Abstract
Entitled “From Hospitals to Street Corners: The History of the Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill,” the intended research topic of this paper is the history of deinstitutionalization. By definition, it is the movement of the mentally ill from large state institutions/hospitals to smaller, community-based centers. Specifically, the paper is going to focus on the steps toward deinstitutionalization as well as both the causes and effects of it. It is said that there are both negative and positive effects, but one in particular that I would like to delve deeper into is the effect of deinstitutionalization on homelessness. In addition, the paper is also going to include the government’s role in deinstitutionalization and the legislature that has been passed such as JFK’s Community Mental Health Act. As a whole, the research paper is going to revolve around the many aspects of deinstitutionalization. The methods that will be used include various books, articles, government reports, and psychological experiments and studies. By writing this, I hope to learn more about the process of deinstitutionalization, as it is still going on even today. I also intend on gaining more insight about the mentally ill homeless, who unfortunately make up a very large number of the total homeless individuals not only in New York City, but also in the country.
Annotated Bibliography
Folsom, David P., William Hawthorne, Laurie Lindamer, Todd Gilmer, and Anne Bailey. “Prevalence and Risk Factors for Homelessness and Utilization of Mental Health Services Among 10,340 Patients With Serious Mental Illness in a Large Public Mental Health System.” The American Journal of Psychiatry 1 Feb. 2005: n. pag. Psychiatry Online. Web. 8 Sept. 2012.
This work is a psychological study performed by a group that wanted to see what the prevalence rate and risk factors among all those treated for serious mental illnesses over the course of a year would be. They collected their data from San Diego County because of its size and ethnic diversity. The method section of the study explains how the experiment was done and the results explain what the experiments got out of the experiment. In this study, the prevalence rate turned out to be 15%. Although it is only one study, it is how they are typically done. It relates to my research paper because it draws a connection between mental health and the homeless. In this case, it was been the homeless and schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and substance abuse.
Gerdes, Louise I.. The Homeless: Opposing Viewpoints. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Print.
This work is about a variety of different topics having to do with homelessness including the causes of it, whether the government can help to reduce the number of homeless living on the streets, the issue of whether housing is a human right or not, and even whether the mentally ill are vulnerable to becoming homeless or not. They are all going to be useful for this paper, however I am going to find the bulk of my information from this book in the chapter on mental illness. The reason I am going to use this source is because it has opposing viewpoints. Reading about both sides of an argument is a crucial part in understanding the argument. Therefore, I am going to use both viewpoints to form my own opinion, which will be inherent in my work. This book relates to my work because it has many useful statistics that will be used to support my thesis statement. For example, according to the Harvard Mental Health Letter, “…about a quarter to a third of the homeless have a serious mental illness – usually schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or severe depression – and the proportion is growing.” By using this book, I hope to include both sides of my argument into my paper to some extent.
Heller, Nina Rovinelli, and Alex Gitterman. “Homelessness and its effects.” Mental health and social problems: a social work perspective. London: Routledge, 2011. 110-132. Print.
In this chapter, Rovinelli and Gitterman not only define homelessness but also address “…the bidirectional relationships among complicated conditions such as trauma, trauma responses to homelessness and mental illness.” They describe this trauma suffered by the homeless as a cycle of opportunity and disappointment. For example, a homeless person may get an opportunity for a job interview, but will not be able to take the job due to the inability to provide the job with an address. It is the constant false hope followed by disappointment that causes their minds to mentally stop working properly. The chapter also goes into detail and explains the social, economic, and political factors that together impact homelessness. It relates to my work because it has a section about federal policy and programs that were enacted to help the homeless. The McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (1987) and the Bringing America Home Act (BAHA) are just two of the many that are written about. In addition to all of this, President Barack Obama’s campaign messages are even written about in the book because it is so recent. This will allow for the paper to include current issues that the country is facing right now. At the end of the chapter, there is a reference page through which I am hoping to find some other interesting sources for this paper.
Homelessness in New York State: A Report to the Governor and the Legislature. New York City: New York State Department of Social Services, 1984. Print.
This work is a government report divided into two parts about homelessness in the state of New York in the 1980’s. Part I has demographics and different kinds of statistics on every page of the report. There is an entire section devoted to mental illness and deinstitutionalization, which states, “…a third of the single people in its (HRA) shelters had previously been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment. There is even a section for alcoholism and drug abuse, which can be considered “mental illnesses” under substance abuse disorders. Part II is about the opportunities (mainly housing opportunities) available to assist the homeless. This relates to my work in a way that books do not because of the fact that it is a government report. In the appendix, there are charts, tables, and even maps that have a lot of useful information. One statistic that would benefit my paper is that in 1984 in New York City there were 7,220 homeless people. Out of that group, 2,380 were mentally disabled and 2,374 were abusing drugs and alcohol. Together, that makes up more than half of the group thus showing how strong the connection between mental health and homelessness is. Although the statistics are from as far back as thirty years ago, it will be interesting to compare how things were then in relation to how they are now.
Redburn, F. Stevens, and Terry F. Buss. Responding to America’s homeless: public policy alternatives. New York: Praeger, 1986. Print.
In this work, Redburn and Buss explain homelessness in two parts. Part I answers the questions “Who are the homeless?” and “How did they get that way?” Like the government report that has a section devoted to the homeless with mental disorders, there is a chapter devoted solely to the mentally ill homeless in this book, too. The author begins by stating a valid fact, that most Americans see homeless people as having something wrong with them because of their clothing, behavior (eating from garbage cans, sleeping in parks, etc.), and mannerisms. Interestingly enough, many of those who act disturbed are merely products of their environments; there is nothing abnormal or wrong about them. This chapter is useful because it not only contains information but it also has a psychological study in it, called the Ohio Study. Developed by Robert Spitzer in 1970, it was a study in which the homeless were measured to see how mentally healthy or ill they were. Part II has more to do with the legal and legislative parts of this paper, as it is about public policy. Both parts relate to my paper because I am looking to include a lot about the stereotype that all homeless individuals are mentally disturbed as well as public policy and how it has been changing over time.
