Whitley M P, Osborne O H, Godfrey M A, Johnston K
Soc Sci Med. 1985;20(6):579-83. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90396-x.
Since the 1960s the bulk of America's mentally ill have been deinstitutionalized to the community. A number of these people now live in the downtown areas of large cities in close association with the established vagrant culture which includes a significant portion of alcohol abusers. The bizarre and impoverished nature of the lives of these formerly institutionalized mentally ill citizens, coupled with their propinquity to government and business establishments, creates a social policy dilemma. A point prevalence study design was used to ascertain the demographic, physical, mental illness and alcohol abuse characteristics of a sample of a vagrant population which inhabits the downtown area of an American Northwest urban community. Analysis of the data of a sample of vagrants who frequent an emergency shelter and a single residence occupancy hotel demonstrated that the two groups were similar. Participants were predominantly male, white and in their mid thirties. Forty percent had never married and over 50% were high school educated and possess labor skills. Grouped data indicates that, in view of the dearth of literature describing the relationship of mentally illness and alcohol abuse, the psychiatric and alcohol use behavior of deinstitutionalized populations requires further study.
自20世纪60年代以来，美国的大多数精神病患者都从医疗机构走向了社区。现在，这些人中的许多人生活在大城市的市中心地区，与既有的流浪文化紧密相连，而这种文化中有相当一部分是酗酒者。这些曾经被收容在医疗机构的精神病患者的生活既怪异又贫困，再加上他们与政府和商业机构的临近，这就造成了一个社会政策困境。采用现况调查研究设计来确定居住在美国西北部一个城市社区市中心地区的流浪人群样本的人口统计学特征、身体状况、精神疾病及酒精滥用特征。对经常光顾一个应急避难所和一家单人居住酒店的流浪人员样本数据的分析表明，这两组人相似。参与者主要是35岁左右的白人男性。40%的人从未结婚，超过50%的人接受过高中教育并具备劳动技能。汇总数据表明，鉴于描述精神疾病与酒精滥用关系的文献匮乏，非机构化人群的精神疾病和饮酒行为需要进一步研究。
