Women Living with Mental Illness and Homelessness-Stigma and Victimization
• Serious mental illnesses are common among the homeless population as estimates indicate that more than 25 percent of homeless in the United States live with a mental illness (Bonugli, Escandon, & Lesser, 2013).
• According to Deering, Duff, and Gibson (2011) the lifetime prevalence of homelessness in women was 88 percent, with majority women sleeping on the streets starting at age 17.
• Rates of a mental illness among women are higher than that of men even though there is estimated to be more homeless men than women (Bonugli et al., 2013; Deering et al., 2011).
• Among homeless women living with a mental illness, lifestyle, gender, high-risk behaviors, and exposure to stressful life events are risk factors associated with susceptibility. For women who live with this stigma, the risks of
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Homeless women also experience multiple barriers to accessing health care and services that help reduce this type of behavior (Deering et al., p. 2, 2011).
• Lifelong estimations of physical and sexual abuse among homeless women with mental health related problems ranging between 51 and 97 percent, leading many researchers to suggest that society perceives this abuse as a normal experience for homeless women (Bonugli et al., 2013). Homeless women bartering sex for money, cigarettes and/or drugs only allows society to stigmatize the women further. This stigma and victimization can lead to high numbers of depressed and suicidal women who are living with a mental illness while homeless (Deering et al., 2011).
• The women in the study defined victimization as any clear act of physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual behavior perpetrated against the individual without consent, resulting in distress (Bonugli et al.,