On a Slightly Different Note (& By Special Request)

   As most know by now, I am a co-admin/moderator for a Facebook page that helps others with "invisible illnesses" as well as helps loved ones, friends, family members learn what these illness are and help them try to understand what life is really like for us to live with these illnesses.  We also help raise awareness of these illnesses with conjunction with several other pages. I was asked a few days ago by someone who is kind of part of our community how a homeless person "gets" mentally ill (mental illness is also included in our realm of the "invisible").  I explained that no one "gets" mentally ill, but sometimes one can become homeless as the result of their illness.   The same holds true for many illness.  I would also fully respond to their question in one of my blogs after doing more research into it (even though I thought I knew how to answer it, but at the risk of plagiarizing myself, I'd go back through previous research, do a bit more digging, and, well, here it is).  A few things worth noting:  It is a little on the long side because I wanted to do the topic justice instead of just glossing over it, I made a few assumptions before I started the research and was shockingly proved wrong (never assume people!), and if any of my professors just happen to read this, it's not properly cited, but all of my references are found at the bottom of the page. 
     As I stated before, people don't "get" or "catch" a mental illness like you would the flu or a common cold.  It's something that's built into your genetic code, but just because someone might be genetically predisposed to a mental illness does not guarantee that they will develop one during their lifetime.  Other factors play into it such as their environment and social surroundings (think biopsychosocial model).  As far as I could find out, there aren't any genetic tests to find out who has a predisposition to what, but think of it this way (an analogy from a former psychology professor)--if someone has a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and knows it, the LAST thing they're going to want to do is LSD or any other mind altering drug.  Sure, they may have a few fantastic trips, but odds are, there will be that one trip that triggers the disease (the gun is loaded [genes], the person is playing Russian roulette by using drugs like that, and eventually, the bullet will fire).  That's just a simplified example, but it doesn't always happen that way.  It would be like saying every child of an addict or alcoholic becomes one themselves.
       The age of onset also varies.  The most common ages for most mental illnesses are during adolescence and post-adolescence because that's when the body's hormone levels are changing the most. 
     This is where my research got a bit interesting.  In the United States, the national average (and I checked out over 2 dozen studies, but only cited one here) population of mentally ill homeless is only about 200,000 people.  I expected the numbers to be much higher considering the number of homeless in our nation.  In doing further research, I discovered why the numbers are so low: about 10% of our prison population have some form of mental illness.  This leads to what is known as a criminal/mental revolving door policy.  While an inmate is serving their time, they receive the help he or she needs and begin to get better.  Unfortunately, once released from jail or prison, that person does not have the resources to continue with their treatment and fall back into their old ways (or find a way to be sent back to prison on purpose).  I rarely insert my opinions when doing research, but out of all the psychological research and papers I have ever written, I found this the most surprising and saddening.
    There is also another revolving door in place and it's not just in our country, but in other countries as well.  It involves insurance companies and their coverage of mental health.  It's easier to pay out for psychotropic drugs than it is to pay for hospitalizations or therapy sessions.  In some cases, the only solution is medication, but in some, temporary medication in combination with hospitalization followed by therapy works.  Or medication with therapy.  Or just therapy.  But what happens too often is patients with severe forms of mental illnesses begin to feel like they are fine, stop taking their medications (or insurance denies coverage), end up hospitalized and are released too soon (again, the result of insurance and not the trained medical staff).  While taking medication is up to the patient, the decision about who needs what and how important it is and whether it should happen should be the doctor's choice, not the insurance company.  The sad fact is, too many patients are not receiving the quality of care they deserve as the result of a company's bottom line instead of a human beings well being.  The result of which in many cases leads a patient into and out of hospitals on a regular basis.

Faraone, S. V., Tsuang, M. T., & Tsuang, D. W. (2001). Genetics of mental disorders: what practitioners and students need to know. (1 ed.). Guillford Press.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/meeting-mental-health-challenge-k05haqq-154259065.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/21/opinion/to-stop-mental-health-s-revolving-door.html

Brampton, S. (2008). Shoot the damn dog: A memoir of depression. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.