Research paperAcute Effects of Cannabis on Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Section snippets
Procedure
To bypass federal restrictions on the administration of cannabis to research participants, archival data were obtained from Strainprint® Technologies (Strainprint®). Strainprint® is a real-world technology platform with a medical cannabis journaling app which provides medical cannabis patients with a means to track changes in symptom severity as a function of different strains and doses of cannabis. When first using the app, Strainprint® users indicate the conditions and symptoms that they use
Data Analysis
The percent of cannabis use sessions involving reductions, exacerbations, and no changes in severity were computed for each symptom. To further examine changes in symptom severity from before to after cannabis use, two-time point latent change score (LCS) models were used. These models allowed us to assess changes in OCD symptoms within subjects over time, and as a function of specific predictors of interest (e.g., gender, dose, cannabinoid content). A detailed description of this approach is
Percentage of Sessions Involving Symptom Change
The majority of cannabis use sessions resulted in reductions in intrusions (89.6%), compulsions (95.4%), and anxiety (93.8%). In contrast, only a small number of sessions were associated with a worsening of intrusions (3%), compulsions (2.3%), or anxiety (1.9%). The remaining cannabis use sessions involved no changes in symptoms.
LCS Models Predicting Change in Symptom Severity Ratings
Fig. 1 depicts the average symptom severity ratings for each of the three symptoms both before and after cannabis use. There was a 49% reduction in intrusions, a 60%
Discussion
The goal of this study was to examine the acute effects of cannabis on symptoms of OCD using an innovative methodology that allowed us to bypass federal restrictions on studying the acute effects of cannabis on humans. Using a large dataset of medical cannabis users self-medicating for symptoms of OCD, we found that for the vast majority of cannabis use sessions individuals reported reductions in intrusions, compulsions, and anxiety. Moreover, results indicated that after inhaling cannabis,
Contributors
Dakota Mauzay helped to conceive of the idea, performed the literature review, helped conduct the analyses, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Emily LaFrance helped to conceive of the research questions, conduct the analyses, and edit the manuscript. Carrie Cuttler conceived of the idea and research questions, obtained the data, assisted with analyses, created the figure, interpreted the results, and contributed to the preparation of all components of the manuscript.
Role of Funding Source
This work was supported by Washington State University's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program (Dedicated Marijuana Account). The funder had no role in the conduct or results of the study.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None of the authors have conflicts of interest to declare.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the creators of Strainprint® for freely and openly providing the data used in this study.
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2023, Comprehensive PsychiatryCitation Excerpt :Moreover, a recent placebo-controlled 14-patient study investigating the acute effect of a single administration of various smoked cannabis formulations (with different combinations of THC and cannabidiol) reported no difference compared to placebo [103]. Conversely, in a retrospective online survey, a majority of OCD patients who smoke cannabis reported subjective OCD symptom improvement, and patients using medical cannabis (auto-defining themselves as OCD patients in a mobile app) reported an acute positive effect of cannabis products on their OCD symptoms [105,138]. For patients with comorbid Tourette syndrome and OCD, available data are conflicting: retrospective studies reported positive effects of cannabis use on OCD symptoms while controlled trials did not [1,148,153].
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2022, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Other oral routes included ethanol and/or oil solutions (Aungsumart et al., 2021; Aviram et al., 2020; Bonomo et al., 2022; Crippa et al., 2021; Ergisi et al., 2022; Gambino et al., 2021; Giorgi et al., 2020; Gruber et al., 2021; Harris et al., 2022; Hurd et al., 2019; Masataka, 2019; Pacheco et al., 2021; Sagar et al., 2021; Stanley et al., 2022; Zuardi et al., 1982) and sprays (Alessandria et al., 2020; Allsop et al., 2014; Karschner et al., 2011; Montebello et al., 2022). Inhalation methods included mixed methods (Drennan et al., 2021a; Gibson et al., 2022; Gruber et al., 2021; Sagar et al., 2021) of vaporized cannabinoids (Das et al., 2013; Ergisi et al., 2022; Harris et al., 2022; Spindle et al., 2020), cigarettes (Bindler et al., 2022; Casarett et al., 2019; Cuttler et al., 2018; Ilan et al., 2005; Kayser et al., 2020; Mauzay et al., 2021) and metered dose inhalers (Aviram et al., 2020; Hindocha et al., 2015; Morgan et al., 2013). Only one study assessed edibles amongst other routes mentioned above (Gruber et al., 2021).
Patterns of cannabis use among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from an internet survey
2021, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related DisordersCitation Excerpt :Thus, it is reasonable to propose that our results also reflect self-medication of OCD symptoms with cannabis, either outside of a medical context or possibly in individuals with a physician's recommendation for a condition other than OCD. As noted in the Introduction, in an observational study using a mobile app of 87 medicinal cannabis users with self-reported OCD, participants generally reported acute improvements in OCD symptoms following cannabis use (Mauzay et al., 2021). Consistent with these findings, more than 60% of participants in the present online survey indicated that cannabis typically improved their obsessions and compulsions (as measured by the YBOC-CS).
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