Mental Illness and Homelessness

Commonly we perceive homeless individuals as dangerous or with the idea that they brought themselves into that position of suffering, but we never stop to think about what they are going through mentally.

In a study conducted in 2014, an estimated 45% of the homeless in America were found to have a mental illness at some point in their life. Deteriorating mental health and homelessness is a vicious cycle, where either mental illnesses can cause homelessness as people can not live alone or with family, or homelessness can cause mental health conditions along with developing bad habits as coping mechanisms.

These conditions make it hard for one to get out of their situation, care for themselves, and find a job, which highlights the limited access to healthcare.

Sources:

https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/health/2019/09/20/how-medi-cal-makes-hard-homeless-access-care/2367926001/