Should Mental Health Issues Be Treated As Medical Concerns?
By Ishnoor Kaur
In the US alone, there are more than 600,000 thousand people who don’t have a home (Homelessness in America 2023, 1). Almost 50% of these people suffer from a mental illness (Homelessness and Mental Illness, 1). Many studies have found that there is a direct correlation between having a mental illness and being houseless. Even though there have been many efforts to treat people without a house who may be a danger to themselves and to the public, the question is, what is the right way to help? In many instances, people with mental health concerns are not treated effectively.
For example, in New York City specifically, EMTs often receive EDPs (emotionally disturbed persons) class and bring their patients back to a hospital or medical center. Public hospitals in NYC are often overwhelmed and have more patients than they can treat. Often at a hospital, the patient is examined by staff, allowed to rest at the hospital for a couple of hours, and then discharged. According to The New York Times, patients whose psychotic episodes are brought on by drugs, are often discharged in a day or two (Joseph, 1). It is extremely likely that the people who get discharged back to the street, and the stress of life on the street will start to hit them again. At some point, the chances are that they still will not be able to care for themselves, and this doesn’t help anyone. It turns into a cycle, and some of the people that need help the most are back on the streets again. This cycle not only affects patients, but also EMT workers. Many workers get burned out by the endless calls, and often suffer from depression.
The reason this occurs is because there are inadequate resources to meet the needs of everyone. There are not enough shelters, social workers, and outpatient facilities. For instance, psychiatric beds are sparse in many hospitals. There are not enough finances to provide psychiatric health to the poor, and many places favor outpatient treatment rather than psychiatric hospitalizations. Covid-19 also greatly affected this—many hospitals needed more beds to treat people suffering with the virus. Therefore, there were even less beds for those with mental health concerns. There are about 8,000 psychiatric beds available in New York City (Hogan, 1), but almost 17,500 people without homes in NYC suffer from either a serious mental illness or addiction (Samhsa, 1). This illustrates the extent to which we need more resources for everybody.
The focus of our concerns should not be hospitalizing people and then discharging them or thinking about who needs a bed more. This method has previously not worked, and it will not now either. Instead, we should ask, how can we help people in a way that actually makes a difference? If we can find solutions that speak to this question, then we can move ahead and help those in need.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Joseph. “How Hospitals Respond When Mentally Ill People Come in from the Streets.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Dec. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/nyregion/hospitals-emergency-room-mental-illness.html.
Almojera, Anthony. “I'm an N.Y.C. Paramedic. I've Never Witnessed a Mental Health Crisis like This One.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/opinion/nyc-paramedic-mental-health-crisis.html.
“Mental Health.” Mental Health | The Homeless Hub, https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/topics/mental-health.
“Basic Facts about Homelessness: New York City.” Coalition For The Homeless, https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/.
“Homelessness in America 2023: Statistics, Analysis, & Trends.” Security.org, 27 Jan. 2023, https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/.
“Homelessness and Mental Illness: A Challenge to Our Society.” Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, 3 Feb. 2020, https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-illness-challenge-our-society.
Gwynne HoganPublished Jan 10, 2023Modified Jan 10, and 2023 at 10:15 a.m. Bahar OstadanPublished Mar 12. “Hochul Orders Hospitals to Bring Back Psychiatric Beds as Part of $1B Mental Health Plan.” Gothamist, https://gothamist.com/news/hochul-orders-hospitals-to-bring-back-psychiatric-beds-as-part-of-1b-mental-health-plan.
Current Statistics on the Prevalence and Characteristics of ... - Samhsa. https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/programs_campaigns/homelessness_programs_resources/hrc-factsheet-current-statistics-prevalence-characteristics-homelessness.pdf.
