Abstract
By definition, the homeless are a severely disadvantaged population. One of their disadvantages is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorder.1–4 Studies of the mental health of the homeless conclude that the prevalence of serious mental disorder is considerably higher than in the general population; about one-third of homeless adults have had a psychiatric hospital admission at some time.2,4 The need of this population for mental health services is great, but providing such services is made difficult by their extreme poverty, their lack of insight into their psychiatric problems, their distaste for psychiatric treatment, and the complexity of their service needs. These needs, therefore, are often poorly met.5 This chapter considers how clinical work with homeless people is affected by the special characteristics of the target population and how these characteristics affect the development of effective service systems.
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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Breakey, W.R. (1992). Mental Health Services for Homeless People. In: Robertson, M.J., Greenblatt, M. (eds) Homelessness. Topics in Social Psychiatry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0679-3_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0679-3_8
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