Asking for help with an addiction can already be difficult. A new study suggests that people with opioid addiction may face an additional obstacle: negative attitudes among some mental health workers and first responders.
Researchers at the University of Georgia surveyed people across the southern United States and found unexpectedly high levels of stigma among workers in helping professions. In some measures, these workers expressed harsher views about opioid addiction than people in the wider community.
Stigma happens when a person is judged or treated negatively because of a health condition or other characteristic. With addiction, it can appear in beliefs that people simply lack willpower, caused their own problems or do not deserve the same level of care as other patients.
These ideas can have serious consequences because opioid addiction is not simply a matter of making bad choices. Opioid use disorder is a recognized health condition that can involve changes in the brain and powerful physical dependence, and recovery often requires medical care and long-term support.
The scale of the problem remains enormous in the United States. More than 82,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2024, and millions more are estimated to have opioid use disorder.
Yet many people never receive treatment. Fear of being judged by family members, employers, communities or health professionals can make someone less willing to admit that they have a problem or walk into a treatment service.
To explore these attitudes, the University of Georgia researchers surveyed around 1,600 adults from 13 southern states. Participants included members of the general population as well as mental health workers and first responders.
The survey presented statements about people experiencing opioid problems and asked participants how strongly they agreed with them. One idea was that people with opioid addiction were responsible for their situation, while another claimed that taking methadone was simply exchanging one addiction for another.
Participants were also asked about directly judging people with opioid problems. Mental health workers and first responders were more likely than other respondents to support several of these negative views.
That result surprised the researchers because these professions are built around helping people during difficult periods. However, professional training does not automatically remove the wider social beliefs and misunderstandings surrounding addiction.
One particularly important issue involves medications used to treat opioid addiction. Methadone and other approved treatments can reduce withdrawal and cravings, lower the use of dangerous illegal opioids and help people remain engaged with health care.
If a professional believes these medicines merely replace one addiction with another, that belief could affect conversations with patients or willingness to support evidence-based treatment. Even subtle judgment in a person’s tone or language may make a patient less comfortable returning for care.
Lead author Virginia Brown said stigma can create a mental barrier that prevents people from seeking help. The researchers believe additional education and practical training may help mental health workers and first responders respond more effectively.
Training could focus on listening without immediately judging, understanding how addiction develops and learning which treatments are supported by evidence. Programs such as Mental Health First Aid may also give people practical skills for recognizing problems and guiding someone toward professional support.
The research was published in the Community Mental Health Journal. The study was authored by Virginia Brown, Thuy Dung Pham, Diane Bales, Maria Bowie and Anna Scheyett.
There are important limits to what the study can tell us. A survey can reveal attitudes people are willing to report, but it cannot prove that those beliefs lead to poorer treatment, fewer prescriptions or worse health outcomes for patients.
The sample was also drawn from southern U.S. states, which means cultural and health-system differences could limit how widely the findings apply. Mental health workers are a diverse group, and attitudes may vary substantially between professions, workplaces and levels of addiction-specific training.
Still, the study raises a valuable question for health services. If professionals want people with opioid addiction to seek treatment, patients must believe that asking for help will lead to care rather than shame.
The research therefore points to a problem that may be possible to change. Better education, more contact with people in recovery and stronger training in evidence-based addiction care could help reduce harmful assumptions while giving workers better tools to support patients.
The opioid crisis cannot be solved by reducing stigma alone, but stigma can determine whether someone reaches the treatment system at all. Making health services more informed and less judgmental may be one important step toward helping more people receive care before an overdose or other serious harm occurs.
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Source: University of Georgia.
