Around one third of the homeless people are recorded to be mentally ill, and compared to the other population they have a higher prevalence in mental in illness. Many of these homeless people are victimized daily and their kind of life is quite abysmal. Studies have found that after treatment most of the homeless people with mental illness are likely to go back to the streets. This happens when they are disengaged from aftercare treatment or if they find their accommodation uncomfortable. The only way to avoid this after discharging mentally ill patients is by providing them with well coordinated plan that include explicit housing as well as services. These will be provided once the patient rejoins the community.
Those suffering from functional psychoses among the homeless are around one third and a half. Around 20% have been found to engage in substance abuse. Also among those discharged from psychiatric wards 28% have been found to get their food from garbage (Killapsy 595). One of the reasons that lead to homeless mentally ill people going back to the streets right after discharge is being discharged without a permanent address. There should be continuity in caring for the patients as episodes of illness cannot be predicted among psychiatric patients. Post discharge services should not be given alone but should be interlinked with the housing services to be provided. The effectiveness and outcome of the housing services cannot be measured or conceptualized. However, there may be a short run in the outcome of housing homeless people with mental illness, as they are isolated from the general population.
A study was done on the effect of psychiatric community services engaging with homeless mentally ill persons and also the effect of designating inpatient facilities on housing. When this study was being conducted, a designated ward was used to provide treatment for homeless mentally ill patients as it proved logical for this group of patients were always on the move and was the only way they could come in contact with. Patients that were admitted to the ward designated for the group, were found to have more histories on being homeless than patients in other controls.
Homeless mentally ill people have suffered or gone through worst things in life more than the general population. They have gone through victimization, sexual assault, poor quality of life, frustration, and death through freezing and murder. Sexual assault is mostly experienced by women among the homeless mentally ill persons due to consequences of impaired thinking. Most of these women are raped and are exposed to diseases such as HIV as most men that rape them are drug addicts with HIV infection. Studies have also shown that homeless persons with psychiatric illness have elevated number deaths number of recorded deaths. it is not surprising for such rates of deaths among the homeless as they are three times more prone to die compared to the general population. Most of them freeze to death due to the chilly weathers but more common to the ones with schizophrenia and others due to their impaired thinking have fatal accidents.
Introducing housing for homeless psychiatric patients is a way forward to improve on the lifestyles of the homeless mentally ill. Also providing them with a service plan that will help them not to relapse to their normal ways of life and counter act any episodes of mental illness that might happen after.
References
Killapsy, H., et al (2004). ‘Treating the homeless mentally ill: does a designated
inpatient facility improve outcome?’ Journal of Mental Health, December 2004; 13(6): 593 – 599
