View article

Effective delivery of mental healthand substance use disorderservicesisacriticalproblemintheUnitedStates, with less than half of adults with mental health diagnosesreceivingtreatmentfortheirillness. 1 Forpatientswith schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other more serious mental health conditions, less than two-thirds received care for their illness, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which included more than 65 000 respondents. 1 Perhaps of most concern, in a time of tens of thousands of annual overdose deaths from the opioid epidemic, the same study found that only 1 in 5 people with an opioid use disorder obtained any treatment. 1 The underpinnings of these unsettling statistics are complex. First, mentalhealthandsubstanceusedisorders remain stigmatized in the US. Additionally, for many patients, access to …