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originally posted by: th3dudeabides
a reply to: KyoZero
I help each month at a local homeless shelter. What I see is epidemic of cyclical mental illness. The homeless I see should all be in treatment of one sort or another. ..
originally posted by: FyreByrd
originally posted by: Meldionne1
You can go ahead and shoot me for saying this.....BUT....I personally don't feel any moral obligation to ANYONE ( homeless or not) who's cheating the system at the tax payers expense.
Cheating the system - in what ways might you cheat the system, everybody does it. Do you somehow cheat on your taxes, do you drive over the speed limit? However, you may justify it, everybody tries to game the system.[/quote)
No I don't speed and no I don't cheat on my taxs...also,got audited on my taxs twice and had all the receipts to prove my write offs...I am legit, and don't like when people "play " suicidal just because....
originally posted by: swanne
In my opinion, food and shelter should be not be privileges. They should be rights.
originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
Housing should be a right.
originally posted by: buster2010
Yes everyone does deserve a place to live. Right now we have enough empty houses in America that we can get rid of the homeless overnight.
It may be like a cancer but the true cancer is unregulated capitalism and it has destroyed this nation. It is because of this that we have so many homeless now. Many people lost their jobs and were unable to find another one because of the jobs moving out of the country.
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
Caring about it should always happen. But one issue we do have is that, from an aid perspective, there is no way to distinguish between those who choose to be homeless vs those who are victims of it.
originally posted by: Tangerine
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
Caring about it should always happen. But one issue we do have is that, from an aid perspective, there is no way to distinguish between those who choose to be homeless vs those who are victims of it.
Surely, you can determine whether the individuals are seriously mentally ill, drug addicted or alcoholics and whether they've been run through the system multiple times, right?
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Tangerine
A quick google will clear up SSRI's better than me typing several paragraphs. MHMR = Mental Health Mental Retardation
Society has a right to remove people from the streets that pose a risk to themselves or others. Being insane...nothing wrong with that. Acting a little crazy? Nothing wrong with that, either. Putting yourself/others at risk? That is where the line is crossed, and we must act compassionately to help them.
I have seen quite a few times where someone behaved, while seriously decompensated and psychotic, in a manner that was shocking and embarassing to them once they regained some sanity. That creates another issue they have to deal with.
The other option is, you have a mentally ill guy with a spoon that get shot by a cop who thinks its a knife.
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
originally posted by: Tangerine
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
Caring about it should always happen. But one issue we do have is that, from an aid perspective, there is no way to distinguish between those who choose to be homeless vs those who are victims of it.
Surely, you can determine whether the individuals are seriously mentally ill, drug addicted or alcoholics and whether they've been run through the system multiple times, right?
You would like to think you can....
....but you can't. Determine if someone is a drug addict is easy. They detox. Most folks, when triaged, will tell you their indiscretions.
I worked in acute care admissions for 5 years at a state mental hospital. What did me in was a guy who had a drug induced psychosis. I had to literally fight with him for a week. I was the biggest guy on the unit, and he was a 6'7" giant. Once we got a few pounds on him, and got him cleared, he straightened out (and was actually a pretty good guy). We released him to a halfway house. He lost some weight, his psychosis returned. I got to fight with him for another week.
I had never had a patient actually do that. I could not physically control him to a degree that I could provide for my own safety.
Drug users can be every bit as mentally ill. Matter of fact, often times mentally ill folks will use drugs to self medicate.