European Psychiatry - Volume 41 - April 2017

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25th European Congress of Psychiatry / European Psychiatry 41S (2017) S6–S7 S7
State of the art: identifying and managing mental
health needs of homeless individuals
SOA003
Identifying and managing mental
health needs of homeless individuals
D. Bhugra
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Ne, London, United Kingdom
The economic downturn worldwide since 2008 has raised many
issues, including an increase in homelessness. Individuals who are
homeless are visible across the globe. Definitions of homelessness
also vary. Living on the streets in all kinds of inclement weather,
brings a different set of issues and problems including physical and
mental illnesses. Here homelessness is defined as a lack of cus-
tomary regular access to a conventional dwelling unit. It has been
shown in several studies that nearly half were either depressed or
had substance use disorders and half had traumatic brain injury.
Homelessness is a social issue and the role of the psychiatrist in
reaching these vulnerable individuals is a matter of critical impor-
tance. In the UK health services are geographically delineated
making it more difficult for ‘out of area’ individuals to get help.
The responsibility for looking after people who are homeless, have
mental illness or physical co-morbidity, lies with policymakers as
well. As clinicians we must advocate for vulnerable patients and
psychiatry care needs to be in a joined-up manner. Early interven-
tions and home treatments where and if available are suitable and
can be effective but are often linked with secure addresses. Policies
must take into account huge variations across cultures and societies
and the contributions that unemployment and poverty can play
in increasing homelessness. Whether psychiatric disorders lead to
homelessness and whether homelessness leads to mental illness is
a circular argument and this vicious downward spiral needs to be
broken by adequate care and policy support.
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.
State of the art: social media and e-mental health
SOA004
Social media and e-mental health
M. Krausz
Addiction, West Vancouver, Canada
Mental health services worldwide are only able to serve a minor-
ity of patients. Expert advice is in most cases not accessible even
in developed countries with a functioning mental health care sys-
tem. Threshold to care are high and the time between first critical
developments and symptoms and first professional interventions
is long, sometimes several years.
The evolving communication tools through social media and web-
based services may provide new and exciting opportunities to
change that. Especially young people have a different approach
to interact, learn and access services through the Internet. The
momentum there is as crucial as it is in education. Our mental
health care system in all its components will most likely very dif-
ferent than today. E mental health will be an integrated component
contributing to more capacity, higher quality of care and better
accessibility.
What is the key in developing new tools and what can today’s cli-
nicians and researchers do to be an active partner in this process?
What are themajor concerns and how shouldwe address themalso
as professional organization? This may be an opportunity of a life-
time for a paradigm shift. Its success relates to good integration and
implementation of these exciting tools to create a new continuum
of tools addressing a continuum of needs.
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.