One of our nation’s greatest shames is the number of homeless people adrift in the streets and parks of our cities.
And of the estimated 744,000 people who are homeless on any given night, 40 to 45 percent of them have a serious mental illness. Most of these mentally ill people go untreated, and unable to work, live a hand-to-mouth existence out on the streets.
Senator Pete Domenici says,
No vision haunts America’s conscience more than the sight of the street people… The irrationality and anguish that grip so many of these individuals leap out during any encounter, whether in Washington or Albuquerque.”
This post, in response to Blog Action Day’s call to write about poverty on October 15th, gives an overview of the crisis of the homeless mentally ill. This post covers the following topics:
- How many homeless Americans are there?
- How many of the homeless are mentally ill?
- Why are there so many mentally ill homeless people?
- Most mentally ill homeless people are not being treated
- What’s to be done?
How many homeless Americans are there?
3.5 million are homeless in a year
The number of homeless Americans is hard to pin down, since homelessness is often a transient state, and due to the conflicting definitions of “homeless.” The best approximation is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in 2007, which states that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. This translates to approximately one percent of the U.S. population experiencing homelessness each year, almost 40 percent of them being children, according to the Urban Institute.
In early 2007, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported a point-in-time estimate of 744,313 people experiencing homelessness in January 2005. This is the figure most often quoted in homelessness studies.
How many of the homeless are mentally ill?
Homeless people suffer from high rates of mental health problems exacerbated by living on the streets and in shelters.
40 to 50 percent of the homeless are mentally ill
An estimated 40 to 45 percent of homeless persons suffer from Axis I mental disorders in a given year, which include Anxiety Disorders, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and severe personality disorders. Between 150,000 and 200,000 of the homeless have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This is the equivalent to the population of any of these cities:
- Dayton, Ohio
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Richmond, Virginia
- Salt Lake City, Utah
At any given time, there are many more people with untreated severe psychiatric illnesses living on America’s streets than are receiving care in hospitals. Approximately 90,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are in all hospitals receiving treatment for their disease.
Substance use is also prevalent among homeless populations. In a 1996 survey, 46 percent of the homeless respondents had an alcohol use problem during the past year, and 62 percent had an alcohol use problem at some point in their lifetime. Thirty-eight percent had a problem with drug use during the past year, and 58 percent had a drug use problem during their lifetime.
Why are there so many mentally ill homeless people?
The plan to transition from mental institution to outpatient care failed
There was a movement in the 1960′s and 1970′s to deinstitutionalize many of those being held in state and other mental institutions. The plan was to create community health centers where the mentally ill could receive outpatient treatment, along with residential facilities for those unable to make it on their own. Needless to say, the plan failed miserably.
Since the early 1970′s there have been harbingers of an impending crisis for people with untreated mental illnesses. Large numbers of mentally ill people began forming “psychiatric ghettos” around mental health facilities in cities across America. Following on this:
- As large, often run-down, boarding homes filled with discharged psychiatric patients from the nearby hospitals, the intended policy of deinstitutionalization increasingly looked rather like trans-institutionalization — the exchange of one impersonal institution for another.
- At the same time, the availability of single-room occupancy hotels and other low-rent housing was declining precipitously in urban areas as redevelopment and gentrification shifted into high gear.
- As early as 1972, a study commissioned by the National Institute of Mental Health reported, “Relationships between community mental health centers and public mental hospitals serving the same catchment area exist only at a relatively minimal level between the majority of the two types of organizations.”
- By 1979, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare was more blunt, saying, “The relationship between the CMHCs [community mental health centers] and public psychiatric hospital is difficult at best, adversarial at worst.”
- By the early 1980s some unintended consequences of deinstitutionalization were becoming manifest. More and more very sick people were living on the streets and in public shelters.
Living on the streets and in shelters is bound to trigger mental illnesses in those susceptible to them. However, the core of the mentally ill homeless are those whose mental state makes them unable to hold jobs, and for whom the social safety net of residential facilities and community health centers has failed.
Most mentally ill homeless people are not being treated
Community mental health centers are inadequate
Community mental health centers, where the homeless might receive help, are chronically underfunded, and are often on the budget-cutting chopping block. Mentally ill homeless people present special problems for health care workers.
- They may not be as cooperative and motivated as other patients.
- Because of their limited resources, they may have difficulty getting transportation to treatment centers.
- They frequently forget to show up for appointments or take medications.
- The addition of drug or alcohol abuse can make them unruly or unresponsive.
- Among people with severe mental disorders, those at greatest risk of homelessness are both the most severely ill and the most difficult to help.
Many of the homeless mentally ill have anosognosia, and neither realize they are sick nor how dependent they are on regular treatment. Others have given up, no longer believing the system can or will help them.
When researchers asked homeless people what their greatest needs were, respondents listed affordable housing, safety, education, transportation, medical/dental treatment, and job training/placement. Formal mental health and substance abuse services were rated as unimportant by comparison, not very easy to obtain, and not very satisfactory to people who had used them.
What’s to be done?
We must solve the problem of homelessness first
Solving the problem of the mentally ill homeless cannot be done without solving the entire problem of homelessness. State institutions for the mentally ill are no longer available by law to accommodate them. When the basic needs of life — food and shelter — are weighed against mental health needs, both the homeless and those trying to care for them choose those basic needs.
Many cities have responded to the homeless crisis by trying to shoo them away or by criminalizing homelessness, which only shunts the problem off onto the country’s over-filled jails. Religious and private concerns try to provide shelter and food, but that is only a stop-gap measure.
Without an all-out national effort to eliminate homelessness, I can see the problem only getting worse, particularly in these precarious economic times. The least able to fend for themselves, the mentally ill homeless, have no place to go, no way to provide for themselves and have little hope in the present situation.
What can you and I do? At the moment, the most effective work is being done locally through religious and private entities providing services for the homeless. Volunteering your time or donating to these efforts seems the best that can be done until the nation turns its eye on the least fortunate among us.
There are a number of associations advocating for the homeless. Among the best of them is the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
What do you think?
- Have you ever been homeless? What was your experience?
- What is your attitude toward the mentally ill homeless?
- Do you have any experience with helping the homeless?
What can you do now?
Your comments are always welcome, and are important to this blog’s community! Leave a comment now.
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©2008 Anxiety, Panic & Health. All rights reserved.
Resources used in this post:
LibraryIndex.com. (2008). The Mental Health of Homeless People. Retrieved October 14, 2008 from LibraryIndex.com Web site: http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2321/Health-Homeless-MENTAL-HEALTH-HOMELESS-PEOPLE.html
Meharry Medical College. (2005) Homeless Mentally Ill. Retrieved October 14, 2008 from Meharry Medical College Web site: http://www.mmc.edu/www.meharry.org/Fl/Mental_Health/Homeless_Mentally_Ill.html
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2008). Mental Health and Physical Health. Retrieved October 14, 2008 from National Alliance to End Homelessness Web site: http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/focusareas/health
National Coalition for the Homeless. (2008). How Many People Experience Homelessness? Retrieved October 15, 2008 from National Coalition for the Homeless Web site (PDF): http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/How_Many.pdf
Treatment Advocacy Center. (2007). Fact Sheet: Homelessness, Tragic side effect of non-treatment. Retrieved October 14, 2008 from Treatment Advocacy Center Web site: http://www.psychlaws.org/GeneralResources/fact11.htm
Related Posts:
- Mental Illness Awareness Week: A Cause We Can All Support!
- Scapegoating and the Stigma of Mental Illness, Part 1
- Shameful Report Card: US Gets a “D” in Mental Health
- Stigma of Mental Illness: Shocking Survey from Canada — US Likely the Same!
- Quarter of All Hospital Stays Are for Mental Health Reasons
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Hi Mike,
You are right that this is a national shame. You have also correctly pegged deinstitutionalization as one of the primary causes.
I live in NYC. Just by the subway entrance my wife and I use sits an older man who looks like he could be someone’s grandfather. Most days he sits on an empty milk crate. If I give him money, he says, “Thank you, thank you very much.”
When we first moved to the neighborhood and saw him, we were quite disturbed. My wife spoke with some of the local police who told her, “Those old guys. They’re vets. Boozers. His name is Thomas. We round them up and they just come back. It’s easier just to leave them.”
It still breaks my heart. How much good can 50cents do? He never seems to be drunk, just very sad. Well, if he is buying booze, God bless him. As the good book says, “Give wine and strong drink to him who is perishing.” If only there was a place for these guys to go.
Sad post, Mike.
Alec
I intended to have information about homeless veterans in the post, but I had so much material, I decided to make it a second post. It is distressing how many veterans end up homeless and mentally ill on the streets, and all the more distressing how many of the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are homeless.
That there are any homeless is a shame. That there are homeless veterans is a disgrace.
It is a sad post. I like to emphasize hope and possibility in my posts on mental health, but on this post I was almost at a loss. There are things we can do locally, but, despite the several national associations for the homeless, there is little effective help for the homeless on a national scale.
The homeless are forgotten, and pushed to the margins of society, as are all of the poorest of the poor. To eliminate homelessness it will be necessary to better the lot of the poorest of our citizens, to give them a decent place to live and food to eat, to give them jobs where they can earn a living wage, to give them hope of a better life. This will take more than local effort — it will take the national will to eliminate poverty, which I don’t see right now.
I hate to sound so bleak, but I just cannot see anything being done on a large scale to effectively help the homeless at this point.
Hi Mike,
Thank you for this post. It was really sobering.
I work in Philadelphia and am shocked by the number of homeless people I see day to day. It’s tough because I could give them spare money I have in my pocket and it will help them in the short term to get a cup of hot coffee or a little something to eat or alcohol to help kill the pain but it doesn’t do anything to address the bigger problem of homelessness in America.
I’ve found myself more recently aware of the problem too because of my friend Kim who also comments here. She will send me articles and she herself is really conscious of the problem. I’m trying to make a concerted effort to try to do more. Even if its contributing to food and clothing drives or donating money where I can. I figure, maybe naively, that if everyone contributes a little more then we might be able to make a dent.
I agree that the national efforts are not in place to stop and reverse this problem either. And none of the presidential candidates except for John Edwards really addressed the issue of poverty in their campaigns with more than a passing mention. The focus always seemed to be on the middle class. And when John Edwards spoke of the problem of homeless veterans, there were some in the media that dismissed it out of hand.
I look forward to the post on homeless veterans and have a story to share in the comments for it.
Jim
Jim’s last blog post..3 Fake Game Shows Cooler Than ‘Deal Or No Deal’
I was a homeless Female Veteran for eight years, I am now living at U.S. VETS, I have found out since I have been here that I have a diagnosis of Chronic Depression Dystimia, and Post Traumatic Stress.
Thank you for visiting, Delrae Lynn, and thanks for your comment!
Eight years on the streets must have been really tough. I’m glad you’ve found shelter now. I haven’t heard of U.S. VETS, though I will probably run across it when I write an article on homeless veterans soon. Could you tell me a little more about it?
The chronic dysthymia is something I have, and it’s no joke. You always feel a little down, no matter what’s happening, or how good you otherwise might be feeling.
I hope you are getting some treatment for your PTSD. It can make life horrible, but with treatment you can learn to control the symptoms and get your life back.
Thanks again for commenting. I’d like to hear from you to see how you are doing. You can email me rather than comment if you like. Just click the “Contact” tab at the top of the page.
Hey Mike,
Wanted to say thanks for writing this post. Believe it or not I found you via the Thesis forum.
Mike, my brother is schizophrenic. He got sick when he was about 17 years old – is now 52 and lives on the street. I can’t even begin to share the trail of tears and frustration in trying to get him help. It is nearly impossible for caring family members to help the mentally ill. There are limited services and quite frankly the law stands in your way (not to mention the sick person). People simply do not understand that the vast majority of homeless are victims of an illness. I remember meeting with the local DA in an attempt to get my brother treatment and he said to me “…Lisa, I went to court recently to help a homeless man who had been eating human waste and the court simply said he was no threat.”
People are uneducated, uninformed and unenlightened when it comes to understanding mental illness and its connection to homelessness.
The average person simply doesn’t accept that the brain, like any other organ of the body can become ill. And, of course, because mental illness can have varying symptoms (like anger, weird behaviors or odd thinking etc.) people don’t want to be around it or deal with it.
As a nation and people we should be ashamed of how we treat the mentally ill.
On behalf of myself and every other family member who has experienced the pain of mental illness (directly or indirectly) I want to thank you for making a positive contribution.
The last taboo – mental illness.
Peace and blessings to you….Lisa
Lisa, thank you for your kind compliments.
It breaks my heart to hear your brother’s story. The laws are structured now so that, unless a person is in danger of harming themselves or others, there is no way to force them to undergo treatment. While I’m as much an advocate for constitutional rights as anyone, I think that human compassion should enter into the cold calculus of the law. It’s not being loving or compassionate or kind to leave a person to suffer out on the streets.
And yes, there is the stigma of mental illness to deal with. It’s bad enough when the person is not out on the streets, but doubly bad when that person is homeless. People are afraid, and turn their heads trying to ignore the obvious suffering of the homeless, and especially the mentally ill homeless.
I feel so frustrated that there is no united push to get the homeless off the streets and into decent living conditions with the mental and physical care they need. What’s worse, the state of the economy is driving more and more of our citizens into homelessness. There are several private organizations that are working to alleviate homelessness, but let’s face it, until there is a push from the government to end this problem once and for all, their efforts are but drops in the ocean.
I just wanted to place a comment on the article, which was extremely enlightening although it is something, which I am personally acquainted as an individual who has a mentally ill family member living in his van. I have tried repeatedly to try and reason with him about obtaining a new place to live and made suggestions relating to NAMI, which led him to become agitated. Apparently, my relative is aware of the organization and views as a negative institution and a threat to all individuals, just not the mentally ill. Unfortunately, my relative is a paranoid schizophrenic and being familiar with this mental illness, it is apparent that he is exhibiting these symptoms when he talks to me about the US government poisioning his food, (last telephone conversation entailed McDonald food servers being a part of “the plot”) bugging his calls, and systematically shooting him remotely with ultra violet rays. I am terrified because trying to reason with him has proven fruitless and the last conversation entailed conversations relating to his being murdered by the government. I do not know where to turn being a single person without the resources and support system to offer him shelter although he walked away from his apartment and a house, he claimed to have as well. I was aware of his apartment as I visited him there several times. I also contacted him on the landline at the same address as well. Sadly, it seems as if far too many homeless are stricken with a mental illness and the fact that there is little being done to address this tragic circumstance is even more devastating in my humble opinion. I hope that someone out there can assist with any resource information they may have to share. How does anyone begin to help an individual who is in complete denial about having a serious mental illness even though they have been formally diagnosed and treated as a teenager particularly when they are now an adult and homeless, so that one cannot even attempt to stage an intervention and get them the help that they so desperately require?
Frustrated and Afraid!
that vet looks like dr house
I live in Chicago and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t see homeless people. It’s sad and frustrating to see the same people day in and day out- women and women, old and young. There is a feeling of guilt inside of me every time I see it. It’s not right that these people are just tossed aside when they really need HELP. Whether it’s a drug or alcohol problem, an unfortunate life occurrence (I met a women who was homeless because her house burnt down. She had no homeowners insurance and she had no family or friends to fall back on), or a mental illness, we should be helping these people.
It should be mentioned, mentally ill individuals qualify for Social Security and disability benefits. Problem is getting them through the red tape and government bureaucracy. They need good family members to help, unfortunately the nature of the illness pushes people away.
Its a sad and challenging (but not hopeless) reality.
I am plannning an informitive speach in my public speaking class on the Mentally Ill and Homless. I would apreciate any good receant information and publications or references. .
Mike,
I cannot thank you enough for your indepth post. I am a doctorial student researching how the federal government provide protection and support to the mentally ill during crisis or emergency response, in particular when the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is implemented. My dissertation is a study in policy research, with the hopes of improving our national policy and care of the mentally ill and disable people. I would love to contact you in the future as my research matures. Thank you again for your insight and wisdom.
Sincerely,
GC
my sister was paranoid schyzophrenic,she was in a mental unit,they knew her very well.she died in that place when they knew of her illnesses.second to her mental sadness,she had gallblader problems.she told them she was in pain.they did nothing to help her but give her a soft blanket.within two hours or so she was gone.i spoke with our county attorney about the problem of not helping our people with mental problems.he simply said,our system is broken.
I suffer from a severe mental illness and am afraid I will end up homeless every single day. It’s so hard to function. I was homeless after coming out of a city psychiatric hospital for a month. I cannot begin to explain how painful it is to have a mental illness. I cannot work in the medical state that I am in. I keep having rapid cycling even on medication with extreme agitation and depression. Instead of support there is such a stigma about mental illness that much of my family has shunned me and I tend to isolate myself because of the illness. I feel myself decompensating and I have no support. I fear that I will end up homeless. 15% of people with mental illness end up committing suicide. This is such a bad illness that it’s better being dead or not being born than suffering with such a bad and painful illness. It’s impossible to work with such a bad illness. I feel so alone.
It’s sad, but there is not much you can do to force someone into trreatment if they don’t want to go, no matter what. Do we really have a right to? Considering the limited resources is it really a bad idea to use preference as a reason for exclution when we dont’have enough time and money to help all the homeless mentally ill? A bit cold, but it is a reality of the situation.
In response to Joshua Beadle and to the issue of homelessness and stigma I say this:
We treat the mentally ill like they have a choice to go to therapy and take their meds. Most of the meds that exist only put a bandaid on the problem. They don’t heal. We drug our mentally ill so they can be less of a nuisance to us as they suffer. Guess what my friend, mental illness can strike anyone at anytime, because it is a physical disease, not a made up one and certainly not a choice. So I pray that you don’t suffer with Alzheimers or have a child with autism, because they are illnesses of the brain as well. Should we allow your child or you to become homeless for lack of funding?
I am ashamed of my mental illnesses. It’s so hard to get beyond dealing with myself. I fear being homeless, which I have experienced. I wanted to write brief.
i was homeless at the park this honolulu. hawaii lasted years 2009 october pick out at the ihs homeless sheltered i sleeped at the park in the street i living at the care home at the ewa beach area .this is years 2010 aloha to mahalo .i was getting feed at the raver of the life mission.
the jesus is lord he is was homeless at the kingdom freedom park and the build up the house to living at the house toeat a food with for the jesus .
the jesus is love you the jesus he is help you your homeless no fun be a homelessing
i am have a cerebral palsy is a disability i am wheel chair hood this ewa beach hawaii .
i from at the at the city of the worcester i was beened all my life this worcester what is you state down is born at .? i like you good life man . aloha to mahalo happy nice day smile to you.
Where do I begin…I was homeless or transient for what has to be more than 90% of my life. I was pretty much born homeless, I guess you can say.
I have done it all–when I was between 8-10, I lived in flophouse motels, of the sleaziest quality in bad areas. then we had a house for a good year or two, and then we lost that, so I ended up in motels again, only for my parents to lose the financing on that (they always argued, lots of physical abuse, emotional blackmail) so I ended up living in a car with exactly 5 others.
Most depressing moment of my life was that year and a half I lived like that. god, what made it worse and unbearable is that, for god knows what reason, my parents chose a wealthy community to settle in, so I went to school with a bunch of wealthy kids who made comments relentlessly that left me with insecurity issues and a complex towards people that lasts to this day.
these days, I’m sure I’m going to end up on the streets again because I have no real skills, no real plan, no real motive for anything.
I guess that’s the way life goes. who cares anyways? no one. oh sure, they can say they care, but do they actually do anything? no. yes, alot of this is my fault, but I don’t know how to solve these problems on my own. homelessness, abuse, desperation, and lack of motivation are the only things I know and know well.
Stephen,
Patterns are meant to be broken. I could tell you my story, but if I didn’t have one, I wouldn’t be here would I? I don’t know where you live, but I think you are wonderfully articulate and are able to spell out your own challenges, where most go there whole life thinking their challenges come from so evil force beyond their control. Re-read your own post. You will find your answers there. Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.
My son is 19 and schizoaffective and is suspected to have a personality disorder. He’s been mentally ill for 6 years. He is also sufficiently rebellious and continues to choose wrong ways. I am right now struggling in making the decision to make him live at the city shelter or come home (he has no friends and his dad rejects him), and drive me to a nervous breakdown. It’s seems that it’s me or him. I’m guessing that’s why a lot of mentally ill people are on the streets.
Ive been homeless most of my life been unable to get jobs or to go to school because I had a sex change operation and dont have rights like other people my family disowned me
Hi I am interested in housing the mental ill homeles, that are somewhat functional. I have a three bedroom house. The house can hold up to 4 people and I have access to another that can hold 6 people. What are the requirements to do this? Thank You
Rhonda 618-917-6717 any time if I miss your call I will call you back if you leave a number.
I don’t know why it took this long, but today it really hit me. My dad is part of the percentage of the mentally ill homeless. I guess he has been homeless off and on now for 10 years. A number of family members have tried to help him countless times. He is delusional paranoid (thats what he calls it) and can’t keep a job because he will go in and out of delusions.
My daughter is 5 and he hasn’t seen her since she was a baby. It is so hard explaining his situation to her, especially since she doesn’t even know who he is, which kills me. He was such an awesome dad for 8 years of my life (I’ve grown up without him now and feel that I don’t even know him anymore). Then one day he thought one of his coworkers were out to kill him. Things have never been right since.
I never thought it could be this hard trying to find help for the mentally disabled. He is one of the homeless in Huntsville, AL and not because he chooses to be. He goes through stages when he wants help but the help never comes fast enough or free enough. The mental health system is so fucked up here, it makes me so angry thinking about it. I don’t know what to do and I’m at loss for words….
My 22 years son became homeless since Sept 2010. Hardly see him or hear from him. He is a client with the Westminster Clinic in Westminster, CA. The caseworker on vacation for two weeks and when he returned, he had an appointment with my son and the caseworker changed his schedule last minute. He rescheduled the appointment till next month. My son left the boarding care on his own and couldn’t find a place to live. He didn’t take his medication almost a month. Now he is homeless, I couldn’t let him live with me because of his violence behavior towards me. If the caseworker do a better job talking to my son, and follow up with my son’s life. He wouldn’t be homeless. All you hear from the caseworker said, I am too busy, I have 55 clients on my caseload. The whole thing is an excuse. The less client for them, the less work they do. If the caseworker worked over 25 years and getting ready to retire, they have no motivation. This is bad news to their clients.
I worked 35 years in mental health. I remember when the State Hosps. in CA grew their own food, did their laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. using the mentally ill for the labor and it worked. In the winter the derelicts signed themselves into the hospital and then checked out in the summer. There were special quarters provided for them. Then along came a do-gooder who said you have to pay these people minimum wage to provide for themselves while they are hospitalized. The costs continue to rise.
Hi,
Love your article. Very superb writing wtih lots of helpful information in it! Although it a little too much to absorb.
- Nancy
p.s. I just wrote one here as well treatments for anxiety! Check it out if you want!
I have to make a correction to this article. Axis I disorders were described incorrectly, and as a mental health professional (who probably also has OCD) this drives me a little nuts :)
For clarification, Axis I disorders are current, clinical syndromes that can be treated- depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance abuse, etc.
Axis II disorders are Personality Disorders, and developmental disorders that are lifelong and cannot be changed (only redirected with behavioral therapy).
Axis III diagnoses are physical conditions (HIV/AIDS, brain injury).
And Axis IV is psychosocial stressors- just like homelessness.
I work with Veterans, so I see a lot of clients with diagnoses in all categories- homeless men suffering from borderline personality disorders and a crack-cocaine addiction (Axis I, II, and IV), or homeless women with bipolar disorder, and hypertension (Axis I, III, and IV).
The clarification of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual’s use of the Axis, is very helpful when trying to initiate services for these people. Some may need more mental health services involving counseling, while some may need medication and long-term therapy. Others find out that they really only have situational depression… and who wouldn’t be depressed if they were homeless?
One of the issues that I see as a major problem is that the family members of these mentally ill people have no rights. My sister-in-law is severely mentally ill and yet she gets to make all the decisions about her life. She has been diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. She is not capable of making decisions about her life. She has the mentality of a 10 year old and is not capable of taking care of herself.
Recently she was put in the hospital on a 5 day psych evaluation hold because she had been evicted from her apartment. If you’ve ever seen the show hoarders – that was her to a tee. Now she’s been evicted and taken to the hospital. At the end of the time she checked herself out (because she can) Why??? she wanted a cigarette. She has chosen to be homeless so she can smoke. She won’t go to the group home, because no one can make her go.
If given a choice our experiences has been that most mentally ill people will always pick the very worst thing for themselves. We will not solve the homeless problem with the mentally ill deal with the issue that these people are not capable of making decisions for themselves and they need protection from themselves.
interesting comments.; i’ve been homeless ten years and met a lot of other folks. life circumstances usually end up driving people into worse, and worse circumstances as the system is in this country. which ends up IN TURN driving most anybody nutz. Truly how many can say they lost their husband or spouse – lost job- and home and end up on the streets wouldn’t turn to drinking to ease the pain? encountering the pressures and discrimination it makes many people crazy. Most people got laid off, THAN got drinking problems and went nutz. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND
look at the economy; look at detroit. it’s proof. pure proof.
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i been homeless now for 3 month an cant find help any where an the shelters i would leave my dog in one of them. homeless shelters an person look about the same an peopel there are treated loke convicts
when a homeless coupel ask most churchs for help there out of funs when you ask the unighway they refur you to a shelter where husbands an wife are apart whats the real deal. no help for homeless
Of you who are mentally ill also be aware anti-psychotic medication that they try to put you on causes brain damage and lowered life expectancy! As well as horrible things like tardive dyskinesia.
As another said the old asylums (minus medication) were better. The mentally ill did their own work. Now there is no such place to go really.
See http://psychiatricsurvivors.deviantart.com/ for more information.
This is a needed article on a subject that the world doesn’t care about. I was going through it with a schizophrenic father that I could not control since I was a teenager. This footage on YouTube only shows a little bit of it. My mother moved me away from my dad, so I could be somewhat normal. That is impossible even now. I used go out to see him daily until I was in my late 20′s. He is no longer alive. I always told people that it isn’t a choice for him to be out there, yet no one would help me to control him/help him. I still don’t have the answers, but I wrote a screenplay hoping one day proceeds will help people like my father.
Stephanie´s last blog ..My Story – MTV News Unfiltered
” Mentally ill and Homeless”. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves as it is stated at least one time in this article. I live in Los Angeles and let me tell you, there are hundreds if not thousands of homeless people who are Gravely Mentally Disabled. I am not talking about the guy standing outside of a 7 Eleven, wreaking of alcohol while panhandling for spare change until he gets enough to buy a cheap 16 oz. can of bear, or the sad looking woman on the Freeway off ramp with the appropriate sign saying that she and her 3 children are homeless and hungry. Infact, chances are that not only is she going to take the 70 to $100 dollars that she got in less than 3 hours time, to purchase drugs, I can almost guarantee you that she does not have 3 starving children. Why do I know this? Because you are talking to that guy who stood in front of a store, panhandling for my drugs, preying on the hearts and emotions of my would be enablers, the people who gave me money every time, only to make it ultra convenient for me to stay on the streets. You see, we have two major problems here that are seperate from one another and need to be treated seperate. The first problem is the overwhelming population of homeless substance abusers that are treated like babies from ignorant help organizations like the churches and food for homeless programs who only add to thier problems feeding and clothing these individuals and as a result, only make it convenient for them to continue to stay on the streets, also known as enabling. Again, I know because I not only walked among them, I was them. I am a recovering addict with more than 8 years of recovery from all mind altering substances. I have also battled with Bi Polar disorder in which I have been in remission for several years now. Now getting to the second part of the homeless problem which is the heart of this article and needs to be understood in the same way that alcohol and substance abuse needs to be understood. That is the severly mentally disabled homeless population that absolutely nothing is being done about. We are talking about a man whose skin is covered with black soot from not bathing for months or even years and is standing on a street corner not asking for money but having a shouting mach with someone who is not there but yet a severe symptom of their dibilitating mental disorder. This individual will not ask you for money. Infact some will walk away from your offer of a five dollar bill only to go over to the trash can right in front of you and pull out a half eaten sandwich and eat it there on the spot. I think there are a lot of people out there that know what I am talking about. My question is, who is helping these people? How can Law enforcement and and the public continue to overlook these American citizens who need our help? Are they not deserving? I must emphasize that this is a seperate problem that needs to be addressed and treated seperately from homeless addicts and alcoholics, being individuals who suffer from substance abuse who choose not to get treatment but continue in their disease because the consequences are not great enough for them due to the wrong type of help they get from help organizations that do not know any better. Like they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, “Nothing changes if nothing changes”. If anyone is interested in talking with me about this serious problem that I believe can be dealt with, you can contact me through my email at;
lonhender@yahoo.com
Mike D.
I myself is trying to put together a housing unit and learning center for the mental ill her in the Petersburg, VA area. If you have any information that can help me please e-mail me please use HWMH when you e.mail me. I get so much junk e-mail that I don’t open it if I don’t know who it came from. I have also wrote a book called “A Mother’s Prayer. It is about my paranoia schizophrenia son that killed his brother.
M. Louise Davis
P.O. Box 634
Colonial Heights VA 23834
April 1, 2011
M. Louise Davis
P.O. Box 634
Colonial Heights VA 23834
May 5, 2011
My name is M. Louise Davis. On July 22 and 23, 2011, there will be a Hollywood Book-to Screen Pitch Fest in Los Angels. My daughter and I will be able to pitch my book to the top-level talent executives and agent who are looking for new material to adapt for big screen or TV. I will be sharing my book with people in Hollywood who have connection and power to take my book to the next level. I am looking for sponsors to help me get to Los Angels so I can pitch my book for a movie. The Name of my book is “A Mother’s Prayer. I wrote the book because of the struggles I was having trying to get help for my mentally ill son who eventually killed his brother.
I went from an abused child to an abused wife. I quite school when I was sixteen years old and got married. Shortly after that I had a child every year for the next four year. After my last child was born, my husband walked out on us. He left us with no food or money. When he came back in to my life he almost chocked me to death. He would also beat up on me.
I found a job on a party boat, and I asked my mother-in-law to keep the children. I would be gone for two week. She gave the children to my husband. We had a fight in front school while I was trying to them back. He was always getting put of on the street. One day I was on my way out of town. I went by his apartment my daughter told me they were going to be put out in three days. I let him and the children stay at my house while I was going out of town. He got on welfare. He had parties and women at my house while I was out of town. He even left the children alone a lot. They went to school half dressed for the weather, and the welfare took the children. My children ended up in foster homes and correction homes. He refused to give me my apartment back there was a small fight. I became homeless.
The hard life took a toll on my youngest son. At the age of seventeen he started punching in the air and spitting all the time. Then he became hostel. I had to take out a green warren on him. He was diagnose paranoia schizophrenia and send to a mental hospital. It seemed to have helped him, but when he was released the medicine was to strong, and it had him and had him stabbing at the mouth and walking like a zombie. He became hostel. And I had to put him back in the mental hospital. I put him in the mental hospital to keep from hurting someone and to keep any one from hurting him.
Several time he got into trouble at the hospital. The first time was when he and a girl he like went looking for some dope. Unable to find some she got one of the patients to go to the store and get her some wine. She got mad because it took him so long to get back and started fussing at Alexander my son.
When the fellow got back she asked Alexander if he wanted some wine. He said. “No.” She drank all the wine and tossed the bottle on the ground. He accursed her of letting some of her friends abused him and used him for a toy. Alexander picked up bottle and beat her badly with it. He goes back into the hospital. They find the girl almost death. They take out an assute and batter warren on him. The doctor examined him the next day and says he was not insane at the time he beat the girl. His lawyer did not know how to present his case. That is what he told me. He had me as a witness and when the judge asked him why he called me as a witness he said, “I don’t know, just trying to make points.” Alexander got eight years.
The second time a patient was stabbing at him with a pencil the man ripped his short with the pencil and scratching his scrotum. He said two aids were in the room and did nothing to stop the man. They thought it was funny and was laughing. He got the man on the floor and stomped him. Then they came running. Of course they said they were not in the room. He lost his privilege, but the man did not. Alexander ward had to go out side to another building to eat. The next day they let this man and Alexander go to dinner together. On the way back Alex pick up a big stick and beat the man very badly. What I can under is why they would send this man together with Alexander without guards at the same time. And where were the aids to stop Alex from beating the man so badly. He goes to prison again.
The third time a patient is dancing with his butt in his face then the man tried to get on his back. He beats this man badly. He goes to prison again. I ask them why is it they can protect him from hurting other and keep other from hurt him. That is why I put him in a mental hospital.
Alexander was sent to the hospital from prison. A week or so later his doctor called me and said Alexander was ready to go home. I told him I had a house on Washington Street. My son Enrico was staying there, and if they could live together in harmony Alexander could stay there. We decided that Alexander should do a two week trail visit.
At the end of the two week the doctor said the trail went fine. Alexander was taken to stay with his brother. A few weeks later Alexander stabbed his brother nine times, killing him. His lawyer a public defender tells him to do a plea bargain. If he had a trail he could get one hundred years. I asked him not to do a plea bargain. I asked his lawyer no to do a plea bargain. If she could not win the case I could. She had scared him into doing a plea bargain. Unhappy with the way she was handling his case I asked her if my daughter and I could see the brief she had on Alexander.
This is when I found out that Alexander had not gotten along with his brother. He begged the doctor not to send him to stay with his brother. He also begged the staff to intervene for him. We also learn that the day before he killed his brother he went to his social worker and begged her to send him some where else. He stated that his brother was harassing him and he wanted to find somewhere else for him to stay. She told him she do have any where to send him. He was so hostile and agitate that she was scared to stay in the same room with him by herself. If she was so scared, why did she send this paranoid schizophrenia person back out to stay with someone he thought was going to kill him.
I asked his lawyer to get his chart from the hospital. This would tell us if he told any one about his brother, and he was afraid to stay there. She said it had nothing to do with his case. Alexander did the plea bargain. He got ten years. I feel there is not enough concern about the mentally ill. This movie need to be made to bring light to how the mentally ill is being neglected, that many lawyers don’t know how to represent the mentally ill. There is s shortage of housing. They are putting young mentally ill men in nursing home. In Chicago nursing home a 77 year old patient was killed by a mentally ill patient. There has been other killing in nursing homes by mentally ill patients. I am fighting cancel and I would like to get my story out to the world as soon as I can.
Sincerely thanks
M. Louise Davis
Phone: 804-524-0251
Email: Mckeltonglovergoolsby@yahoo.com
I have a nephew in Daytona, Florida. I am in Houston, Texas. My nephew is schizophrenia. He has done time in prison. He is on disability. He needs to be committed. Reading this article, unfortunately, I realize there is little chance of that happening. Unfortunately, my nephew is completely broke.
If anyone has any ideas of how he could get himself committed and receive the psychological help that he needs, please email me back.
One of these days he very possibly might commit suicide. He tried to commit suicide a number of years back but he called the police before he hung himself. The police cut him down in time and revived him.
If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thank you.
I was working for the MHMR system in Texas in the mid ’70′s. When the release of clients from state schools and hospitals began we would get calls from the institution saying that someone from our catchment area was being released and given a bus ticket to their home county. Often these calls would come at 4:30 pm on Friday. We had few group home or residential facilities, and would often have to ask the police to keep the individuals in jail until a placement could be found. It was terrible. The police department was kind and helpful, and I will always admire the then police chief. Several of these clients ended up living under a bridge. They were institutionalized, had no family, no money, no skills, and no place to go. I still think of them almost 40 years later. It was a terrible time for the client and those of us responsible for them.
This article was written in 2008 right about the time the chickens came home to roost. Fast forward to 2011 and we have thousands more homeless due to the mortgage meltdown. Homeless people are a visual reminder that it is a sin to be poor, sick, too young, or too old in America. Until the corporate model of “I-got-mine-sucks-to-be-you” that runs this country is displaced it will only get worse. Imagine our future with no Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, minimum wage, food stamps, Aid to Dependent Families, etc. that is envisioned by these so called “Conservative Values Voters”. Ugh. No wonder we have a brain drain to Australia and Canada.
I like to think all that responded to my to my e-mail about the mentally ill. There has to be something we the people who has gone through and going through dealing with the mental health system can do to let them we are not going to sit by and do nothing. The people that is running our country, state county, don’t care about the mentally ill. Did you know more people are having mental problems now?I am sorry I have not answer the e-mail before now. I just found my e-mail today.
The month of October is Mental Health Month. On October 2, 2011 I am hosting a Mental Health Awareness Fair from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Ettrick Community Park. It is located at 20400 Laurel Road in Chesterfield County, Va. It is near Petersburg, Va.
It would be nice if some of you could come and tell you story. I am also looking for a speaker. Someone that is known for working in the field of mental health or mental illness.
On May 5, 2011 I talked about my daughter going to a Pitch Fest in Calf. I did get one response, but they wanted me to sign some paper saying I would not sue them if they made a movie similar to my story. I tore it up. I did not feel like going because of my cancer. This time I did spell cancer right. I don’t know how I over looked the r and typed l spelling cancel.
M. Louise Davis
I have seen a video of the GOLDEN VOICE man who went from being the lead announcer radio guy, NFL guy, even some games audio person to talk to anime personality to poverty. He was captured on a certain video and uploaded on YouTube, I forgot the name though, but it really is very sad to know he now lives on the streets.
Try and search it you would be awed by his golden voice.
:(
Nissan J.´s last blog ..autorent
It is such a waste to see more people go to streets. It isn’t a safe way to live in the streets. I do hope the government act on this.
Jack N.´s last blog ..LPN Training
I have been there and to get out of the situation I committed a crime to get put in jail/prison. Hunger will do dramatic things to your mental well being. I was too proud to ask or accept help from family. To this day I hate hand outs and if I can’t do it for my self I will not accept it from anyone. The stressful circumstances of homelessness exacerbates every thing in your life. I got help in prison I got focus and direction, I’m very lucky that I was not mentally destroyed. Many do not have that privilege. I must say cast out the beliefs that anyone will help them out. A hand up is what they need not a hand out. I have spoken to many and tried to help many, only to have it thrown back in my face. I have watched my hard earned money given to the homeless go, not to the homeless but to the facility members pay. The degradation these people feel is horrid. They must, must be forced to get help! They must be forced to see the error of there ways. They must be forced the proper medication to combat the mental disorders they have. Food is very important. Go and try not just a few days but a week with out food or very little, Your mind will play tricks on you. You will see life in an all new light. My take on the the homeless, and this is just my 2 cents. They must first be removed from there situation, clean them up, feed them get them healthy, find out if they need mental health and tend to it, educate them in a trade that they can and are willing to do, get them employed, get them housing, and last but most important document them and show them that if they ever return to the streets because of there own doing, that they will no longer be helped.
Maybe you have regarded as adding more video clips for your websites to keep the readers a lot more interested? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite great but since I’m more of a visual learner,I discovered that to generally be more valuable. Just my my idea, Good luck
I am plannning an informitive speach in my public speaking class on the Mentally Ill and Homless. I would apreciate any good receant information and publications or references. .
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I’ve been one of the mentally ill homeless..I have CPTSD, Schizoaffective disorder, BPD, Schizotypal behavioral disorder, and social anxiety disorder…it is extremely rough to find help, and I was one of the very luckiest people out there, both because I was able to avoid ‘self-medication’ and substance abuse, and I managed to get diagnosed (finally) and was able to use that to get the disability funds I’m using for living now…It wasn’t easy, and I was lucky to have a support net of sorts. Most of the mentally ill homeless don’t have that. We really need to find ways to help the mentally ill, especially the homeless ones…by turning our back on them, we only make things worse, not only for them, but for everyone else as well.