October 30, 2005

20% of those Diagnosed with Schizophrenia are Homeless

Read more... Schizophrenia Housing

A new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that approximately 20% of the people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia are homeless (based on a study of diagnosed patients in the San Diego, California area). Given the 2.1 million (approximately) who are thought to have schizophrenia in the USA - this would suggest a population of 400,000 people who are homeless in the US, and suffering from schizophrenia. We haven't viewed the entire study - but it would seem that the percent could actually be much higher because of the issue that so many people with schizophrenia will never accept a psychiatrist appointment to get a proper diagnosis. Whatever the exact number - the number is huge, and the suffering immense.

The study conclusion was: The overall prevalence of homelessness in people treated for mental health disorders was 15%. Homelessness was most prevalent in people with schizophrenia (20%), followed by bipolar disorder (17%) and depression (9%).

Source: Folsom DP, Hawthorne W, Lindamer L, et al. Prevalence and risk factors for homelessness and utilization of mental health services among 10,340 patients with serious mental illness in a large public mental health system. Am J Psychiatry 2005

Posted by szadmin at October 30, 2005 12:04 PM

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Comments

Hi,
my name is Joey Rodriguez and I have an uncle who has schizophrenia. Is it true that 20% of Schizophrenia or more are homeless in the U.S. That is not good. My uncle has been taken care of since he was 18. That is when the state took him from my grandparents. if this is true and there is nothing that I and my fellow American's cannot do then this is one crazy world. I really do hope that it is not true, because i would not want one of my family members that had this disease to be living ont he streets on there own with no help.There families should have a say in these sorts of things. But the family is not always at fault. Well thank you for your help. Can you please get back to me about the issue, and keep me updated.
Thank You
Joey

Posted by: JOey Rodriguez at November 8, 2005 05:20 PM

Hi,
My name is Angelo Rodriguez and I have a brother who might have this and he is out of control its very hard for my mother and dad to accept him with this problem, just because they dont know what to do. It has been very hard for them as well for my brother and us, for my bother is hard to understand us, as much for us to understand him. He likes to do things on his own but there are things that he dose that make no meaning to us, whats so ever. Its hard to make him understand things. I feel like Im talking to a 3-4 year old kid with a mans body. I plea with anguish, and I sometimes feel that Im in potent cause I cant help him the way I want to. It herts me so mucho to see him like that. Every time when I pray for my brother I cant hold my tears just to know the way he lives. Please give me your input and email me at gittanno6969@hotmail.com and keep us in your prayers. Tank you.

Posted by: Angelo Rodriguez at November 15, 2005 09:42 AM

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