Mental Illness a contributer to Homelessness?

According to Food Bank of the Rockies dot org, approximately 22% of homeless people suffer from chronic mental illness where as only 11% are veterans and oddly enough, 20% have regular employment.

This site claims that the vast majority of homeless persons with a mental illness could achieve stability if the appropriate services were available.

A study of 27 U.S. cities found that in 2001, 37% of all requests for emergency shelter went unmet due to lack of resources – a 13% increase from the previous year. For families, the numbers are even worse: 52% of emergency shelter requests from families were denied, a 22% increase from last year. (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2005).

And to make matters worse, the Food Bank of the Rockies also says that homeless children have four times the rate of developmental delays from children with homes, twice the number of learning disabilities, and have three times as many emotional and behavioral problems. (National Coalition for the Homeless).

So not only are the mentally ill becoming homeless but the homeless are breeding more mentally ill persons. It’s a vicious cycle that could be potentially avoided through two things;  first, better knowledge of the causes, effects, and preventions for developmental delays and mental illnesses by our own citizens; and two, appropriate services available at the time and place of need.

Why

Mental illness is all around us. Some of us choose to believe that “these people” are locked upsafely somewhere, when in reality the majority of “those people” never get the help they need and end up on the streets, homeless. The mentally ill become “too difficult to deal with” for even their own family. They become socially shunned and consequently fall deeper into their illness.

As the quote before stated “Mental disorders cost the United States more than $150 billion each year for treatment [and] for the costs of social service and disability payments made to patients…”. this almost seems unavoidable but as one of my sources states, “the United States is poised to rank No. 1 globally for mental illness.” (Washingtonpost.com, jul 05) My question is, why? Why does one of the wealthiest countries have the highest occurrence of mental illness? Doesn’t wealthy mean being healthy and more prosperous or even just having good welfare?

According to wikipedia.com the term “wealth” has come to mean an abundance of items of economic value, or the state of controlling or possessing such items, and encompasses money, real estate and personal property. So has our blind drive for these man-made materials litterally driven the average American crazy? Or in our spare time are we evaluating our true selves more closely? Are we manifesting this ourselves, or is it really something bigger?

Mental Illness in U.S. Economic Standards

“Misunderstood, often feared, and still stigmatized, the most severe mental illnesses affect some 5 million American adults, causing inestimable suffering to these patients and their families. But these severely ill patients–suffering from schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, major depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder–represent only a part of a broader problem from which few families are immune, for mental disorders can and do occur from childhood to old age, irrespective of gender or race. Overall, one in ten Americans experience some disability from a diagnosable mental illness in the course of any given year.

While numbers cannot convey the distress accompanying mental disorders, the economic impact can be calculated. Mental disorders cost the United States more than $150 billion each year for treatment, for the costs of social service and disability payments made to patients, and for lost productivity and premature mortality. Schizophrenia alone costs the Nation some $30 billion annually.”

Information provided by NIH.

http://www.healthieryou.com/amer.html