The 2026 annual meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP) recently concluded. From April 16 through April 18, in San Francisco, California, the 2026 ACP Internal Medicine Meeting was three full days of networking and educational opportunities for internal medicine physicians and subspecialists from around the world.

With hundreds of abstracts from the event to browse through, we have a curated selection of abstracts focusing on psychiatry and substance use disorder topics. Some descriptions and conclusions were edited for clarity and brevity. View the ACP National Abstract Competition archive for a more thorough look at these and many other abstracts.  

Psychiatry and Substance Use Disorders Abstracts from ACP Annual Meeting 2026

Maternal Substance Use Disorder (M-SUD) in Pregnancy: Need for Enhanced Medical Student Education

  • Description: Maternal substance abuse is an important health concern for medical students to be well-versed in to understand the harm caused to both mother and fetus. Research on effects of substances on exposed infants has grown over the years. However, one major area of research that needs to be expanded is segregating the detrimental effects of substances on development due to drug effects alone versus the social/environmental factors that are often associated with maternal substance use.
  • Conclusion: The identified deficiencies in recognizing trimester-specific risks and hesitancy to discuss illicit substances suggest systemic curriculum inadequacies across medical schools. Poor integration ratings (2.3-2.9/5) indicate urgent need for standardized maternal substance use disorder education addressing legal, ethical, and counseling competencies.

Comparison of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Management and Outcomes in Cirrhotic and Non-Cirrhotic Patients

  • Description: Alcohol use disorder prevalence continues to rise and has led to more hospitalizations for alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol protocol has been widely utilized to guide symptom monitoring and pharmacologic management but was originally validated in medically stable populations and its use in cirrhotic patients remains unclear. This study compares AWS management and outcomes between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients to identify opportunities for improved care.
  • Conclusion: In patients hospitalized for alcohol withdrawal, cirrhosis is associated with longer hospital length of stay despite lower benzodiazepam use. Although withdrawal-related complications were comparable, cirrhotic patients had higher mortality and more often required post-acute care services.

The Rochester Model for Smoking Cessation: A Medical Student-Run Hospital Tobacco Treatment Program

  • Description: Hospital admissions are a valuable opportunity to help patients quit smoking, which has been shown to increase overall cessation rates, decrease readmissions, and lower overall healthcare expenditure. However, inpatient-based programs are often limited by cost and personnel. The Rochester Model is a QI program that treats inpatient smokers, consisting of bedside counseling coupled with post-discharge follow up phone calls. 
  • Conclusion: Medical students provide effective smoking cessation counseling with robust quit rates at 6 months follow up, far exceeding Joint Commission benchmarks for inpatient programs. Primary cardiac admissions also appear to provide a strong impetus for tobacco treatment, at least in the short-term. To [the researchers’] knowledge, this is the only medical student-based hospital treatment program with long term follow up.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Opioid Substance Abuse: A Case Report

  • Description: Opioid overdose is a major public health concern with complications including respiratory depression, hypoxic injury, and cardiac arrest. A less common and poorly understood complication is acute sensorineural hearing loss. Isolated case reports have documented rare cases of hearing impairment following opioid exposure, however the mechanism of hearing loss and proper treatment management remain unclear.
  • Conclusion: [The researchers’] case demonstrates acute bilateral sensorineural hearing loss as a rare complication of opioid overdose. The patient's improvement with corticosteroid therapy suggests a potential inflammatory or ototoxic mechanism.

Severe Mental Illness Is an Independent Risk Factor for Increased All-Cause Readmission After Stroke: A Nationwide Analysis of 2.1 Million Hospitalizations

  • Description: Despite growing evidence linking mental illness to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, national data evaluating how psychiatric conditions influence post-stroke readmission remain limited. This study aims to characterize the association between psychiatric comorbidities and all-cause readmission after stroke to identify high-risk subgroups and inform integrated post-stroke care models.
  • Conclusion: In this large, nationally representative analysis, severe mental illness was independently associated with increased short- and long-term all-cause readmission risk after stroke. These findings highlight the vulnerability of patients with SMI to post-discharge instability and long-term health deterioration.

Assessing the Impact of Telehealth Policy Expansion on 988 Suicide & Crisis Calls Nationally

  • Description: The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched nationally in July 2022 to improve access to behavioral health crisis care. State telehealth policies—such as participation in the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT)—may influence 988 call routing by expanding the reach of licensed psychologists and behavioral health providers across state lines. This study examined the adjusted association between PSYPACT adoption and 988 calls volumes within states.
  • Conclusion: Across all state-months (N=1836), 988 call volumes varied widely, with a mean of 4,916 calls (SD= 5824.7), median of 3,171 (IQR=1280-6246.5), and range of 225-40,772 calls per month. Rapid adoption of PSYPACT within states occurred, rising from 67% in 2022 to 80% in 2024. PSYPACT adoption was significantly associated with higher 988 call routing rates (IRR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.03--1.23, p < 0.012), indicating ~12% greater call volume in states participating in PSYPACT. There was a clear year effect (IRR= 1.25, 95% CI 1.12--1.39, p < 0.001) indicating significantly steadily rising 988 calls nationwide over time.

From Gas Station to the ICU: A Kratom Withdrawal

  • Description: Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, its used as a purported alternative treatment for chronic pain, opioid withdrawal, and mood disorders. Kratom contains active alkaloids primarily mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynin, which act on mu-opioid receptors. Chronic use has been linked to tolerance, dependence, and a withdrawal syndrome resembling that of opioids.
  • Conclusion: This case provides practical clinical insight by illustrating that buprenorphine–naloxone may be a viable therapeutic option for patients experiencing moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms related to chronic Kratom use.

Rapidly Progressive Neurological Decline in a Patient with Chronic Alcohol Use: A Case of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

  • Description: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, rapidly progressive neurodegenerative prion disease, with sporadic CJD (sCJD) accounting for 85% of cases. Early diagnosis is critical for counseling and supportive care. Chronic alcohol use disorder can further obscure diagnosis by mimicking symptoms such as gait ataxia and cognitive impairment.
  • Conclusion: This case underscores the diagnostic challenges of sCJD, especially when confounded by overlapping comorbidities such as chronic alcohol use.

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