Psychological Effects Of Homelessness

Helping Out the Homeless A fact by Megan Elliott states that fourteen percent of the United States homeless population lives within New York City (Elliott). Homelessness can be defined as a person that are living without a home. With that many homeless people living in one city, diseases and colds can spread like wildfire. People that are living on the streets fight everyday just to stay alive and healthy on a day to day basis. With many displaced people living within big cities, not many of them have access to medical care. There should be more medical programs that are structured for homeless people. However, many people think that desolated people cannot afford the costs of these types of medical programs. Although many people think that

A statistic by “Homelessness” states that some psychological effects that homeless people can suffer from include: loss of self esteem, the development of behavioral problems, and an increased chance of entering the criminal justice system (Homelessness). This statistic shows how devastating homelessness can be to a person. Once these people start developing bad behavioral problems, then starts a twisted cycle of working themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. Another statistic by the American Psychological Association (APA) states that half of school age homeless children experience problems with depression and anxiety (Effects of Poverty…). This piece of information provides different examples of psychological effects that can affect people living on the streets. It also provides a different demographics of people and how different psychological problems affect the youth. One final statistic from APA states that unaccompanied youth are often more likely to grapple with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD (Effects of Poverty…). This statistic provides shocking information about what children that are homeless have to deal with on a daily basis. No child should have PTSD at a young age, because most of these conditions can be prevented if organizations were set up to help children with certain psychological conditions. A quote by Paul Dano states that “The world of the homeless is a tough and interesting world.” (Paul Dano Quotes). This quote explains how nobody really knows what homeless people have to deal with until a person becomes homeless. This quote also explains what devastating effects homelessness has on a person’s brain. Due to the terrible psychological effects homelessness can have on a person, there should be medical programs to help those in