Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) introduced stressors to mental health, including loneliness stemming from social isolation, fear of contracting the disease, economic strain, and uncertainty about the future. We fielded a national survey measuring symptoms of psychological distress and loneliness among US adults in April 2020 and compared results with national data from 2018.

Objective This study compares current public attitudes about drug addiction with attitudes about mental illness. Methods A web-based national public opinion survey (N=709) was conducted to compare attitudes about stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy support. Results Respondents hold significantly more negative views toward persons with drug addiction compared to those with mental illness. More respondents were unwilling to have a person with drug addiction marry into their family or work closely with them on a job. Respondents were more willing to accept discriminatory practices, more skeptical about the effectiveness of available treatments, and more likely to oppose public policies aimed at helping persons with drug addiction. Conclusions Drug addiction is often treated as a sub-category of mental illness, and health insurance benefits group these conditions together under the rubric of behavioral health. Given starkly different public views about drug addiction and mental illness, advocates may need to adopt differing approaches for advancing stigma reduction and public policy.

PurposeThis article describes epidemiologic evidence concerning risk of gun violence and suicide linked to psychiatric disorders, in contrast to media-fueled public perceptions of the dangerousness of mentally ill individuals, and evaluates effectiveness of policies and laws designed to prevent firearms injury and mortality associated with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders.MethodsResearch concerning public attitudes toward persons with mental illness is reviewed and juxtaposed with evidence from benchmark epidemiologic and clinical studies of violence and mental illness and of the accuracy of psychiatrists' risk assessments. Selected policies and laws designed to reduce gun violence in relation to mental illness are critically evaluated; evidence-based policy recommendations are presented.ResultsMedia accounts of mass shootings by disturbed individuals galvanize public attention and reinforce popular belief that mental illness often results in violence. Epidemiologic studies show that the large majority of people with serious mental illnesses are never violent. However, mental illness is strongly associated with increased risk of suicide, which accounts for over half of US firearms–related fatalities.ConclusionsPolicymaking at the interface of gun violence prevention and mental illness should be based on epidemiologic data concerning risk to improve the effectiveness, feasibility, and fairness of policy initiatives.

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• The current United States opioid overdose crisis is a complex, multifaceted, public health emergency that urgently requires the implementation of evidence-based primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive interventions. We develop a typology of the stigma related to opioid use, showing how multiple dimensions of stigma continue to fundamentally hinder the response to the crisis. • Public stigma is driven by stereotypes about people with opioid use disorders, such as their perceived dangerousness or perceived moral failings, which translate into negative attitudes toward people with opioid use disorders. • Enacted stigma describes the behavioral manifestations of public stigma, including discrimination and social distancing. Public and enacted stigma, in turn, lead to delivery of suboptimal care and undermine access to treatment and harm reduction services. • Public stigma and enacted stigma can become structural stigma when they become encoded in cultural norms, laws, and institutional policies. Collectively, these forms of stigma run at cross purposes to-and reduce public support for-public health-oriented policies to address the opioid overdose crisis.

Serious psychological distress was reported by 13.6% of US adults in April 2020 vs 3.9% in 2018. 1 How psychological distress has changed over the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unknown.

Reframing the issue to emphasize the structural factors contributing to prescription opioid use disorder and the barriers to accessing evidence-based treatment might improve support for policies that benefit affected individuals.

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