Critical incidents that lead to homelessness

Trauma and healing in the underserved populations of homelessness and corrections: Forgiveness Therapy as an added component to intervention

“…If Phelan and Link (1990) and Bassuk and Beardslee (2014) are correct, then depression can be a contributing factor in inducing homelessness and a factor in sustaining this condition. As a clarification here, it is our contention that current mental health issues, such as current high levels of anxiety or depression, can be caused by past severe injustices, either in the recent past such as the sudden loss of a job (Stinson, 2010), or the long past in childhood. In other words, it is not only trauma borne out of unjust treatment in childhood that is amenable to forgiveness therapy but also more proximal trauma caused by injustice, such as abandonment by a partner or an unjust firing from a job.…”

“…First, it is an event or series of events that are highly unusual, potentially psychologically destructive, and even life changing for people experiencing the event(s). Examples of such events, which can occur distally in childhood or more recently, are sexual abuse (Goodman et al, 1991; Lewinson, Thomas, & White, 2014), being robbed (Tsai, Edens, & Rosenheck, 2011), physical violence (Taylor & Sharpe, 2008; Young, Shumway, Flentje, & Riley, 2017), threatened with a weapon, held captive, or kidnapped (Taylor & Sharpe, 2008), sudden loss of a job (Stinson, 2010), abandonment or betrayal especially by a partner or close family member (Mackelprang et al, 2014), family conflict (Lewinson et al, 2014), and being involved in a life‐threatening accident (Taylor & Sharpe, 2008). All of these examples concern what the field of forgiveness studies calls unjust life events (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2015) caused by persons who act unfairly or do not give the victim what is deserved, such as respect, a fair wage, or physical protection as examples.…”

“…In a comprehensive literature by Bassuk and Beardslee (2014), the authors pointed out that mothers who are without homes experience remarkably high rates of major depressive disorder compared with the general population. Stinson's (2010) study, based on 25 people without homes, identified categories that contributed to homelessness, and many of these included the stressful effects of unjust treatment such as domestic abuse, inequities in the workplace, and other traumas experienced prior to the person being without a home. In other words, it was the effects of injustices in some of these cases that led to homelessness.…”

“…Besides events, either induced by others' unjust actions or by naturally occurring phenomena (such as a tornado destroying one's property), trauma in the published literature is sometimes equated with the psychological effects of events. When the psychological effects of events, such as the emergence of excessive anxiety or depression, are the focus, it is these adverse psychological effects that are often cited as a direct cause of or contributor to homelessness (see, e.g., Stinson, 2010). Because such psychological compromise now might develop long after the earlier traumatic event, care providers do not necessarily make the connection between the past traumatic event and the psychological distress being presented now.…”