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.
European psychiatrists generally hold positive attitudes toward psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy but remain concerned about potential risks. In a survey of 419 psychiatrists from 33 countries, one-third reported past personal use of psychedelics. The highest-rated attitude sub-scale was Openness to Psychedelics, while Risk Assessment was rated lowest. Younger, male, spiritually identified psychiatrists who could better recognize psychedelic substances and had personal experience with them showed more favorable attitudes. Professional experience with psychedelic therapy or research also predicted positive attitudes, but other professional variables did not. The findings suggest that impartiality on the topic is difficult.