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Links between homelessness and mental illness
Introduction to homeless and mental health issues
Links between homelessness and mental illness
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I Have A Dream Speech Today I would like to talk about mental illnesses and mental health issues. For anyone that doesnt know, a mental illness is a disease of the mind. A Report of the Surgeon General defines mental disorders as “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.” Everyone has difficult emotions from time to time and this is normal. Mental illness, on the other hand, is any condition that makes it difficult to function in daily life. Mental health conditions go beyond these emotional reactions and become something longer lasting. They are medical conditions that cause changes in how we think and feel. They are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character, or poor upbringing. According …show more content…
People with mental illness remain homeless for longer periods of time and have less contact with family and friends. 30-35 percent of the homeless have a mental illness. According to the NCH, “there are not enough community-based treatment services, nor enough appropriate, affordable housing, to accommodate the number of people disabled by mental disorders in the US.” People who have a severe mental illness are very visible in the homeless population, as they are often released from hospitals and jails without proper community supports in place. Community-based mental health services play an important role. Homelessness could be drastically reduced if people with severe mental illness were able to access housing, as well as other needed community supports. They encounter more barriers to employment and tend to be in poorer health than other homeless people. Housing outreach services that provide a safe place to live are a vital component of stabilizing the illness and helping individuals on their journey to
Rosenfield, S., (1988). Homelessness and rehospitalization: The importance of housing for the chronic mentally ill. Journal of Community Psychology, 19(1). 60-69.
Gulcur, Leyla, Padgett, Deborah K., and Tsemberis, Sam. (2006). “Housing First Services for People Who Are Homeless with Co-Occurring Serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse.” Research on Social Work Practice, Vol 16 No. 1.
While it is true that housing is correlated with positive outcomes in the homeless population, it does not account for supportive services that this population may also need. Housing is one plan of action for preventing homelessness, but it does not solve the problem. Persisting health problems may prevent an individual from ever reaching housing stability for them a permanent house would not be beneficial if the problem is their health. Housing without supportive services cannot end homelessness.3,4 Providing housing for the homeless is a measure taken after people have experienced the trauma of losing their home. Intervention efforts should be concentrated on preventing the loss of homes, and safety that can ultimately influence a person 's health
Harrison, Erica. "Homelessness Among the Seriously Mentally Ill: What We Can Do to Help." Clarityhumanservices.com. N.p., 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Gattis and Larson suggest, “interested parties could benefit from an improved understanding of the mental health needs of homeless adolescents. This knowledge could be used to identify youths at risk of becoming homeless and to provide appropriate services to those currently homeless” (p. 87). In short, education and knowledge regarding the homelessness in itself can do wonders. The homeless face many hardships including depression, anxiety, PTSD, discrimination, and suicidal thoughts. These are just a few things that homeless people face that the general population don’t take into consideration on a first glance or thought. Intervention and world of mouth will also help, because this is a topic society doesn’t necessary publicize, we don’t know much about it. If this is publicized in a positive way, the motivation and self-esteem from homeless people will also rise. The increase of access to insurance would also help prevent this. In order to get treated for any mental illness they have, they need insurance. With active treatment for a mental illness, this will heighten the likelihood of obtaining a reliable job. Which in turn, will essentially help prevent the homeless from being
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] used the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ definition of mental illness as “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning” (2011). Our community is exposed to a large number of individuals with mental illness. Among those individuals are the widespread homeless populations. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development reported “twenty-five percent of the sheltered homeless report a severe mental illness (as cited in Allender, Rector and Warner 2014 p. 907).” This author found the target population to be predominantly Caucasian, Non-Hispanic, single males of thirty-one years of age and older. In reviewing the research, this author found that multiple health disparities happen in conjunction with mental health and homelessness. This includes cardiac and respiratory issues and HIV/AIDs. Without the proper healthcare services, the homeless mental health population remains vulnerable.
Imagine a man on the streets, who society has forgotten. This man emits the smell of garbage; he has not bathed in months. This man sits quietly mumbling to himself. To the outer world he is just one of the many homeless, but little does society know that this man has a mental illness as well. Homelessness and mental illness are linked. These two happenings have similar beginnings. Homelessness is influenced by drug and alcohol disuse, being homeless at a young age, money problems, and trauma symptoms. Mental illness is caused by many of the same things, but it can also happen at birth. The effects that each entity has on a person are comparable. Rehabilitation is a necessary process if a victim of homelessness and or mental illness wants to rejoin society. Homelessness and mental illness have similar, if not the same causes, effects, and rehabilitations.
There are so many types of mental illnesses that affect people every day. When some people think of mental illnesses they think of the ones that would cause people to have physical symptoms as well, but that’s untrue, there are many more that you would never know anyone has if you were to see them on the street. As defined by the 2008 encyclopedia “a mental illness is any disease of the mind or brain that seriously affects a person’s ability or behavior. Symptoms of a mental illness may include extreme moods, such as excessive sadness or anxiety, or a decreased ability to think clearly or remember well.” A mentally ill person has severe symptoms that damage the person’s ability to function in everyday activities and situations. Every nation and every economic level can be affected by a mental illness. In the United States alone about 3% of the population has severe mental illness and to add to that number about 40% of people will experience a type of mental illness at least once in their lives. Some cases of mental illnesses can go away on their own, but some cases are so severe that they require professional treatment. There is so much more available to help people recover from their symptoms than in the past.
In this journal article the authors argue that the first step in decreasing homelessness for people with mental illness it to understand the issues associated with accessing housing and supporter serves offered to remain
According to (Benbow, S., Forchuk, C., & Ray, S.L., 2011), “Individuals with mental illness are over-represented in the homeless population. However, within this group, the increasingly growing sub-population of mothers who are homeless with mental illness faces a unique set of challenges.” Mothers are looked upon as more than likely to immediately receive the services needed when faced with homelessness, but because many are suffering from a mental illness they will experience discrimination and
In the world we live in today, the normality of homelessness is worrying since a problem so serious should not be made common but into something fixable. Homelessness can be described as people who are living in a place that lacks safety and stability. We see this as a major issue in every country because no one nation has been able to completely eradicate homelessness. We can look at the stats about what countries contain the most homeless and the effect that has on the countries economy, but something we all choose to ignore is how homelessness is effecting those mentally. The general population assumes those who are homeless are this way because they chose to make terrible choices, while the largest cause is mental
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), it defines mental illness as Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. (What Is Mental Illness? (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2016, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness). Mental Disorders are a wide range of mental conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. There are a lot of different psychological disorders here is a list of the major psychological disorders and their definitions:
Mental health counseling involves counseling people who are struggling to cope with events in their lives. These events may be traumatic, family issues, substance abuse, and other difficult experiences. There are different kinds of mental health counseling. Mental health professionals can work in different places like schools, hospitals, and client’s homes. Counselors offer help to different ages of patients from children to elderly.
This photo essay has one main purpose. This essay is meant to get people to care about a topic that has a history of being shoved under the rugged and ignored, mental health. Throughout this essay I attempt to cause some sort of emotional response to what may be some impactful statistics and photos. The audience in a smaller scale was the class but, if taken to a bigger scale it is meant to sway those who don’t have a grasp of the impact of mental illness, especially on the younger population. This essay is particularly aimed to those people who a sense of apathy when it comes to dealing or believing in the idea of mental illnesses. The choices made come together in order to emphasize the emotional response
“The guilt I felt for having a mental illness was horrible. I prayed for a broken bone that would heal in six weeks. But that never happened. I was cursed with an illness that nobody could see and nobody knew much about.” Andy Behrman’s statement about there being a lack of knowledge about mental illness is one that some suffering from a mental illness had also mentioned. In addition to there being a lack of knowing about mental health, patients apart of studies that follow the experience attempting to get help also vented about the bars from getting help. Accessibility issues, distance from the mental health centers, a lack of qualified professionals mental health specialists were on that list. A number of the issues listed