Homelessness and mental health: A challenge

Urbanization and emerging mental health issues

“…75,76 A personal history of trauma in the childhood, migration from rural to urban settings with poor resources and insufficient housing may lead to homelessness. [74][75][76] Stergioupulos et al 77 documented that 72% of homeless people in six Canadian cities reported a cognitive impairment often related to mental disorders, substance abuse, traumas, and poor quality of life. Also, Krauz et al 78 reported 55% of current mental disorders among homeless Canadian population.…”

“…78 Poverty as well as mental disorders, substance abuse, and childhood traumas are leading causes for homelessness. [74][75][76][77][78] Urban mental health needs to deal with homelessness challenge as well as health problems of this population since mental illness and being homeless are in a bidirectional relationship. 74 There may be major limitations in treating homeless people in the cities: access to the care system may be difficult for structural deficits, limited resources, overcrowded services, individual barriers, lack of health insurance, low education level, and so on.…”

“…74 Also, modern psychiatry needs to take into account social factors leading to poverty and homelessness among psychiatric population. 76 Priebe et al 79 recommended good practices in psychiatry for reaching vulnerable and marginalized people in Europe (14 countries involved) suggesting: outreach programs for engaging with vulnerable and marginalized people reporting mental health problems, facilitating the access to services, promoting an integration between primary care, and secondary care services, spreading information about mental health among vulnerable neighborhoods and marginalized people. Some evidences suggest that community-based treatments, psychosocially oriented, are effective for this population: contingency management, cognitive behavioral interventions, and motivational interviewing.…”

Mental Illness and Youth-Onset Homelessness: A Retrospective Study among Adults Experiencing Homelessness

“…Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not prevalent among youth, violence and trauma that precede youth onset homelessness, is highly reported among youth [7,21]. In addition, studies have shown that youths with mental illness are more likely to engage in a greater number of risk behaviors that may increase vulnerability to violent victimization, potentially leading to increased traumatic experiences that may consequently increase the likelihood of homelessness [22][23][24]. The occurrence of these mental illnesses could lead to increased morbidity and poor health outcomes.…”

Salience and discovery in BJPsych

“…Homelessness remains a major priority given the levels of poor mental health and premature mortality in homeless populations. 4,5 Although the three papers garnering most citations make relevant and important discovery contributions, contrast these with marginally less cited but important and startling new findings captured in the social media profiles of the following three papers: Crawford et al's survey of patient experiences reported on the adverse effects of psychological therapies (ranked 8 in the top 10 cited papers of 2016, with respective scores of 213, 15971, 1278, 806). 6 Similarly remarkable papers include Hirvikoski et al's study of premature mortality in autism (392, 19382, 1451, 1180) 7 and Palmier-Claus et al 's study of childhood adversity and bipolar disorder (357, 7876, 275, 500).…”