The Schizophrenic homeless are overlooked or ignored by society. At least 200,000 of the estimated 600,000 homeless suffer from either schizophrenia or a manic-depressive illness. Many people think that it is there life and we have no right to interfere with it, but many times their condition blocks them from being able decide to get help with their condition.
Additionally many of them lack any family support that could guide them to find help or simple don't have family at all. The fact that at the current time there are at least twice as many people with untreated mental disorders living on the streets than there are people getting treatment in hospitals, shows us that we need to do more about these people. Since many of these people would probably benefit from at least some kind of minimal efforts of help, we should not cast them off the sympathetic eye.
In reality helping the Schizophrenic homeless, may really be easier than it would be thought, depending on your perspective. It is true that many could be suffering from one relapse after another, but when a patient is at such a low point, it doesn't take much to bring them up to some kind of improvement.
By helping them make relationships with other people and helping them to be able to acquire some sort of basic necessity, it can improve the quality of their life, since it is unlikely for them to receive the years of psychiatric therapy and medicine that is usually required to help someone with schizophrenia. It will take time to help these individuals, and the involvement of the community and various psychiatric groups and people that care. With involvement we can hope for a better future ahead to help them.
