The mental torments of the homeless

Study: Homeless people often suffer from mental illness

07/24/2014

Homeless people are particularly often affected by mental illness. This was the result of a study by the Department of Psychiatry at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich. Especially addictions, depression and personality disorders are widespread among the homeless, the hospital reports. However, only a third of those affected receive the necessary care.

Homeless people often suffer from addiction problems and depression
According to estimates, around 300,000 people do not have their own apartment in Germany, about 25,000 live on the street. The Federal Association Homelessness Aid predicts a further increase in the number of homeless people to 380,000 people by the year 2016. In Munich, the situation is particularly dramatic given the high rents. At the end of 2013 alone, around 8,000 people were in need of emergency shelters, pensions, hostels and similar facilities. 550 people also lived on the street without a roof over their heads.

According to a recent, representative study of the Department of Psychiatry at the Klinikum rechts der Isar, two-thirds of single homeless people suffer from mental illnesses. But only a third of them are treated accordingly. At the so-called „Seewolf "study - the name stands for „Mental sickness rates in the homelessness assistance institutions "- included 232 residents of shelters, homelessness and pensions homes, 80 percent of whom were male and 20 percent were women, which is very close to the true gender ratio in the homelessness benefit institutions During the course of the study, the study covered three sessions lasting several hours, covering both their physical and psychological condition, conducting a general interview and reviewing cognitive performance.

94 percent of the homeless are acutely or formerly affected by a mental illness
As Josef Bäuml, Senior Physician of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Klinikum rechts der Isar, opposite the „South German newspaper“ explained that the cliché of the lonely wolf has nothing in common with the homeless. „They are not ex-offenders, but people who are at their wit's end who can not be rented. "94 percent of the homeless are acutely or formerly mentally ill, their mental capacity is significantly reduced and they have much lower educational attainment About 80 percent are also affected by addictions - mostly alcohol to cope with the effects of mental illness - 55 percent of homeless people suffer from personality disorders, and 40 percent of those diagnosed were diagnosed with depression, or 20 percent Anxiety disorders and in 14 percent schizophrenic disorders.

The questioning of the homeless also revealed that on average the participants had not lived in their own apartment for five years and lived on the street for eleven months. Often it is one „very difficult, bulky personality structure that does not awaken the protective instinct of therapists, "said Bäuml the newspaper.

Mental illness is not always the cause of homelessness
Most study participants were already ill before homelessness, an average of 6.5 years. As the head of the working group Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Thomas Jahn, explained to the paper, the disease does not always have to be the cause of the loss of the home, but it is a risk factor. If other factors were added, such as the loss of the partner or the job, one would arise „socially precarious situation. "Therefore, the aid offers must start earlier and prevent the loss of housing, so Bäumel.

According to the expert, the high proportion of mentally ill people in homelessness assistance is due to the reduction of beds in psychiatry as a result of de-hospitalization. Not all those affected would be covered by the outpatient care offers. As Thomas Duschinger of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungslosenhilfe explained to the newspaper, should be strengthened in the future „multi-professional teams "are used in the facilities.