1st Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, Greece.
Department of Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Athens, Greece
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2014 Sep;60(6):544-53. doi: 10.1177/0020764013503150. Epub 2013 Oct 1.
Homelessness, a worldwide psychosocial phenomenon, is now also prevalent in Greece, mainly in Athens area.
The possible psychiatric morbidity related to help-seeking and the underlying factors were explored in a sample of 254 homeless people from Greater Athens area, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.).
The sample was predominantly male (74%) with mean age of 51 years, being in their majority homeless for over 25 months, 34.3% of them living in rough sleeping places. Overall, 56.7% of the sample met the criteria for a current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) psychiatric disorder with 20.8% comorbidity. Only 36.2% of the identified psychiatric cases had any recent psychiatric care, while 44.4% were taking non-prescribed medication and 20.2% have been hospitalized in the last year. On the contrary, 70% of alcohol- and drug-dependent persons have been treated in a psychiatric agency, while 60.0% of them participated in rehabilitation program the last year. Logistic regression analysis revealed that being older, more educated with longer duration of homelessness, recognizing the suffering from a psychiatric problem as well as being diagnosed as 'psychotic' increased the likelihood to seek help.
The vast majority of the homeless mentally ill persons were lacking any current psychiatric care. The planning of a mental health-care delivery parallel to the existing social welfare system is needed to serve the unmet mental health needs of this population.
无家可归是一种全球性的社会心理现象，现在在希腊也很普遍，主要集中在雅典地区。
在对来自大雅典地区的 254 名无家可归者的样本中，使用迷你国际神经精神访谈 (MINI) 探讨了与寻求帮助相关的可能精神发病情况和潜在因素。
该样本主要为男性（74%），平均年龄为 51 岁，其中大多数人无家可归超过 25 个月，34.3%的人住在简陋的睡觉场所。总体而言，该样本中 56.7%的人符合《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》第四版（DSM-IV）精神障碍的标准，其中 20.8%的人存在共病。只有 36.2%的确诊精神病例最近接受过任何精神科护理，而 44.4%的人正在服用非处方药物，20.2%的人在过去一年中住院治疗过。相反，70%的酒精和药物依赖者在精神病机构接受过治疗，而 60.0%的人在过去一年中参加过康复计划。逻辑回归分析显示，年龄较大、受教育程度较高、无家可归时间较长、认识到自己存在精神问题以及被诊断为“精神病”的人，更有可能寻求帮助。
绝大多数患有精神疾病的无家可归者都没有接受过任何当前的精神科护理。需要规划一种与现有的社会福利制度并行的精神卫生保健服务，以满足这一人群未满足的精神卫生需求。
