Will being psychiatrically treated stop homelessness, or is that a matter of stopping poverty?

Question

Is opting out or being non compliant with the systems that be an illness or is it a choice? If we say America is free do we have the right to make that choice for ourselves if we really want to? Do we have the right to make it for others? Should we have "treatments" that we don't really want pushed and forced on us, will it help when we don't want to change? Is there another answer called helping those who "want" to help themselves, by giving them what they really need till they can get more then enough to give back instead of calling them lazy when they ask for it and stopping the cattle lines? Are hand me downs really good enough? Is it wrong to learn to live within ones means, or to ask for enough to be able to live well enough inside those means that maybe one can get up out of them? Are there other ways? Do we need more fairness in equity? I think from what I see here already that some of you all would agree that there has to be and there must be.

Answer 1

Not everyone is homeless for the same reasons; it can be because of culture, economics, or sanity (and probably other causes, too). Some people never learned how to earn or manage money, so they constantly run out; others grew up in the culture of poverty and don't know any other way to live, and some are drug-addled, or just plain crazy and can't cope with life enough to maintain a home.

Answer 2

Approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the homeless population is mentally ill. When a mentally ill person is not treated, or has been treated but has not complied with medication/treatment, they find themselves in a situation where they cannot work or participate in society in a "conventional" way. Families of mentally ill individuals tend to exhaust every resource available to assist them, but sometimes the individual disappears into the homeless population.
In that regard, I think the answer is yes to both - treating and caring for our mentally ill community and bolstering the resources and support for them can help alleviate the homeless problem. However, the poverty issue cannot be ignored either. Many people in the US are 1 paycheck or 1 bad bill away from losing their shelter, and many more are already rationing food and clothing.
Both problems are very real and very large.

Answer 3

Many homeless people have mental illness. It is the major hurdle in them living a "normal life". But poverty is an issue as well. Plus just plain old low self esteem and laziness.Nothing can really stop homelessness. Treatment options are a good way to diminish it, but to eliminate it will take more than we have to offer. To truly help a person, they need to want to help themselves...there is not treatment for those who do not want help.

Answer 4

Because by printing more money, you do not create more wealth, you inflate your currency (make your existing money weaker). Example: You made Koolaid using 1 powder pack, so it's good enough for one glass of Koolaid. But then your friend comes over and wants some Koolaid as well. So your a smart kid and just add more water to your Koolaid then serve it into 2 cups. You think you have created more Koolaid, but you really haven't. All you did was add more water to your Koolaid and made your Koolaid taste weaker, and in the process you just made another glass. There is only a certain amount of wealth existing in any nation at any given time. Like the Koolaid, there is only a certain amount of powder. Also, other countries know the value of your currency and how wealthy your country is. Creating more money won't make anyone wealthier, unless you created that money through innovation. Such as; making an invention, opening business, or trading.

Answer 5

Psychiatric treatment rarely stops homelessness if the person is homeless prior to or during treatment. Most psychological treatment for homeless persons is done in the hospital, and only when the person is having a particularly severe or debilitating problem such as attempted suicide, hallucinations causing them to act harmful to others, or seizures. Unfortunately most of these individuals receive a small supply of medication and either never use it, sell it, or fail to get more due to financial inability to do so, so it is a vicious cycle of homelessness, one-day treatment in the hospital under a psychologist or psychiatrist, and back to homelessness.

J. L. Oneske, Parapsychologist

EAST COAST GHOST CONFERENCE
MAY 26 & 27, 2007 ~ ROCHESTER, NY
WWW EASTCOASTGHOSTCONFERENCE COM

Answer 6

Psychiatric patients have rights to refuse medications unless someone becomes there medical power of attorney to force meds. For some that is the only way. There are many people whose minds are affected in ways that seem mentally ill, I think they are paranoid about other people taking their things so actually the word paranoid should be changed to concerned. I imagine living on the streets could drive a sane person nuts.

Answer 7

Homelessness is caused by many factors. Mental illness does attribute to a great deal of the problem, as does drug and alcohol use. These are all "treatable' factors, although a great many homeless people will neither seek of be offered treatment.

Another big factor in homelessness is the lack of job security for far too many people in the USA, considering we are "wealthiest" in not just finance, but assistance and medical advantages.

Many people is this country, and also the world are one paycheck, or less away from losing their residence. This is a frightening thought, but it does not take much to make anyone penniless. I know families who have lost everything due to a family illness, and had to revert back to living in unsafe conditions, because they did not have enough health coverage.

There also are a sizable portion of homeless people, who have opted out of society.

There was a documentary produced recently, where a cable channel had permission to follow a homeless man in everyday life and and as the show progressed, they actually left a suitcase filled with a great deal of cash in one of the dumpsters that he habitually searched for returnables and food.

This man found the money, and the people who were filming told him that the money was his to keep and that they would offer him help with finding a place to live and getting a bank account and investing and anything else he would need in order to make this a major turning point in his life.

This man was given $100,000 cash. Less than a year later, he was back on the streets once more, and actually admitted owing more money than he had previously.
If you go to the Oprah.com site, the story is there. You can search under Rags to Riches or Homeless Man gets Cash. It is fascinating, and seems quite unbelievable.

Many people who are homeless will never receive the care that they need, as there are not enough people advocating for change .We could do a lot more for the homeless, and other people living at or below poverty level, if we would eliminate the enormous amounts of waste that goes on in this country.

When major restaurants and food suppliers are wasting literally tons of edible food per day, just due to laziness or improper storage; something else could be happening to that wasted food. Many supermarkets are donating to food banks and homeless shelters, but everyone needs to work together for the better of all.

It would help a tremendous amount if there were many less CEOs retiring and being handed over millions of dollars in bonus money. There at not many people on this earth who need millions of dollars per year to live on, not when there are families struggling to buy groceries, while working morning, noon and night.

The final solution to homelessness depends on many factors, and we all need to be a bit more responsible and aware in order to make true change.

Answer 8

There's unfortunately no one simple answer to "homlessness."
Some of the "homeless" are indeed mentally ill, and treatment might help them. Some are just plain lazy and are not mentally ill, and there probably isn't anything that will help them. Others are just victims of circumstance -- lost their job, can't get another one, unemployment benefits ran out...most of these people are ready and willing to work, but there are no jobs for them (at least where they live), and they can't afford to "move" someplace where there are jobs they could get.
Then there are women whose husbands left them and they've never had a job, older people with no family and not enough SS benefits to pay rent, etc.
It's varied and complex, and there's no simple solution. Of course, it doesn't help that the current president wants to cut social services by $12billion in the next budget, while allocating another $212 billion to war in Iraq and Afghanistan...kinda shows you what's more important to him, doesn't it? Certainly not his own people...
:(

Answer 9

Not in every case. I have seen people that are homeless and they say that even though they get money every month they still want to be homeless. I once knew a guy who got enough money every month, but still lived in a motel. (That is still considered homeless in the eyes of social work.) So, sometimes not being in poverty doesn't make a difference, because those people could get into housing, but they don't.

Answer 10

It is a mattter of poverty. Governments not only need to give people money but teach them how to hope and dream for with out dreams people feel they are stuck for ever in the poverty circle.

There are many people that are homeless by cicumstance then it becomes a way of life.

go volunteer at a shelter and ask some of them.