Introduction to the special issue: Responding to the opioid crisis: Perspectives, challenges and directions.

To respond to the rapidly increasing awareness of the many serious issues related to the opioid crisis that are being encountered by our broad clinical-scientist and practitioner audience, we assembled a special issue on opioid use in all areas of clinical and clinical-health psychology. Together, the papers that comprise this collection shed light on critical issues regarding the opioid crisis within the field of clinical psychology, identify gaps in the knowledge base and directions for future investigations, and enhance our ability to provide effective and compassionate care for those who are experiencing problems with opiate use as well as their friends, families, and communities. Given the training that clinical and clinical-health psychologists receive, and our roles in providing clinical services to the population, we have focused this issue around articles addressing assessment, prevention, and treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).