The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that 17.3 million U.S. adults had at least one major depressive episode in 2017. That is approximately 7.1% of the adult population. Major depressive disorder is more prevalent in women.
One could assume that these numbers represent those who have sought help with their depression. There are probably many more who suffer through depression alone and without help.
CAN CBD HELP?
There is some promising news from science on the efficacy of CBD for depression. Unfortunately, most of the research has been done on animals and not on humans.
The studies have used chemical markers for indication of efficacy, which could easily translate to humans. This is good news and we should view it with optimism. We have seen anecdotal evidence in humans indicating the use of CBD for depression and with little or no side effects from using CBD, we can, without reservation recommend trying CBD.
A RELEVANT STUDY
A study in 2018 indicates how fast the CBD acted in suppressing the chemicals associated with depression. In fact, the CBD acted much faster than the conventional treatment.
We can see from the study that there is a great deal of optimism for the use of CBD in the treatment of depression.
However, as we have stated multiple times before in this blog, there is a need for further studies, especially in humans to allow us to say definitively that CBD is the answer to helping people with depression. The results of many studies are promising and if I had to venture a guess, I would say we will see that CBD will become the major treatment for depression in the years to come.