The Impact of Mental Illnesses on Homeless People

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In 2021, Oregon Live commissioned a survey involving 300 homeless individuals in Portland. This survey revealed that 63% of them suffered from a mental illness. Needless to say, there are different types of mental illnesses that affect the homeless, and only some are able to get properly diagnosed. The help that these individuals don’t receive, ultimately impacts their abilities to find proper housing.

It is easy for someone to witness and judge a homeless individual simply by the abnormal actions they witness them doing. It’s common for an outsider to find such strange behavior concerning. Though what if we were to view life from their perspective? We can partially do so by reading The Oregonian’s article titled “63% of homeless Portlanders report suffering from mental health issues and say they need more help: False promises survey.” Part of this article dives into the story of Nova Honey, a 23 year old from Portland who in 2021, thought the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) drugged her and was after her. She felt as though loud voices clouded her mind, and often she would end up in the middle of the road, in hopes that the world would go quiet. This was partially due to her struggle with finding resources for mental health as a homeless individual. It took Nova several psychotic episodes to eventually be admitted to a hospital. It wasn’t until then that she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. A disorder that involves both bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia. 

In 2015, doctors in Oregon were given a chance to more easily help someone’s psychosis that caused a threat to a medical crisis. Before this was allowed, doctors were obligated to wait until these suffering individuals were days close to death, so they could even consider treating them.

Nova’s traumatic experience with having no place to live caused her psychotic episodes to be worse. It got to the point where she would end up physically hurting herself, hoping to end her life. Unfortunately, many others live through similar experiences. They are not fortunate enough to be properly diagnosed and find the right help. Having a mental illness can certainly play a role in how someone ends up homeless. Ending up homeless then impacts the severity of said mental illness and makes it even more difficult to find any form of housing.

Beneficial changes for the homeless dealing with a mental illness are extremely important, and can certainly be made if people are willing to find ways to do so. This can be done with the exposure of the right resources, and better knowledge of the topic overall. A place to start is finding spaces that provide proper help for others like Nova. Below is a link to Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, which is known to provide mental health resources for the homeless in Portland. Further knowledge on these places is important and a crucial part of understanding the seriousness of mental illnesses that can take a toll on someone who does not have a roof over their head:

https://cascadiahealth.org/

- Kiara Garcia


References:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2022/06/63-of-homeless-portlanders-report-suffering-from-mental-health-issues-and-say-they-need-more-help-false-promises-survey.html?outputType=amp

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/31/1164281917/when-homelessness-and-mental-illness-overlap-is-compulsory-treatment-compassiona

Image from: https://inesad.edu.bo/developmentroast/2013/01/graphics-mental-illness-and-homelessness/

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