Mental Illness and Homelessness

While the disproportionately high levels of psychological distress among the homeless are universally acknowledged, what is less evident is whether the homeless mentally ill people are homeless because of their psychiatric disorders or whether the environmental factors associated with their homelessness have caused their psychiatric distress symptoms (Koegel & Burnam, 1992). In fact, the Institute of Medicine (1998) pointed out that there are three types of interactions between homelessness and health, which are highly applicable to mental illness:

There are three different types of interactions: 1) Some health problems precede and causally contribute to homelessness; 2) Others are consequences of homelessness; and 3) Homelessness complicates the treatment of many illnesses (p. 39).

The complexity of the interaction between homelessness and mental is aptly encapsulated by professionals wh

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r to receive assistance from the center. Finally, clients were invited to discuss their concerns with the center staff during weekly meetings. Based on the clients' suggestions, the center staff was willing to make necessary adjustments. After a 24-month period, participants who were assigned to the Choice Center program experienced a significant increase in the quality of their life based on the Lehman Quality of Life Scale and decrease in the psychiatric symptoms. Approximately 55 percent of the experimental group spent less time on the street after the intervention than before, compared to only 28 percent of the control group. Moreover, 38 percent of the experimental group was placed in community housing, in comparison with 24 percent of the control group. Yet, in spite of these improvements, Tsemberis et al. (2003) concluded that the program in itself was not able to significantly increase the number of clients placed in independent housing. While most of the clients had made tremendous strides in their lives, they were still unable to satisfy the high standards of admission established by many housing programs. Clearly, the lack of housing providers that have an understanding of the needs and characteristics of the ho
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Treatment ACT, Institute Medicine, Asmussen Shern, Wood Hough, Herrman Neil, Northern California, Dear Wolch, Truman Leese, Choices Unlimited, Life Scale, mentally ill, mental illness, ill homeless, mentally ill homeless, homeless population, ill homeless population, et al, mental health, illness homelessness, homeless people, mental illness homelessness, psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, tsemberis et al, et al 2003,
Approximate Word count = 4335
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page)

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