Study says mental health workers may stigmatize substance use disorder, hindering those seeking help

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A new study from University of Georgia shows increased training for mental health workers and first responders may be the key to reducing stigma.

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Those working in the field of mental health, including treatment and support services, may have higher levels of stigmatizing behavior toward people with opioid addiction than the general population, according to recent findings from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 

The UGA Extension has held the Rural Health and Safety Education Grant since 2019, with the goal of reducing opioid use in rural Georgia, said Virginia Brown, lead author on the study.

"So, with this iteration of the grant, one thing we wanted to do was to assess opioid stigma in persons out in rural Georgia," Brown said.

They contracted with Qualtrics, a cloud-based survey service provider, and surveyed 1,600 people across 13 Southern states including Georgia. According to Qualtrics, its online samples are "typically chosen from a pre-arranged pool of respondents who've agreed to be contacted by a market research service in order to respond to surveys" (Qualtrics, 2025).

The survey asked how much the respondents agree with statements like, "People with opioid use problems are to blame for their situation."

Healthcare workers with those opinions may be less likely to prescribe medications that could help opioid users manage their addiction, Brown said.

"We found, unfortunately not too surprising, that those working in the mental health field may experience higher rates of stigma than others towards the very people that they are serving," Brown said.

The study sought to better understand opioid stigma in persons living in rural Georgia after the issue came up during several needs assessments with community members, and during focus groups.

"It kept being cited as a barrier to serving the community and getting people to actually access education and prevention services," Brown said. "So, that led us down the path of, 'OK, let's measure it broadly for Georgia and our neighboring states since we do work on several projects related to behavioral health.' That's what produced this study."

While further study is planned, Brown says the big takeaway is that improving education through increased training for mental health workers and first responders may be the key to reducing stigma.