Schizophrenia Career Path

As proclaimed by The National Coalition for the Homeless, “Serious mental illnesses disrupt people’s ability to carry out essential aspects of daily life, such as self-care and household management.” Those suffering from mental illnesses are prevented from properly carrying out the intrinsic skills of livelihood. A mental illness may prevent one from possessing the ability to get a job, eat, earning wherewithal, and perform the multitudinous imperative skills entailed for survival. The preventions of mental illness undeniably can cause one to become

This research sampling method would be useful in this study because it takes the entire population of homeless individuals with mental illnesses and are chosen randomly. This gives a better chance of getting new information from individuals from both the staff perspectives and the inmates.

I have 20 plus years as a State of California employee and have worked in several state departments. I began my State career as a Psychiatric Technician with the Department of Developmental Services. Subsequently I worked with the California Conservation Corps as an Office Technician and Personnel Specialist; the Department of Transportation. In addition I worked as a Staff Services Analyst with the Department of Personnel in their HR Department. Currently I am privileged to work with the Department of Social Services as a Licensing Program Analyst. I have five plus years working as a Licensing Program Analyst. A major portion of (LPA) duties are conducting reviews of facilities to identify any immediate health and safety risk to children.

What are you going to do first? (Did the group make a logical choice that they backed up with their reasoning for that choice? Did their reasoning make sense?) (3 points)

As a girl growing up in Nigeria, I witnessed immense suffering and poverty. Initially, I believed the only way I could help people was to become a doctor and directly impact their lives. However, one pivotal life experience challenged this view. During winter break of my sophomore year, I walked into a phone conversation and found out my cousin was schizophrenic. For the next month, I spent countless hours researching schizophrenia, fascinated by it’s complexity. At that moment, my passion for research was ignited. I have always had questions pertaining to human behavior and the brain but it never occurred to me that I could be the one to answer them.

Universities and other educational institutions have the capacity to educate others about the signs of suffering from a mental illness and providing reliable resources to help those suffering. Mental illness is just one contribution to the homelessness population that can potentially be halted through education by social institutions and individuals.

Homelessness is a nationwide problem, it has brought tremendous attention to how the issue of homelessness is viewed and dealt with in today’s society. The lack of a solution should be a great concern; society needs to rise up and implement a plan to combat the issue of homelessness. Due to a decrease of affordable housing; lack of job training, along with low wages, and limited mental health and addiction services, the epidemic of homelessness is increasing in the United States. Communities and activist groups must come together and work with nonprofits and government programs to alleviate the homelessness epidemic. There are not enough resources available to deal with mentally ill and drug addicted individuals. Therefore, society has adopted a community and social activist groups to help combat the problems of homelessness.

This paper utilizes five peer reviewed articles for the purpose of identifying the interconnections between psychiatric conditions, self-medication and Homelessness. Depending on the severity of the psychiatric disorder, circumstances can lead to a homeless situation or nomadic lifestyle. It will also cover issues like how these influences affect societal issues such as crime violence, abuse, health troubles and communication difficulties with others due to the problems that these individuals have with their thinking process.

Persons with mental illness make up a large amount of people who are homeless. According to the substance Abuse and Mental heal services Administration 20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United State suffers from some severe form of mental illness (National Institute Of Mental Health, 2009) . Serious mental health issues in disrupts a person’s ability to live a normal functioning life. People who fall into this category have a very hard time practicing self care and basic household management and even keep a stable job due to their sickness. In relation to homelessness people who are mentally ill also have a hard time keeping stable relationships with people in society. This results in pushing away care givers, family and friend who may be force to that keeps them from becoming homeless and once they have losses those people then they don’t have any one to take care of them or have any place to live. A study done in California public mental health system which looked at individuals who had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia found that 15% had been homeless at some point of their lives (Folsom et al.,2005).

What do you typically assume when you hear the word schizophrenia? Most people would answer this question immediately by saying “crazy,” “scary,” or “unpredictable.” Schizophrenia is a disorder characterized by a wide array of cognitive as well as emotional dysfunctions. These dysfunctions include, the most commonly thought of, delusions and hallucinations, but that is not all. Individuals with this disorder also experience disorganized speech and behavior, as well as inappropriate emotions. This means that schizophrenia has evident negative effects on a person’s ability to relate to other people. Consequently, not only are people fearful of individuals with schizophrenia, these individuals also have challenges with successfully

Homelessness occurs all too often among those suffering from severe mental illness. In the following studies, some unsettling statistics are given, such as 20% of all schizophrenics are homeless, and schizophrenics are ten times likelier to become homeless than non-schizophrenics. People with mental health problems are often unable to keep a job, act responsibly with money and maintain overall stable lives if not supported properly. For those left on their own, they often succumb to homelessness. Schizophrenics, in particular, are at risk because of their paranoid tendencies and delusions, and issues keeping their finances stable. Despite the overwhelming statistical evidence, there is more to learn about the connection between schizophrenia and homelessness. What factors directly cause their homelessness and what can be done to prevent a decline into homelessness?

The most common of these illnesses are schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and depression. Furthermore, based on their condition, these individuals are more likely to be threatened, assaulted, or victimized because of their vulnerability (“How Many People…”). Also, given the condition that they are in, they can’t possibly take care of themselves. A study of 529 homeless people living in Los Angeles found that those who had been previously psychiatrically hospitalized were three times more likely to eat food that was in the garbage (‘Serious Mental Illness and Homelessness’). Additionally, half of the mentally ill homeless population (about ten to twelve percent) also struggle with an addiction as well (‘Mental Illness and Homelessness’). Having both a mental illness and an addiction does nothing but escalate the severity of both problems at the same time. From there, it is nothing but a downward spiral. The sole hope that the mentally ill homeless population has, is if they were to have their own facility. Not only will this provide permanent housing, but it will also ensure they take their medication, assist them in quitting their addiction, give regular medical check-ups, and prevent others from taking advantage of them. Never mind the value that this could potentially cost, aren’t human lives worth more than a

If I had to choose a type of mental health profession to focus on I would choose to become a therapist. I would focus on this profession due to the fact that I simply love to help people out, regardless of whom it is. For my subfield, I would like to specialize in developmental psychologist because they help people with emotional and social problems, for example, a teen going through the situation of their parent’s divorce. Because I enjoy helping people out, regardless of who the person is, developmental psychologist does exactly that. They work with different people no matter their age. I’d be able to work with children, teens, adults, and elderly people which I believe would be very interesting because I would be able to see the different

The experience that has made the greatest impact on my perception of volunteering is the aspect that most of the people with mental health issues can function just like normal people. During my volunteer at the Hope House, I was able to interact with most individuals that have different mental health illness. It’s unfortunate that some mental health patients cannot function on day-to-day basis without their medication and they also face some challenges even when placed on medications. For example, there are residents who hears voices and is frustrate when getting to the Hope House because there are certain residents who hear voices telling them to hurt a friend which places them in a difficult position where they have to battle with themselves mentally which makes them disoriented. These residents hope everyday that they don’t experience these hallucinations.

There has always been a need to make an impact or be the one to make a difference in someone else’s life, as a mental health counselor (Corey & Corey, 2011). Even though it may not be possible to make a difference in all mental health patients lives I would sure like to try. One also has to understand that these individuals have to want