People try CBD to treat anxiety, other mental health issues
By Jessica Mick
Pain radiating between her shoulders, heart palpitations — the symptoms of anxiety felt like having a heart attack to Tara Thulin. She was originally misdiagnosed with a heart condition 12 years earlier. Only later did she find out her body was reacting to anxiety. Last fall, she decided to give CBD a try as a last resort before seeking prescription medication.
A national mental health crisis hit America in 2020 amid the pandemic, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association. Now a growing number of people are using CBD, short for cannabidiol, to treat anxiety and other mental health issues.
CBD comes in everything from edibles to oils to lotions. It became legal in the U.S. in 2018. Its uses vary by person, and the extent of its effects differ as well.
“I’ve tried it all, you know, all the things that you’re like, ‘try these teas, try these oils, try the Epsom salt baths, try everything that you can to relax’,” Thulin said. “And sometimes those temporarily work, but I can’t just stop and do those or take a bath in the middle of my day.”
Thulin and her youngest daughter enjoy trying different coffee shops in Austin together, and visited Radix House Coffee Shop without realizing CBD was sold there. That day she decided to purchase CBD gummies for help with increased stress in her personal life.
“Sometimes I still lean towards, “Do I just need to get some medication that I can, you know, take instead [of] CBD?” Thulin said. “But for now this is kind of where I’m comfortable and this is where I’ve landed.”
When she feels her anxiety starting to flare up, Thulin will take four gummies to help her relax and get through her day. Since first purchasing them she has almost finished the package of 80 bear-shaped gummies from last fall.
“I definitely had hesitations and questions,” Thulin said. “[CBD has] been out there for a while, it’s just I took a step quite a bit later on and a lot of times I think I just have to warm up to ideas and see that it’s not going to be harmful. I’m going to get high from it, right, that was definitely a misconception that I think I had.”
Last June, Roger Pilney wanted to move to Colorado for a better program to treat PTSD in a state known for more lenient cannabis laws. Then he got the idea to open Radix House Coffee Shop where Thulin first tried CBD.
For some people who frequent his shop, the added stress from the pandemic has contributed to them seeking out CBD.
“The ingredients are there — the longing for community, the trauma that we experienced as a collective group,” Pilney said. “We’ve shared experience; we all survived a pandemic together.”
Anita Sommers, known online as the CBD Genie, works to spread awareness about CBD and other cannabis products. As questions about CBD increase, she has seen family and friends who were originally against cannabis products reach out to her to learn more.
“They’re starting to see the news and hear it on the radio and now they’re feeling comfortable and even referring people to just talk to me about,” Sommers said.
After years of struggling with ulcerative colitis, a gastrointestinal disease that causes inflammation of the large intestine, and dozens of trips to the hospital, Sommers tried a cannabis suppository to treat her pain. After seeing how this changed her life, she wanted to share that with others. For her it’s all about homeostasis, or in other words, balance.
“When your body is off balance that’s disease or infection, right?” Sommers said. “So what it does is it helps bring your body to balance, which means for anything that’s going on in your body.”
She has seen an increased interest in CBD products and when she spoke to the elderly in Sun City, TX, the fire marshal had to turn people away because they reached maximum capacity.
“That, for me, was huge because if you were to see that same crowd out in public that wouldn’t be the first thing that you say, “Oh hey I’m gonna go talk to this person about some cannabis,” but the minds have changed, even just with that demographic,” Sommers said.
The first time Meredith Pelt tried CBD and noticed any effect was while sipping on a CBD-infused carbonated water after shopping at East Austin Succulents. She had tried it before with no results so when asked to try it again she thought: sure, nothing is going to happen. Instead, this time she felt instant relief and found a new way to treat her anxiety.
“I think we don’t realize how tense our bodies are if we have anxiety or if we’re just particularly stressed out,” Pelt said.
After this, she began incorporating it into her routine last fall when her anxiety had worsened due to a more challenging course load than usual. She tried it in the form of oil and gummies, and by smoking it.
When it comes to finding out where to start with CBD each person’s experience is unique. In other words, “There’s no normal,” Fran Boseo, an employee at Restart CBD said.
“It’s kinda like figuring out your dose and figuring out what works for you,” Boseo said. “It was tricky in the beginning, figuring out my dose, because there wasn’t as much information about CBD three years ago — there is now.”
After experimenting with different forms and dosages, Pelt found she prefers to smoke CBD, often at night before she goes to bed. This is the most cost effective way for her and she notices the effects faster.
“It’s so weird,” Pelt said. “I think it feels different for everyone, but it’s just a very calm feeling and if you experience anxiety like in your chest, I felt it dissipate.”
When anxiety creeps in for Thulin, she remembers the different anti-anxiety tips she has learned over the years. She plants her feet firmly on the floor and counts her breaths. But when time rolls on and these tricks don’t always work she knows she can use her CBD to find relief.
Study proposes CBD as possible treatment for anxiety in teens
Rates of anxiety are only increasing with the pandemic, and researchers are looking for ways to treat it.
CBD is now showing promise at managing anxiety based on a 2019 study done in Japan involving 37 teenagers diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, also known as SAD.
The symptoms of thosein the study were assessed at the beginning and end. For four weeks, the teens were given either a placebo or CBD daily and did not know which one they were receiving.
At the end of the study when participants were put in a situation to simulate public speaking, those who were taking CBD had noticed improvement in their anxiety, while those taking the placebo had no change.
The exact dosage of CBD for anxiety is still unknown.
