Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T17:42:47.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Untreated schizophrenia in hostels for the homeless: a cause for concern?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. Marshall  and
M. Sharpe
M. Marshall
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
M. Sharpe
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We report two cases from a study of Oxford hostels for the homeless of patients who were suffering from schizophrenia and are not receiving medication. After compulsory admission to hospital and treatment both showed a dramatic improvement in behaviour which was confirmed by a standardised rating scale. We discuss how hostels for the homeless have become both asylums and traps for those who suffer from schizophrenia and conclude that doctors should not under-estimate the potential benefit of anti-psychotic drug therapy even in homeless people with chronic psychosis.

Type
Original articles
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 16 - 17
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1993

References

Baker, R. & Hall, J. N. (1988) REHAB: A new assessment instrument for chronic psychiatric patients. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 14, 97–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, J. (1979) Providing for the destitute. In Community Care for the Mentally Disabled (eds. Wing, J. K. and Olsen, R.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, M. (1989) Collected and neglected: Are Oxford hostels for the homeless filling up with disabled psychiatric patients? British Medical Journal, 299, 706–709.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Priest, R. G. (1976) The homeless person and the psychiatric services: an Edinburgh study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 10, 233–235.Google Scholar
Timms, P. W. & Fry, A. H. (1989) Homelessness and mental illness. Health Trends, 21, 70–71.Google ScholarPubMed
Weller, M. Tobiansky, R. I., Hollander, D. & Ibranhimi, S. (1989) Psychosis and destitution at Christmas 1985–1988. Lancet, ii, 1509–1511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.