Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2017
Dose-related effects of delta-9-THC on emotional responses to acute psychosocial stress.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 126 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Behavioral Sequelae of Cannabis Use in Healthy People: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Therapeutically Motivated Cannabis Use for Anxiety: Daily and Longitudinal Reductions Vary Between Flower and Edible Products.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Trial
- Blunted stress reactivity in chronic cannabis users.Psychopharmacology · 2017Trial
- Multimodal examination of the acute effects of cannabis on subjective and physiological stress-related outcomes: a randomized placebo-controlled laboratory study.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Influence of cannabis potency on mental health outcomes among adolescents and young adults: scoping review.BJPsych open · 2026Review
- Adolescent ΔPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Acute and delayed effects of THC on memories of stress in healthy adults.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Associations of cannabis use, other substances, and lifestyle choices on anxiety in medical cannabis patients across 45 days.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Multimodal examination of daily stress rhythms in chronic Cannabis users.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Joint Relations Among Cannabis, Sleep, and Affective Symptomatology: A Scoping Review.Current addiction reports · 2026Review
- Direct modulation of human GABA-A αFrontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Acute and chronic effects of medicinal cannabis use on anxiety and depression in a prospective cohort of patients new to cannabis.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Observational
- Stress-Buffer-Hypothesis: blood endocannabinoids in healthy males under standardized psychosocial stress induction and resting condition.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Review
- Comment on Zabik et al. (2024): timing and dosage effects of THC in fear extinction: challenges and feasibility in a clinical setting.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- UK Medical Cannabis Registry: A Clinical Outcomes Analysis for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Experimental study on cannabis use and affect: Effects on reactivity to and recovery from negative stimuli.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2025Article
- Recent HPLC-UV Approaches for Cannabinoid Analysis: From Extraction to Method Validation and Quantification Compliance.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Understanding Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among LGBTQ + Youth: Differential Associations Between Bullying and Substance Use.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Article
- Unseen dualities: underdiagnosis of substance use disorders in borderline personality disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesCannabis smokers often report that they use the drug to relax or to relieve emotional stress. However, few clinical studies have shown evidence of the stress-relieving effects of cannabis or cannabinoid agonists. In this study, we sought to assess the influence of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a main active ingredient of cannabis, upon emotional responses to an acute psychosocial stressor among healthy young adults.
methodsHealthy volunteers (N=42) participated in two experimental sessions, one with psychosocial stress (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) and another with a non-stressful task, after receiving 0 (N=13), 7.5mg (N=14) or 12.5mg (N=15) oral THC. Capsules were administered under randomized, double blind conditions, 2.5h before the tasks began. We measured subjective mood and drug effects, vital signs and salivary cortisol before and at repeated times after the capsule and tasks. Subjects also appraised the tasks, before and after completion.
resultsIn comparison to placebo, 7.5mg THC significantly reduced self-reported subjective distress after the TSST and attenuated post-task appraisals of the TSST as threatening and challenging. By contrast, 12.5mg THC increased negative mood overall i.e., both before and throughout the tasks, and pre-task ratings of the TSST as threatening and challenging. It also impaired TSST performance and attenuated blood pressure reactivity to the stressor.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that a low dose of THC produces subjective stress-relieving effects in line with those commonly reported among cannabis users, but that higher doses may non-specifically increase negative mood.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.