Being homeless is destabilizing, demoralizing and depressing. Youve lost your base, a foundation from which to function. It becomes hard to focus. Constant obstacles chip away at your self-esteem and your healthy personality withers, disintegrates, scatters.

What is the pain of being homeless?

A quarter of people experiencing homelessness have been suffering from chronic pain for over 10 years. The relationship between chronic pain and homelessness is a hugely complex issue. Physical pain is damaging to mental health and mental health issues limit peoples ability to manage chronic pain.

What type of person is homeless?

A person who spends more than a year on the street without any periods of housing during that time is usually considered chronically homeless. Less than one-third of people who are homeless at any point in time could be considered chronically homeless.

Does homelessness cause depression?

Rates of mental illness among people who are homeless in the United States are twice the rate found for the general population (Bassuk et al., 1998). 47 percent of homeless women meet the criteria for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder—twice the rate of women in general (Buckner, Beardslee, & Bassuk, 2004).