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Preferred term

mental illness and health  

Definition

  • The upsurge of homelessness in the United States and other western countries since the late 1970s has stimulated a new level of concern about mental illness in homeless people. In earlier times, the chronic alcoholic stereotype often pervaded discussions of homelessness, leading to negative labels such as “wino” and “skid row bum.” The more recent focus on mental illness in homeless people was occasioned by their high visibility since the 1980s in major American and European cities, and by the public perception that many homeless people were seriously disabled by mental illness. [Source: Encyclopedia of Homelessness; Mental Illness and Health]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/mental_illness_and_health

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