An Individual's Lived Experiences of Taking Cannabis-Based Medicinal Products (CBMPs) to Treat Anxiety.
Samantha Hurn
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health September 18, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20186776 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Autoethnography (n-of-1 case report within a clinical trial) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | The author, a patient with chronic treatment-refractive anxiety and other mental health conditions linked to childhood abuse |
| Interventions | Cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) |
| Duration | First four months of the trial |
| Topics | Anxiety Cannabis |
| Keywords | Humans Female Medical marijuana Medical anthropology Lived experience Autoethnography Cbmps |
| Key findings | The author reports that cannabis-based medicinal products had a positive impact on her chronic anxiety, which had previously been refractory to conventional and alternative treatments, within the first four months of the Sapphire Access Scheme trial. She presents this as a preliminary autoethnographic account of her lived experience. |
Abstract
This report documents the case of a patient (the author) participating in a clinical trial of medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.)-the Sapphire Access Scheme, run by the Sapphire Medical Clinic as part of the UK Medical Cannabis Registry-to explore the impacts of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) on anxiety. For most of my life, I have experienced often very serious bouts of poor mental health arising, in part, from childhood abuse, and have been diagnosed with several mental health conditions which constitute disabilities. I have received various conventional treatments and multiple alternative therapies. However, none of these have enabled me to consistently manage my conditions long-term, and I often suffer relapses. As part of the Sapphire Access Scheme, I complete regular quantitative questionnaires regarding the impacts of the CBMPs on my anxiety and have also obtained the clinic's permission to qualitatively document and write up the impacts of CBMPs on my mental health. Here, I present a preliminary autoethnographic exploration of my lived experiences of CBMP use over the first four months of the trial, which show that even within such a short space of time, CBMPs have had a positive impact on treating what had previously been treatment-refractive chronic anxiety.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on cannabis, most cited first.