Interventions for the Unhoused Individual with Schizophrenia: A Civilized Plan
Interventions for the Unhoused Individual with Schizophrenia: A Civilized Plan
Charles L. Scott
March 21, 2025
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
This article provides an overview of individuals with schizophrenia who become unhoused and explores current approaches to managing this severe illness in those who often do not want care or believe they need it. Individuals with schizophrenia and who are unhoused face numerous adverse consequences including premature mortality and increased rates of suicide. There is a dearth of research evidence demonstrating efficacy of the Housing First (HF) model and harm reduction approach in decreasing psychotic symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia. Ensuring medication adherence in individuals with psychosis, both housed and unhoused, is important to prevent delays in untreated psychosis and chronic deterioration.
Even though I am always telling people about what I see through my stories, only when I was watching my friend pray did I make a connection. I realized that I’ve been referencing a painting featuring Phillippe Pinel unshackling a mental patient from chains in 1876, but weirdly this was the first time I asked, “isn’t this the same mythology”? We’d have to ask Freud why I repressed this parallel. Maybe because it is just too much to bear-the fact that mental health wards 250 years later are worse- so it has never really consciously occurred to me.
