Can Methamphetamine Use Harm Mental Health?

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Summary: Yes, methamphetamine use can harm mental health. In fact, among drugs of addiction, methamphetamine is associated with more negative mental health consequences and problematic psychiatric symptoms than any other substance of misuse, including alcohol and opioids.

Key Points:

In 2024, opioid overdose fatalities decreased in the U.S. by 32%
In 2024, methamphetamine overdose fatalities decreased by 27%
Between 2020 and 2024, opioid overdose fatalities increased by 16%
Between 2020 and 2024, methamphetamine overdose fatalities increased by 50%
We’re making progress in the overdose crisis, but methamphetamine use persists in causing significant harm to mental and physical health nationwide

The Overdose Crisis: Impact of Methamphetamine Use

In the U.S. in 2025, it’s easy to forget that the opioid addiction and overdose crisis is ongoing. We’re currently in what experts call the Fourth Wave of the Opioid and Overdose Crisis, which is characterized by an increase in polysubstance use, including significant increases in methamphetamine use, and an increase in co-occurring mental health disorders.

In 2023 and 2024 we received good news about the overdose crisis for the first time since 2018: two consecutive years of declining overdose deaths. That’s a major development in the crisis and bodes well for the future. It also confirms that our and emphasis on harm reduction appears to be working. And by working, we mean our focus on harm reduction is saving lives.

In this article, we’ll focus on two components of the opioid and overdose crisis that cause significant problems: 1) methamphetamine use, and 2) co-occurring mental health disorders. We’re specifically interested in how these two components are related and the question of whether methamphetamine use can harm mental health.

Fortunately, a group of researchers published a study in 2024 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence called “U.S. Trends in Methamphetamine-Involved Psychiatric Hospitalizations in The United States, 2015–2019” that sought to answer that exact question. Here’s how researchers describe the goal of the study:

“This study aims to measure and compare U.S. temporal trends in methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalizations.”

We’ll review the results of their work below. First, let’s take a look at the facts about methamphetamine use in the U.S.

Methamphetamine Use and Mental Health in the United States: Basic Facts

The research team gathered a significant amount of information related to trends in methamphetamine use in the U.S. over the twenty-five years. Here are several of the facts they include while discussing the need for research into methamphetamine use, mental health, and addiction:

2015-2019: 43% increase in past-year methamphetamine use.
2008-2015: 270% increase in amphetamine-involved hospitalizations.
2013-2019: 300% increase in overdose death rates involving psychostimulants

Next, the research team gathered data on the association of methamphetamine use and psychiatric symptoms. Evidence shows methamphetamine-related psychiatric symptoms include:

Psychosis
Anxiety
Depression
Mood disturbance
Irritability
Delusions
Paranoia
Suicidal ideation

In addition, the team found research indicating the following:

People with schizophrenia are more likely to experience psychosis while using methamphetamine, compared to people who don’t have schizophrenia and use methamphetamine
The majority of psychotic episodes among methamphetamine users occur in people who don’t have a primary psychotic disorder.
In some cases, people with psychosis triggered by methamphetamine develop a chronic mental health similar to schizophrenia.

That information shows that methamphetamine use has a well-documented negative association with mental health. That explains the impact of methamphetamine use on the overdose crisis: it’s one of the main drivers of the increase in co-occurring disorders.

The presence of a co-occurring mental health disorder complicates the treatment process, because it’s essential to address substance use disorders and mental health disorders simultaneously. Without an effective, integrated care plan, both the substance use disorder and the mental health disorder can create a negatively reinforcing cycle, where the symptoms of one exacerbate the symptoms of the other, and vice-versa.

The information above establishes the connection between methamphetamine and negative mental health outcomes – but how often are those outcomes serious enough to warrant psychiatric hospitalization?

Methamphetamine Use and Psychiatric Hospitalization for Mental Health Problems

The researchers analyzed data available to the public in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample 2022 (HCUP-NIS 2022). This database includes records of hospitalizations nationwide that represents more than 97 percent of the population. Therefore, we can use this data to make population level generalizations and arrive at insights that can apply to the entire country, rather than an isolated sample set.

Here’s what they found:

Methamphetamine and Psychiatric Hospitalizations: 2015-2019

Total psychiatric hospitalizations: 963,202
Methamphetamine-related: 50,223
Methamphetamine-involved psychiatric hospitalization rate increase: 68.0 %
Non-methamphetamine psychiatric hospitalizations rates remained stable
Largest methamphetamine increases:
- Age: people over 61 years old
- Gender: males
- Location: Midwest
- Race/ethnicity: black people
The most significant increase – 10.2% – occurred between 2015 and 2017 in the Midwest

The research team also examined opioid-related hospitalizations. We’ll share that data here to offer both perspective and contrast.

Opioids and Psychiatric Hospitalizations: 2015-2019

Total psychiatric hospitalizations: 963,202
Opioid-related: 102,877
Opioid-involved psychiatric hospitalization rate change over study period: 22% decrease
Non-opioid psychiatric hospitalizations rates remained stable

Here’s how Dr. Susan Calcaterra, lead author of the study, characterizes the findings above:

“An important takeaway from this study is the need for resources to address the mental and physical treatment of methamphetamine use…While the vast majority of psychiatric hospitalizations in this timeframe did not involve substance use, the significant increase in methamphetamine use means we have to better consider harm reduction in clinical settings.”

We’ll discuss these results further below.

How Does This Research Help Us Help Our Patients

As experts in treating people with mental health disorders, people with substance use disorders (SUD), and people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, we use data like this to expand our understanding of what’s happening with the people now. What this study shows us – although the data are from 2019 – is that people with methamphetamine use disorder need our help now more than ever.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH) reports that in 2024, 1.5 million people over age 18 used methamphetamines, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 29,639 people died of methamphetamine overdose.

Not only do people with methamphetamine use disorder need our help with methamphetamine addiction, but they also need our expertise with compassionate, holistic, comprehensive care for people with co-occurring disorders. The extent to which methamphetamine use can harm mental health is significant. And when a substance use disorder and a mental health disorder co-occur, it’s essential to treat them simultaneously. Absence of treatment for either likely means both will escalate in severity, which increases risk of negative complications, up to and including fatal overdose.

Treatment for co-occurring disorders is most effective when it follows the integrated treatment model outlined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):

Adequate Access to Care: No Wrong Door
Comprehensive Assessments: Screening for SUD, Mental Health Disorders, and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): To Understand the Whole Person
Appropriate Level of Care: Based on Assessments
Integration of Treatment: Combines SUD and Mental Health Treatment
Offers Comprehensive Support: Connects Patients to Social/Vocational/Housing/Educational Resources
Provides Continuity of Care: Ensures Patients Have Support After Formal Treatment, and Support Managing Transitions Between Levels of Care

Improving Care for People With Methamphetamine Addiction

Dr. Calcaterra indicates there are several ways to improve care for people with methamphetamine addiction, and people with co-occurring methamphetamine addiction and co-occurring disorders:

Contingency management: Offering incentives for decreased drug use
Harm reduction education: Offering workshops and classes on how to reduce the negative impact of drug use
Access to Naloxone: Offering overdose reversal medication for methamphetamine mixed with fentanyl
Mental health support: Offering expanded/increased mental health treatment for people with methamphetamine use disorder.

That last bullet point is perhaps the most salient takeaway from this research. The evidence shows that methamphetamine use is associated with anxiety, depression, and psychosis to a greater degree than almost all other drugs of misuse.

In other words, methamphetamine causes significant harm to the mental health of those who use it, ad severe harm to people with methamphetamine use disorder.

Therefore, a focus on mental health among patients who use methamphetamine is paramount: with integrated treatment, we can offer comprehensive support that increases the likelihood of long-term, sustainable recovery.