Medical Cannabis and Anxiety

Please note this is educational information and does not replace the opinion and assessment of a doctor

If you are in crisis and you need urgent mental health support you can access 24 hour support for any age in your area here

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, dread or unease that can range from being mild to severe. These feelings can be felt in our body as well as our mind. Sometimes people feel anxiety about a range of events or situations and this lasts a long time. This is sometimes referred to as Generalised Anxiety Disorder.

This page looks at Anxiety in adults. For information on anxiety in children click here

It is normal to feel fear from time to time – it helps us to identify and react to a threat. In moments of stress and change that are significant in our lives, these feelings can be appropriate.

Sometimes however, these feelings persist and become hard to control. These feelings can then go on to impact heavily on someone’s day to day life. They can range from being mild but allowing people to continue with their activities of daily living, or severe resulting in experiences like panic attacks. These severe symptoms can prevent people from carrying out their activities of daily living.

Anxiety can become a problem when these feelings stop being proportionate to the situation someone is facing or when a person cannot identify a cause of these fears. Anxiety can prevent people from leaving the house or attending social situations and when worries become hard to control.

Symptoms of anxiety can be physical as well as emotional, causing feelings of breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, increased or thumping heartbeat, insomnia, teeth grinding, low sex drive and panic attacks. If you do experience these symptoms, you should contact your GP to rule out any other physical causes.

If you are experiencing chest pain or severe shortness of breath you must phone 999.

Anxiety is a key component of several conditions including:

Phobias – A phobia is a debilitating fear of a thing, place, animal or even a feeling.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – This is a mental health condition that was caused by a traumatic or distressing event.
Panic Disorder – This is the regular occurrence of panic attacks or extreme fear.

A GP can help diagnose anxiety and may also refer a person onto specialists such as mental health nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

There are lots of ways to help manage and treat anxiety. Some of these are things that a person can do for themselves (self-help techniques). These include taking care of physical health, building communities, talking to close friends and family, medication, mindfulness, body and breath work.

Peer support groups are also a great help.

Patients may be referred for talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural therapy and in the UK patients can also self-refer for talking therapies in their area.

Sometimes a patient may be prescribed medicines to help with their symptoms. A GP can help to discuss this with you.

Whilst research into medical cannabis and Anxiety is limited, there has been an increase in the number of patients looking to medical cannabis when some of the interventions above have not been successful in managing their condition. It is important that this is done via specialist clinicians and only on prescription with the right care in place.

If you would like to discuss medical cannabis and Anxiety you can contact us here or self refer here.