9 Comments on Can homelessness cause mental illness or is mental illness heightened by homelessness?

annazzz1966 on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 7:18 pm


Mental illness heightened by homelessness.
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Jayne S on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 8:04 pm


Most of the people who are living on the street are there because of mental illness, substance abuse problems, or both. Homelessness would aggravate mental illness in most cases, although it seems to suit a few people.

Some people who are on the street could be in shelters if they were willing and/or able to abide by the rules against drugs/alcohol. Some resist taking their medication.
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Ashley B on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 8:53 pm


I believe both of those are correct. Homeless people can get a mental illness such as depression, and people with mental illnesses can become homeless from their disability.
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melxena88 on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 9:10 pm


Most homeless people are Mentally ill. They are unable to take care of themselves so they become homeless. Others may be junkies and became homeless because of their drug habit. Some drugs can cause you to have permanent mental damage such as X.
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Karen K on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 9:19 pm


There are many reasons that people become homeless. Mental illness is one of them, there is also loss of jobs, living with someone that throws you out for one reason or another. Right now my husband and I live on $159 per month because we are disabled and waiting on Social Security to come through and our rent is $200 per month. We live on a monthly basis because we both have mental illnesses and we never know which month it will be when we can't pay our rent and end up living on the street. In answer to your other question about the traumatic effects of being homeless causing mental illness or depression, I would say that it would cause the depression and also post traumatic stress disorder which is another form of mental illness. Homelessness is the worst nightmare that any person could possibly go through and it is up to the individual as to whether they can come back from such an experience.
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J Moe on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 9:48 pm


Most homeless people are mentally ill before they become homeless. It is mainly due to the fact that their families are unable to properly care for them. Also, many mentally ill people refuse to take their medication. They are difficult to deal with when they are like this. They often refuse help and willingly live on the streets. It's sad, but true.

People without mental illnesses usually end up that way b/c of financial troubles. I'm sure it is very hard for them at first. However, since they do not have any medically proven mental illnesses, I'm sure they would bounce back after things got better. They may be withdrawn or depressed, but these things would probably get better as their life got better.
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I did some research

__ on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 10:33 pm


There are many reasons for both mental illness and homelessness – and both contribute to the other. The diathesis-stress model is a theoretical model that basically asserts that everyone has a "breaking point" based on a genetic predisposition. When one's stress becomes too much and they reach that breaking point than things like mental illness are bound to happen. Homelessness and everything that likely happened that led up to someone becoming homeless (i.e. divorce, loss of job, drugs) creates a tremendous amount of stress which is likely to break many people.

Another theory is that mental illness is the body's adaptation to one's environment. In the case of schizophrenia, one creates a reality to help them cope with their present situation. For example, even if it is not true, it is easier for a person to believe they are homeless because the government is sabotaging them then to accept that their current situation is their own fault because they failed to take care of themselves and lost everything as a result.

Mental illness is not permenent – at least it is not always active. With treatment (medical/psychological) mental illness can go into remission and the person can function fairly well again. It largely depends on factors such as age of onset, severity (in quality and length) of the episode, and if the right meds can be found. Another important step is finding the person a secure environment and proper nuitrition so they can focus on treament – again it goes back to the level of stress.

Finally, drug-induced mental illness is much more difficult to treat and has a poorer prognosis than other mental illnesses. Drugs effects on the brain are more difficult to repair. Fergie was one of the few lucky ones. . .
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Hope on Sat, 6th Dec 2008 11:19 pm


If I have caught your meaning correctly,
my response is that both of these feed each other.

The mentally ill person — with poor judgement and living outside of reality makes a series of bad decisions.

The series of bad decisions (mental illness) uninterrupted results in losing a place to live or homelessness.

The homeless situation lacks in stable healthy surroundings that would promote or sustain health — and the mental health of the individual is further disrupted and endangered.

The further the mental health of an individual spirals down, by living in high stress conditions, the greater his dysfunction grows, and the less able he is to get himself out of the homeless situation.

Like I said, one condition feeds the other.

This is why family and community support is of necessity to assist people in becoming healthy and self-supporting.
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Kathryn R on Sun, 7th Dec 2008 12:03 am


A person's depression can be caused by becoming homeless and becoming homeless can make depression worse. Helping a person get a hold of their illness and stabilizing them would help them get a home and back into the mainstream of society which helps all of us in the long run. I guess it could be come permanent if there is no one to help them deal with the issues that they have. But most if not all mental illnesses can be treated if the person wants to be and if there is some one offereing help.
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