Homeless Causes Mental Illness
Homelessness is a major problem in the United States. On any given night up to 600,000 men, women, and children go homeless in our country (Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1). Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, that must be dropped. With no where to go the homeless flock to shelters many of which, filled over capacity on a nightly basis, turn them down forcing even young children to sleep on the streets. Of the 600,000 homeless roughly 30% appear to be mentally ill (Street lives, 118). Of that 30%, approximately 20%-25% suffer from some form of severe and persistent mental illness. However, only 5% of the estimated 4 million people who have a serious mental illness are homeless at any given point in time. (National Coalition for the Homeless, 1). If only 5% of seriously mentally ill people are homeless at any given time, then why do 20%-25% of homeless people suffer from mental illnesses? According to the Federal Task Force on homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, only 5%-7% of homeless persons with mental il
Rates of homicides, suicides, and deaths from alcohol and drug related illnesses strongly correlate with some periods of economic decline. Society rejects you, doesn't care for you, and you begin to loose hope. puts it: It's kind of an enjoyment, kind of a let- out, you know. Cyrell, a homeless man in Philadelphia explains depression among the homeless this way: People become self-absorbed in their own minds when they're homeless. For many victims of post- traumatic stress disorders, anxiety swells with any reminder of their trauma. Some common sleep disorders among the homeless are insomnia, the inability to fall or stay asleep, and fear of sleep. If you don't have decent clothing, or you're dirty and have no money, you're looked down upon. Rather it demonstrates that economic stress correlates with the appearance of mental illness (Street Lives, 120). well, a woman if she's by her self has to worry about being raped and beat up, and having any change she might have panhandled or whatever taken from her- you know along with her mentality and her brain. Stress becomes a problem when we have too much stress and not enough resources to cope with it (Psychology, 601). Rejected by society, forced to live where everything you see is a crime, everyone is selling drugs, or they're prostituting, and multiple shootings, stabbings, rapes, muggings, and murders occur on a nightly basis right before your eyes, it's hard to believe that anyone could stay sane living on the streets.
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