Mental Health & Homelessness are Correlational

by | Aug 22, 2018 | Articles, General Mental Health

The Positive Feedback Loop.

Do you know that people experiencing homelessness are more susceptible to poorer mental health conditions than the general population? The difficulties faced by them and the environmental conditions they live in can trigger mental illness or worsen existing conditions. In general, 30-35% of those experiencing homelessness, and up to 75% of women experiencing homelessness, have mental illnesses. 20-25% of people experiencing homelessness suffer from concurrent disorders like addictions in addition to mental illness.

It is important to know that the relation between mental illness and homelessness is not always causational, but rather often correlational. Homelessness is not the sole reason for mental illness and not all the homeless people suffer from it.

Homelessness can be traced back to unexpected childhood experiences. Studies have shown that the feelings of ignorance, lack of affection or general unhappiness experienced during childhood can be considered powerful risk factors for triggering mental illness amongst adults. Having a negative home and family environment is a factor that can lead young children to runaway from home and end up homeless. Once they are “on the streets” it is not a big surprise if they get involved in illegal activities, including prostitution and drug and alcohol abuse. Addiction and substance abuse can be considered as one of the major setbacks for people suffering from homelessness. People tend to feel the need to lean on some sort of support when their brains are unable to block out destructive thoughts. A few minutes of numbness can make some people forget about their problems and experience the short-term jubilance. People experiencing homelessness are in constant state of despair and hopelessness that leads to prolonged anxiety and depression. Significant mental illness is present in 30-50% of the homeless: functional psychosis predominates; adult distress and personality dysfunction are also prevalent.

Males are at a greater risk of becoming homeless than females. Local authority housing policies generally prioritize women with children over single men. Moreover, schizophrenia: one of the major mental illness, has an earlier onset in men than women, which can lead to males becoming incapable of continuing their jobs and thus ending up homeless. Although males are at greater risk of being homeless than females, it should be noted that homeless females exhibit higher levels of serious psychiatric morbidity than males.

Studies have shown that the rate of alcohol abuse is 3-5 times greater in the homeless. Drug abuse, too, is a common problem, particularly among the younger homeless people. Lack of social ties may discourage social stability and hence increase the risk of becoming homeless. Homelessness may also led to changes in relationship status, but this arrow can be also bidirectional. Lack of affection can lead young children to runaway from home and end up homeless. The economy can also be considered as one of the factors for people ending up homeless. The factors are numerous.

Unfortunately, because of the increase in factors such as substance abuse and mental illness, homeless individuals are more likely to be incarcerated. In fact, every single state in the United States arrests more mentally ill people than it hospitalizes. In one report, it was found that 17.3% of prison inmates with severe mental illness were homeless prior to being arrested and 40% were homeless at one point in their lives, compared to 6% of undiagnosed inmates. Homelessness and incarceration increases the risk of each other through a positive feedback loop, causing a cycle of hardship and uncertainty. This cycle that these individuals face between living on the streets and in prison causes emotional, financial, and physical stress for their families and the community at large.

What mental health programs should be doing is providing both treatment and housing. Studies have shown that providing housing without treatment or providing treatment without housing can be ineffective for the individuals. Supported housing programs in the past have offered services including treatment, education, peer support, personal finance, and living support. These programs have shown to be some of the most effective, although the lack of financial support has been crippling for efforts to help the mentally ill, homeless population. State and city budgets have been drastically cut over the years, leaving the future of the homeless on the street up in the air.

What do you think about this subject? Please comment below!

Pinky Sabhnani

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. Homeless Hub

2. JSTOR

3. University of Windsor

4. Research Gate 

5. NCBI

[dsm_text_divider header=”more related articles” color=”#000000″ divider_weight=”2px” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_font_size=”39px” width_tablet=”” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|desktop” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” min_height_tablet=”” min_height_phone=”” min_height_last_edited=”on|desktop” height_tablet=”” height_phone=”” height_last_edited=”on|desktop” max_height_tablet=”” max_height_phone=”” max_height_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_font_tablet=”” header_font_phone=”” header_font_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_text_align_tablet=”” header_text_align_phone=”” header_text_align_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_text_color_tablet=”” header_text_color_phone=”” header_text_color_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_font_size_tablet=”39px” header_font_size_phone=”22px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_letter_spacing_tablet=”” header_letter_spacing_phone=”” header_letter_spacing_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_line_height_tablet=”” header_line_height_phone=”” header_line_height_last_edited=”on|desktop” background_layout_tablet=”” background_layout_phone=”” background_layout_last_edited=”on|desktop” module_alignment_tablet=”” module_alignment_phone=”” module_alignment_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][/dsm_text_divider]

Inside the Cuckoo’s Nest: My Time in a Psych Ward

My only knowledge of psych wards growing up was from movies. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Girl Interrupted, etc. I never knew anyone who had personally been admitted, or at least no one honest about it. My high school in Hartford, CT was...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

How to Practice Self-Care if You Have PCOS

It's all too easy to feel alone and helpless when living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition, which affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age, disrupts your hormone and metabolism systems, and the symptoms include increasing your amount of body hair,...

How Does Attention and Imagery Ability Relate to Emotion?

It seems evident that the depth that individuals feel and emotionally respond toward stimuli ebbs and flows. Consider, for example, how a person experiences deep elation and joy when listening to their favorite song yet later experiences a dulled affective response...

What AI Can Bring to Suicide Prevention

Our society has become enthralled with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is becoming an intrinsicphrase in our zeitgeist. In the coming years, AI will embed itself into various professional fields. Although legal and policy measures may temper its impact, it is...

Mental Health IS physical Health, Exercise Boosts both!

Mental Health IS health. I’ve always said that, because it’s the truth. We can’t separate the two. Just like physical health IS health, mental health is health. I could actually argue that mental health might be even more so, since every single function in our body...

Why is anxiety so paralyzing?

“Why is anxiety so paralyzing?” If there is such a thing as various degrees of literal, I would say there should be a spectrum to define how deeply a life has been interrupted, paused, and frozen still. In my experience, it can be so physically paralyzing you would...

Mental Health Disparities in the LGBTQI+ Community

Among the many health disparities, a glaring one is the higher rate of mental health disorders in people who identify as part of the LGBTQI+ community. Widespread social and political discrimination have caused disproportionately high rates of poverty, homelessness,...

May- Mental Health Awareness Month Multidimensional Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Which means that there is a lot of extra focus on mental health, mental illness, and breaking the stigma surrounding these two very important topics. We use that word a lot- “awareness”, but so many people don’t fully understand...

Inside the Cuckoo’s Nest: My Time in a Psych Ward

My only knowledge of psych wards growing up was from movies. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Girl Interrupted, etc. I never knew anyone who had personally been admitted, or at least no one honest about it. My high school in Hartford, CT was...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

How to Practice Self-Care if You Have PCOS

It's all too easy to feel alone and helpless when living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition, which affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age, disrupts your hormone and metabolism systems, and the symptoms include increasing your amount of body hair,...

The loss of someone you don’t know: How Matthew Perry’s death affected me

I was in elementary school when I first watched an episode of Friends. I was immediately drawn to the character of Chandler. We were both awkward. We were both funny. We both had problems. He was one of my first TV crushes after Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. I became...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

Mental Health In the Work Place

Before diving in, I’d like to explain my word choice. Instead of “Mental Illness,” I will refer to it as “Mental Health Challenges.” I don’t like to use terms like “illness,” “issues”, or “problems.” The reason being is, unlike physical ailments, mental health plays a...

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

A Psychotic Mind: My History of Schizophrenia, Self-Harm, and Suicide Attempts

*Trigger warning: Self-harm and suicide attempts As a child, I remember being happy, I remember feeling safe, but after my parent's divorce, I remember feeling so much anguish and pain. For me, self-injury was activated by my parent’s divorce. I was 11 years old when...

How Does Attention and Imagery Ability Relate to Emotion?

It seems evident that the depth that individuals feel and emotionally respond toward stimuli ebbs and flows. Consider, for example, how a person experiences deep elation and joy when listening to their favorite song yet later experiences a dulled affective response...

Mental Health IS physical Health, Exercise Boosts both!

Mental Health IS health. I’ve always said that, because it’s the truth. We can’t separate the two. Just like physical health IS health, mental health is health. I could actually argue that mental health might be even more so, since every single function in our body...

Mental Health Disparities in the LGBTQI+ Community

Among the many health disparities, a glaring one is the higher rate of mental health disorders in people who identify as part of the LGBTQI+ community. Widespread social and political discrimination have caused disproportionately high rates of poverty, homelessness,...

May- Mental Health Awareness Month Multidimensional Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Which means that there is a lot of extra focus on mental health, mental illness, and breaking the stigma surrounding these two very important topics. We use that word a lot- “awareness”, but so many people don’t fully understand...

23 Years of Bipolar 1 and I’m Still Dancing

No. I wasn’t always OK with being bipolar. What’s more, the shame of living with such a disease, propelled to do ridiculous actions that your mania compels you to do, the guilt of feeling depressed when that logical side of your tore-up brain knows there is so much...