I talked with a homeless man this morning and asked him how he ended up this way. He said, "Up until last week, I still had it all. I had plenty to eat, my clothes were washed and pressed, I had a roof over my head, I had HDTV and Internet, and I went to the gym, the pool, and the library. I was working on my MBA on-line. I had no bills and no debt. I even had full medical coverage. I felt sorry for him, so I asked, "What happened? Drugs? Alcohol? Divorce?" "Oh no, nothing like that," he said. "No, no.... I was paroled."
Here as well, although there is probably a large population of mentally ill. Very difficult to diagnose, and I do not mean to be insensitive, but it is not against the law to be crazy. Unless they are diagnosed as a threat to themselves or others they must be left alone. Relatives can't force them to get treatment or take medication. It is a very serious problem.
So many with mental illness have been freed to wander the streets. Even the violent and those who would harm themselves due to financial cutbacks. Drugs also play a major part in this problem and can lead to dangerous mental problems that may go un-diagnosed.
Mental illness is a disease just like any other. Some may be brought on by alcohol or drugs. I believe the last statistic I saw marijuana users were 6 times more likely to have mental illness. More than likely the alcohol and drugs are the person's attempts at self medication.
https://www.va.gov/homeless/ Good morning all, Above link to augment thread. I'm not presenting it for a vet matter as such but rather to glean any info from site applicable to someone here at forum for their use. Eg, approaching the homeless can mean approaching lice, respiratory germs, a violent persona, etc. Not all are violent-prone but it's a factor that must be considered.
I concur but what's doesn't help is being homeless as most of these cases are I've noticed a lot of ex military have PTSD and are homeless the drugs the doctors provide are a BIG factor in this
