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
searching for some sort of escape, unable to leave the streets, homeless people are drawn to the drugs they are surrounded by. The user then comes to depend both physically and psychologically to the drug or alcohol of their choice. They perk them up, relieve anxiety and stress, and temporarily take away the blues- they detach you from the hell of reality. One of the main mood disorders experienced by the homeless is depression. Symptoms of depression include being deeply discouraged about the future, dissatisfied with your life, isolated from others, unable to concentrate, eat, or sleep normally, and lacking the energy to get things done (Psychology, 546). People who suffer from depression have a self-focused, self-blaming way of explaining events. "If you see things as your own fault and ruminate about such things, then when bad things happen you will probably experience the blues" (Psychology, 546). One study followed 2000 people over time. It found that the risk of the onset of depression in the ensuing month ranged from lass than 1% among those who had experienced no stressful life event to 24% among those with such stresses as a family members death, a job loss, a marital crisis, or a physical assault (Psychology, 547). Living on the streets or in a shelter, cannot possibly have a positive effect on one's self-esteem. Cyrell, a homeless man in Philadelphia explains depression among the homeless this way: The homeless life is a life full of never ending struggles and stresses. Homeless people have been shown to be significantly more "demoralized" than the general population (National coalition for the Homeless, 2). Rates of homicides, suicides, and deaths from alcohol and drug related illnesses strongly correlate with some periods of economic decline. Similarly, unemployment among men has been associated with a myriad of emotional difficulties and psychiatric symptoms, while women in unemployed families have been shown to be inordinately depressed, anxious, and phobic. (Homeless women, 20). This research does not deny that factors predisposing certain people to mental illness exist. Rather it demonstrates that economic stress correlates with the appearance of mental illness (Street Lives, 120). This shows that although mental illness may be present in a mi
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Approximate Word count = 1538
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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