Are homeless people genuinely in need?

Sorry Frank I really wasn't intending to try to hit close to home with my remarks.

Now I think I do kind of recall you talking about your journey with mental illness in the past here.

But when I was writing my post about you in this Thread I was referring to you in a Steve Martin-esque tone of
your " one wild and crazy guy

Frank's apparently blocked out the times you both stripped down and snuggled to preserve body heat.


(I'm guessing you were the big spoon.)

Whitacre used to take over your spot's on a regular basis in his clapped out transit. Every time you saw him there you would say: Claude Van......Dam!

So ... are we clear now? Did that clarify the issue for you? lol

Yes and many medical professionals have indubitably profited to extraordinary degrees because of the latter !!

Couldn't have said it better, myself. :-)

Cheers. - Frank

I believe people with intelligence chose not to get circumcised, do you know what I am alluding to?

I don't think that is so shocking. Are these people already receiving food stamps and medicaid and ADC, etc? There were many "tent cities" after the economy crashed - they were all over the country and people bought their own tents.

If I had absolutely nowhere to stay - a tent would be a step up. I don't mean that in a heartless way - but there are limits to what you can do. Saying "we should not limit help to the poor" sounds great but where does all that help come from?

Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe the many hundreds of veterans with PTSD that I have come into contact with over the past 5 decades of being immersed in the VA treatment protocol.

Does that work for you???
There you go with that 'thinking,' again. Until you learn how to accomplish that effectively, I would try to hold that to an absolute minimum. Less chance of getting in trouble or looking ridiculous.

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I took a 4 hour break and drove down to Wildwood with the top down and had a quite delicious lunch. That's what I do to treat my mental illness as opposed to taking drugs. It works infinitely, better! :-)

I've been smiling, all day. Howzabout you???

Cheers. - Frank

Sigh...where to start.

I was calling "B.S." on your assumptions that 1) many homeless people are in that situation because they've been denied services by calloused, uncaring therapists who don't want to treat them and 2) that they don't want to treat them due to the "inevitable counter-transference".

There very well may be a lot of individuals in your Canadian city that aren't receiving the services they need - I don't know the Canadian mental health system.

Also, many individuals with borderline PD and histrionic PD weren't abused (which you would know if you had advanced training in clinical psychology or a related field). A history of some sort of abuse is fairly common with BPD, but it's not always the case. And many individuals who suffered abuse in childhood don't develop BPD or any other personality disorder. They certainly have a greater risk of developing some type of mental health disorder, especially if they're already predisposed or at risk due to other factors, but that still doesn't mean they will.

Here in the U.S., histrionic PD isn't a diagnosis that's covered by the vast majority of, if any, insurance plans (so, no, those individuals often aren't going to get treatment, unless they have a covered comorbid disorder or want to pay for treatment out of pocket). In fact, out of all the personality disorders, BPD is the only one that's usually considered a covered diagnosis. Partly because some types of treatment, particularly DBT, have been found to be consistently effective to a reasonable degree, and partly because they are such high users of the system and especially high risk clients (in terms of suicidal and other forms of self harm behavior). Therapy isn't a "cure" for BPD, but it can significantly reduce the problems inherent in the disorder.

For other personality disorders, intensive long term treatment is almost always required to make any noticeable difference, and, unlike BPD, individuals with other personality disorders aren't high users of the mental health system. In fact, most don't seek treatment at all unless a loved one pushes them to do so (or they're seeking treatment for a comorbid disorder, such as depression). Most people don't have the resources to pay out of pocket for intensive long-term treatment, not to mention the motivation to get treatment even if they can afford it (if a personality disorder is the primary issue, at least).

Another thing you need to consider is that individuals with BPD also sometimes play their own role in not getting the help they need (including not wanting treatment), due to aspects of the disorder. You simply can't blame everything on therapists turning them away or the system in general, which is also why I take issue with your statements.

Are many BPD individuals getting denied treatment where you live? Maybe they are. But again, I highly doubt it's due primarily or even to any significant degree to therapists' not wanting to deal with counter-transference (which, again, can happen with all types of clients, not just those with BPD - which is another reason your argument falls flat on its face). Individuals with BPD are often difficult clients, but potential counter-transference is only one of many reasons.

If you're going to make an argument, at least make one that's valid and not merely based on loose assumptions because that's how things appear to you. Appearances don't give the real story.