Question

Define deinstitutionalization and discuss the social impact of this process. How is deinstitutionalization linked to homelessness?

Answer 1

By discharging people from public psychiatric hospitals without ensuring that they received the medication and rehabilitation services necessary for them to live successfully in the community, deinstitutionalization has led to the creation the mental illness crisis. Deinstitutionalization further exacerbated the situation as once the public psychiatric beds were closed they were not available to people who suffered from mental illness and needed them badly. Thus the lack of planning for structured living arrangements and adequate treatment and rehabilitative services deinstitutionalization led to homelessness of the mentally ill people.