Psychological, Social and Economic Issues

Psychological, social and economic issues facing homeless people and ways to increase compliance among them.

Within the homeless population there are many individuals that require medication for a psychological illness or problem. Unfortunately, many of these individuals do not receive the medication that they need for their mental disorders as there are psychological, social, and economic issues that affect their ability and their desire to seek treatment and to remain on a medication once it is prescribed to them. Where psychological issues are concerned, many people with mental illnesses stop taking medication once they start to feel better because they convince themselves that they are 'cured.' Socially, these individuals may also have a difficult time with taking medication because they often find that they are already ridiculed enough by many segments of society and therefore they do not want to take medications that might stigmatize them further. Economically, they often cannot afford their medications. If they are homeless, they already have serious problems with their finances and if their day of asking for handouts or working as a day-laborer nets them profit they will use it to eat and perhaps buy cigarettes or alcohol (although not all of them will do this) as opposed to saving their money for their medications. It is clear that compliance with taking medication needs to be increased within this population but this is a difficult thing to do. Putting them in a 'home' or an in-patient residential treatment facility is a short-term fix but will not help them when their treatment is over and they still have no home to live in and no money with which to purchase their medications. Compliance can be best increased in two ways: 1) make medications for these people extremely affordable and 2) combine the medication and/or treatment that they receive with other services that can help these individuals find jobs, inexpensive but decent housing, and social networks that can help them to reach out to others that have struggled or that are still struggling. Support is very important to those that have a mental illness and this support might be one of the best things that these individuals could receive with their medication.