A new 20-item questionnaire, the Attitudes on Psychedelics Questionnaire (APQ), was developed and tested in a Croatian general population sample of 1153 participants. The APQ has four sub-scales: Legal Use, Effects, Risk Assessment, and Openness to Psychedelics. It showed excellent reliability and strong correlations with a similar unvalidated measure, supporting its validity. Younger age, male gender, and lower educational status were associated with more positive attitudes. People who knew more about psychedelics also held more favorable attitudes. The APQ can be used to assess educational interventions, patient outcomes, and expert attitudes, but further validation in English is needed.
Psychiatrists in Europe who are not involved in psychedelic research see both promise and risk in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP). Based on interviews with 12 specialists and trainees from 8 countries, four themes emerged: psychedelics hold potential, they are dangerous, their future is uncertain, and psychiatry is ambivalent toward them. Respondents acknowledged PAP's potential but considered its evidence base not yet robust enough. They reported that education on psychedelics is lacking in medical and psychiatric training and should be improved to help mental health experts participate in decisions about PAP.