Cologne in Germany recruited 39 people with schizophrenia who were hospitalized for a psychotic episode. Nineteen of the study participants received an antipsychotic medication called amisulpride, while the other 20 received CBD. After four weeks, both groups improved significantly. There was no difference in psychiatric symptoms between those given CBD or amisulpride. But those taking CBD had fewer unwanted side effects, such as weight gain and movement disorders, compared to those taking amisulpride. The authors concluded: "These findings suggest that cannabidiol is as effective in improving psychotic symptoms as the standard antipsychotic amisulpride."

CBD appears to provide antipsychotic relief by raising levels of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid compound that acts on the same brain receptors as THC. Curiously, Daniele Piomelli, director of the Center for the Study of Cannabis at the University of California at Irvine, discovered in a previous study that people with schizophrenia had anandamide levels that were, on average, twice as high as mentally healthy people without the disorder. Some scientists speculated that perhaps people with schizophrenia were essentially over-elevated levels of their own endocannabinoids! But in reality, it appears that the brain actually increases anandamide levels to buffer stress and ease the symptoms of psychosis. The preponderance of evidence suggests that the higher the anandamide levels in people with schizophrenia, the less severe their symptoms.

ATYPICAL BRAIN SCANS

More recently, in 2020, researchers from Kings College London used fMRI scans to monitor the brain activity of 13 people with psychosis while they performed a memory test after taking CBD or a placebo and compared it to 16 people without psychosis who performed the same test. Those given a placebo had different brain activity in the prefrontal and mediotemporal brain regions associated with memory than people without psychosis. When participants who had psychosis took a dose of CBD, their brain activity became more like their counterparts without the disease.

"CBD affects areas of the brain that have been shown to have unusual activity in people with psychosis."

— The Essential Guide to CBD

"Our study provides important insights into which areas of the brain CBD targets. This is the first time research has scanned the brains of people with a psychosis diagnosis who have taken CBD, and although the sample is small, the results are compelling because they show , that CBD affects the very areas of the brain that have been shown to have unusual activity in people with psychosis," said senior author on the study, Sagnik Bhattacharyya, MD, PhD. Importantly, in terms of cannabis and safety, one of the largest health problems and stigmas associated with cannabis use has been the idea that it can cause psychosis in vulnerable individuals. This has never been proven. It is worth noting that a 2012 meta-analysis published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin found that people diagnosed with schizophrenia who use cannabis , perform better cognitively than people with schizophrenia who do not use cannabis.