The Link Between Homelessness And Mental Health

According to the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), disease was prevalent in the newly homeless. This population accessed health care services at high rates in the year before becoming homeless. Significant improvements in health status were seen over the study period as well as a significant increase in the number who were insured (American Journal of Public Health, 2012). The homeless in Overtown face a variety of risks and barriers to their health. Firstly, a good number of the population suffers from mental illness, they suffer from a range of mental health problems from depression, personality disorders, schizophrenia and many more. Most are unable to treat their mental

In the United States the homeless population continues to grow rapidly. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. This at risk population is seen by society as lazy or chose to live a life on the streets, but if one would examine this population closely would see that there is more to this at risk population than what society has labeled them as. The forces, which affect homelessness, are multifaceted. Social forces such as family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses are in combined with structural forces such as lack of low-cost housing, insufficient health services, and poor economic conditions. Many would

According to Homeless Link (2010), homeless people are 4 times more likely to suffer from mental health issues, compared to those with stable accommodation (Homeless Link, 2010). Generally, homelessness can be described as a situation where a person is ejected from his or her home due to economic problems or illness. In addition, homelessness can contribute to the cause of most mental health issues which can sometimes result in homeless people with mental health issues facing extreme forms of social exclusion (The Queen’s Nursing Institute, 2012). Nevertheless, Bhugra (2007) argues that most people who had no mental illness develop mental health issues while homeless because of the trauma and experience associated to homelessness, this can be disempowering and can result in severe isolation. Furthermore, Bhugra (2007) concluded that ‘not all individuals with mental illness are homeless and not all homeless individuals are mentally ill’. Shelter (2007) highlighted the possible link between homelessness and mental health which showed the effects homelessness has on the mental health of homeless people with street sleepers and rough sleepers been severely affected (Shelter, 2007).

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, only 16% of the single adult homeless population suffer from some form of mental illness and according to the National Coalition to the Homeless, The increasingness of homelessness over that past two decades can not be explained by addiction alone

To date, there has been a significant amount of research conducted on young homeless people; however, there has not been much research conducted on the older population. The baby boomers are now approaching older ages and the percentage of homeless people is increasing. Research has also indicated that the older generation, particularly 55 and over, is commonly found to be Caucasian males with abundant health problems. This study targeted older adults with mental illness using a system known as ACCESS. ACCESS stands for the Access to Community Care and Effective Services and Supports. This was funded by the Center for Mental Health Services for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (Gordon, 2012).

Mental illness is very common: nearly one in five adults in the United States- 43.8 million or 18.5%- experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities (Any Mental Illness. 2015). Mental illnesses are health conditions that disturb a person's way of thinking, feeling or mood. It does not matter what gender, age, social status, religion, race, ethnicity, and background someone comes from, it can affect anyone. One of the main populations that suffer from serious untreated mental illnesses are homeless. The homeless are individuals who have lost it all and are forced to live in the streets. Mental illness and homelessness are strongly associated with each other.

On the night of October 25, 2012, shelter providers in Minnesota counted 7,961 homeless individuals in shelters and transitional housing programs and an additional 2,221 homeless individuals were identified who were not staying in a formal shelter for a total of 10,214 homeless individuals (Wilder Research Foundation, 2014). The count from October 25, 2012 is an underrepresentation of the total homeless population in Minnesota, since many homeless people staying outside of the shelter system are not found on the night of the study. Research and descriptions of the homeless population are extremely limited due to the many difficulties associated with identifying and describing this population (Bawden, 1990). Many researchers have focused on shelters and soup kitchens in attempts to engage and study the mentally ill on the street; however this strategy limits

People with mental illnesses are at greater risk of homelessness. This is particularly true for people with serious mental illnesses, particularly those that might impact their reality testing, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). California, like other areas of the country, sees a relationship between mental illness and homelessness. In fact, mental illness may be one of the most significant risk factors for homelessness. Of people with serious mental illness seen by California's public mental health system, approximately 15% of them experienced at least one bout of homelessness in a one-year period (Folsom et al., 2005). Furthermore, "According to the Substance Abuse and Mental

In the complex society of this day and age, homelessness is an ever growing epidemic; People can become homeless for many reasons: losing a job, addiction to drugs and mental illness. People drive or walk past a homeless person every day without thinking ever about the predicament of that individual or they may even unintentionally turn their heads the other way in repulsion. Homelessness can be defined as an individual or a family whose has a main nighttime dwelling that is a public or private place not designed for or normally used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground, doorway or alley sidewalk. Any given night in Portland there can be upwards of 4000 people sleeping on the streets in homeless camps, shelters, or under the bridges, this report looks at the direct correlation between homelessness, the disease of drug addiction, and mental illness, And will try to address ways to help decrease and prevent it from increasing.

Homelessness is one of the socio-economic problems that can strike anyone when they least expect it. In the phase of the rapidly growing world populations accompanied with constant rising cost of living, it may be impossible to completely eradicate homelessness but it can be drastically reduced with some measures in place. Providing more affordable and readily available housing opportunities to low income earners can help them afford a permanent place of residence. Homelessness is simply lack of housing, so having a permanent place to live will keep people off the street. Also, studies have shown that there is a correlation between mental health and homelessness. People with poor mental health are more susceptible to the three main factors

Providing mental health along with assessments in homeless shelters is huge! I think it is amazing that you brought this up, it seems like this subject should be common sense to social workers. This is the absolute best way for many of the people in the homeless community to receive mental health services, as many homeless people have no idea where to begin when it comes to getting mental health services and a lot of them do not even realize they need help. The majority of the homeless population suffers from concurrent mental and substance use disorders, leading them to have more frequent use of emergency department and inpatient hospital services costing taxpayers. The crazy piece to this is it would actually be cheaper by millions of dollars

With that in mind, homelessness describes the condition of individuals without a consistent dwelling. Individuals who are experiencing homelessness are often unable to acquire safe, secure, and adequate night-time habitation. Additionally, when viewed from a macro perspective lens, homelessness in our society is one of the top social problems in our country, state, and in our cities. Moreover, when faced with the problem of chronic homelessness, many complications appear. For one, mental health recipients have been

Homelessness unquestionably affects all areas of people’s lives particularly their mental state and well-being. Adults who are experiencing homelessness have high rates of mental illness, and considerably low rates of mental health service use. It is important to note that homelessness can be the result of a variety of different factors. Poverty does not discriminate, it is a process that has the power to affect vulnerable individuals at different points in their

There is a long tradition in social psychology of research on the development of attitudes and how they are related to actual behavior. Research has suggested that attitudes of individuals predict their intentions to act as well as indirectly their later behaviors (Ajzen, I. (2001). Nature and operation of attitudes. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 27–58.) There has been similar research that supports the connection of attitudes and beliefs to homelessness, and an individual support on particular programs, and even behaviors towards homelessness itself. (Homelessness in Europe and the United States: A Comparison of Prevalence and Public Opinion)

Understanding how both individual and structural factors contribute to and sustain homelessness is a critical factor in successfully addressing homelessness. All to often service providers blame homeless individuals for the circumstances they are in, making assumptions that substance abuse or other irresponsible behaviors have caused the problems leading to the individual to become homeless. Hoffman and Coffey (2008) suggest, “the perpetuation of homelessness is not internal to the homeless individual as many claim, but rather may be embedded in the service industry itself, which subjects both clients and providers to bureaucratic forms of authority and experiences of disrespect.” While not all homeless people suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, all of