The study investigated explicit and implicit attitudes towards people with mental illness among medical students (non-professionals) with no previous contact with mentally ill patients and psychiatrists and psychotherapists (professionals) who had at least 2 years of professional contact with mentally ill patients. Explicit attitudes where assessed by self-report. Implicit attitudes were measured with the Go/No-Go Association Task, a variant of the Implicit Association Test that does not require the use of a comparison category. Compared to non-professionals, mental health professionals reported significantly higher approach emotions than non-professionals towards people with mental illness, showed a lesser tendency to discriminate against them, and held less restrictive attitudes. Both groups reported negative implicit attitudes towards mentally ill. Results suggest that both non-professionals and professionals display ambivalent attitudes towards people with mental illness and that professional, long-term contact with people with mental illness does not necessarily modify negative implicit attitudes.

Background The abuse of synthetic cannabinoids has emerged as a public health concern over the past few years, yet little data exist characterizing the use of synthetic cannabinoids, particularly among patients seeking substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. In a sample of patients entering residential SUD treatment, we examined the prevalence of and motivations for synthetic cannabinoid use, and examined relationships of synthetic cannabinoid use with other substance use and demographic characteristics. Methods Patients (N = 396; 67% male, 75% White, Mage=34.8) completed self-report screening surveys about lifetime prevalence of synthetic cannabinoid use, route of administration, and motives for use. Results A total of 150 patients (38%) reported using synthetic cannabinoids in their lifetimes, primarily by smoking (91%). Participants chose multiple motives for use and the most commonly endorsed included curiosity (91%), feeling good/getting high (89%), relaxation (71%), and getting high without having a positive drug test (71%). Demographically, those who used synthetic cannabinoids were younger and more were White. They had higher rates of other substance use and higher scores on measures of depression and psychiatric distress. Conclusions Lifetime synthetic cannabinoid use was relatively common in SUD patients and many of those who used it reported doing so because they believed it would not cause a positive drug test. Further research is needed to characterize the extent of synthetic cannabinoid use among SUD treatment samples, and to establish understanding of the longitudinal trajectories of synthetic cannabinoid use in combination with other substance use, psychiatric distress, and treatment outcomes.

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US health care systems are rapidly responding to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by mobilizing resources to treat infected patients and prevent further transmission. Concurrently, patients with behavioral health conditions continue to need health care or they risk becoming silent casualties of the pandemic. National data indicate that 7.8% of adults met past-year criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). 1 These patients, including those with co-occurring mental health disorders, are vulnerable to serious consequences, including overdose and suicide, if treatments and psychosocial services are disrupted by COVID-19. With COVID-19, it is imperative to minimize transmission while continuing SUD and mental health care in the context of rapidly evolving health care response and policies. This presents an urgent, unprecedented need for telemedicine and mobile health in SUD care and the need to understand how to implement these services now and continue them long term. Telehealth increases availability and reach of treatments, but it has been underused and understudied in patients with SUDs. 2 Telehealth encompasses a range of telecommunication platforms to support or provide health care at a distance. Here, telehealth encompasses (1) telemedicine or synchronous videoconferencing between clinicians and patients in separate locations; and (2) mobile health, involving telephone, text, or web-based interventions. In the age of COVID-19, telehealth uniquely supports health care delivery while preserving social distancing, reducing disease transmission. Prior to COVID-19, regulatory hurdles limited widescale adoption of telehealth for SUDs. Since COVID-19, 5 major changes have rapidly reduced barriers across the United States: 1. The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 imposed rules around telemedicine prescribing of controlled medications. With the federal declaration of a public health emergency, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that DEA-registered clinicians may prescribe schedule II through V medications for patients they have not seen in person if they are using telemedicine prescribing for legitimate medical reasons under usual practice in concert with relevant state and federal laws. 3 This allows telemedicine and, more recently, telephone visits 3 to start buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder, without patients first coming to clinic in person. 2. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced it will waive Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act penalties for "good faith use of telehealth." 4