![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976944.1721898750!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Calgary study suggests mental health disorders and homelessness closely linked
New research out of the University of Calgary shows an extremely prominent link between mental health disorders and people experiencing homelessness.
According to the paper, up to 75 per cent of adults who are currently living rough have an underlying mental health condition.
The lifetime prevalence is even higher: 86 per cent of males have struggled with a disorder, and 69 per cent of females.
Clinician-researcher and senior author of the paper, Dr. Dallas Seitz, calls the numbers "eye-opening."
"I would say it's not surprising, but it's probably still shocking to see," he told CTV News.
"We all kind of intuitively know (there’s a connection). I think what was really surprising to me is the extent of it (and) how consistent it was across the world."
Seitz says the researchers reviewed studies from 1980 to 2021 focused on things like antisocial personality disorder, major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
"Those serious mental health conditions are much higher amongst people experiencing homelessness when compared to the general population," Seitz said. "About eight times higher."
Darren Houle was without a permanent home for almost two years.
He says he’s suffered from mental health concerns for much of his life, and they were exacerbated being out on the street.
"It’s hard to have everything — a big, beautiful home, a family, a job, your livelihood on your hands — to have it taken away so fast," he said.
Those problems were compounded by drug and alcohol use.
Houle was able to escape the cycle and his addictions with the help of his family and the Calgary Mustard Seed.
He says therapy and counselling went a long way.
"It made me figure out who I was, my problems and how to address them," he said. "It paved the way for me to better myself."
He’s been sober for two years and now lives in an affordable housing unit, looking for construction work.
"Because I wanted to be a better role model for my son," Houle said. "That’s the most important thing for me."
"When we are able to support people and give them appropriate treatments, we see their functioning improves," Seitz said. "They're better able to get into the workforce and get grounded."
The findings are published in JAMA Psychiatry.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
BREAKING Loblaw, George Weston to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500-million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.