Why Are So Many Veterans Homeless?

Shad Meshad, Brain Injury Journey Magazine
Why Are So Many Veterans Homeless?

I met my first homeless vets on the streets of Los Angeles in 1971. I’d just returned from Vietnam where I’d served as a psychiatric social worker in the Army. No more Captain’s bars for me. I had wild hair, a bushy mustache, and an attitude, so I fit right in.

Initially I’d been asked to find out why veterans were not using the VA Center for their healthcare, but my interactions with these vets, all of us lost in one way or another, changed the course for me. Those were dark times, shadowed by what we’d seen and done in the war. Some vets brought all that horror home, re-living it episode by episode, riding that long escalator down into despair and chronic homelessness.

It wasn’t until 1980 that PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, made it into the DSM manual. By then, of course, I’d been seeing and documenting its effects while trying to deal with them for over nine years. To this day our National Veterans Foundation (NVF) Outreach van still serves Vietnam veterans in communities of homeless under bridges, in abandoned lots, alongside riverbanks, any place we find them. Now we’re seeing more and more vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. These vets often have PTSD, but many have also had a TBI or traumatic brain injury. As you probably know, TBIs are so prevalent they’re called the signature wound of these two long-running wars.

Not only do we need to focus on getting our vets the correct diagnoses and then the right treatment, we have to look at the larger picture, at all the elements that come together to build a life. Education is one of them; others are medical care, gainful employment, and meaningful social contact.

The VA is by now familiar with PTSD, its symptoms and its effects. However, because the symptoms of PTSD and TBI are similar and often overlap, PTSD can be the initial incorrect or incomplete diagnosis where TBI is present. Both these conditions can manifest as depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability, aggression, and increasing social isolation. But TBI can also include memory loss, migraines, seizures, problems with language, and trouble making what might seem like simple decisions. Vets with brain injury need different treatment.

Homelessness and brain injury

What’s this got to do with homelessness? Just this: the VA’s first large-scale study of homeless veterans, released in 2012, found that over half of the newly homeless diagnosed with mental disorders had received that diagnosis before homelessness. The VA’s Inspector General (IG) said, “Presence of mental disorders (substance-related disorders and/or mental illness) is the strongest predictor of becoming homeless after discharge from active duty.”

That’s from the horse’s mouth. Strongest predictor. It gets worse. Here’s the IG later in the same report: “…about half of the newly homeless occurred after 3 years discharged from active duty.” So what we’re looking at is vets returning home, trying to transition back into civilian life—jobs, school, families—while they’re dealing with the effects of PTSD and/or TBI. Say they give it three years. And then, for many, the wheels come off.

It looks to me like homelessness is the last stop on this PTSD/TBI train ride, not the first.

The NVF employs veterans as peer counselors on our crisis hotline. Three of our best counselors have had extensive combat experience: one has two combat tours in Iraq; the second, four combat tours in Iraq; and the third (who’s returned to military duty), four combat tours — two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. A total of ten tours, all of them “outside the wire.” The first two counselors were diagnosed with PTSD and TBI; the third counselor’s PTSD was expressed in aggression. All of them found that when they came home, they couldn’t turn off the hypervigilance that had served them so well in the combat zone. The result: a quick-to-rise edginess, a dislike of crowds, sleeplessness, difficulty controlling emotion when they perceived a threat. Another side to the hypervigilance is the havoc it plays with the body, in a constant state of heightened alertness.

I think a key factor in their successful transition back into civilian life was employment. See what I mean? A problem this size has many parts. Not only do we need to focus on getting our vets the correct diagnoses and then the right treatment, we have to look at the larger picture, at all the elements that come together to build a life. Education is one of them; others are medical care, gainful employment, and meaningful social contact. The VA now has a special section targeting homeless vets that is staffed by previously homeless vets. That’s the model the NVF has used for decades because it works: vet to vet.

Brain injuries require integrated care

The injured brain takes time to adjust to the effects of the injury. And as for diagnosis and treatment, no one size fits all. Each traumatic brain injury is unique in itself, not to mention that no human is a copy of another. What’s needed is patience, and coordinated care. Maybe a better word is integrated care. There are many agencies for the homeless and community-based organizations for vets, all trying to re-invent the same wheel. Wouldn’t it make more sense to coordinate these efforts to make better use of our financial and human resources? The VA is a place to start and they’re trying, but their size and the overwhelming number of vets waiting for care makes me think we’d better start working on this from the ground up. A solution from the top down is likely to be further in our future.

Homelessness is what’s in store for far too many of these veterans if we wait. It doesn’t make sense to squander all the talent that resides in these men and women. We need them as contributing members of our society. Allowing them to slip into homelessness or worse because we didn’t provide the care they need to heal from PTSD and TBI is just not an option.

Posted on BrainLine August 13, 2013. Reviewed July 26, 2018.

About the Author
As a U.S. Army Medical Service Officer in Vietnam in 1970, Shad Meshad began pioneering treatment techniques for what would later become known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The founder and co-author of the VA’s Vet Center Program, Meshad founded the National Veterans Foundation (www.nvf.org) in 1985, an organization dedicated to serving Veterans in crisis and bettering the lives of all U.S. Veterans and their family members. The NVF operates a crisis hotline and live chat on their website for veterans of all wars including those on active duty in the current war, in addition to homeless outreach in the Los Angeles area.

Used with permission from Brain Injury Journey magazine, issue #3, Lash & Associates Publishing/Training, Inc.

Comments (7)

Please remember, we are not able to give medical or legal advice. If you have medical concerns, please consult your doctor. All posted comments are the views and opinions of the poster only.

Is there any homeless help for veterans with tbi and ptsd in pa please send any help Or housing solutions
Thanks

I am only going to address TBI. Mr. Meshad, are you aware of Intrepid-2566, a 10 year study done at Walter Reed Army hospital? I would find it strange if you were not. Although NNZ-2566 ultimately did not affect the mortality rate, those who received the drug have recovered better and more than soldiers who received the placebo. You should also be aware that the trial was done at a fraction of the doses now being trialled in Rett syndrome, on children as young as 5. Given the mitigating factors (given at infinitesimal dosages, by IV which diluted the drug and by the fact most were on diuretics which shortened the time the drug was in the body) one would think that another TBI trial would be considered since it is clear to those who study Rett syndrome, that NNZ-2566, now called Trofinetide, can in effect repair, at least to some extent, an injured brain. Neuren Pharmaceuticals has a page devoted to the indication of Trofinetide's use in TBI and concussion. Also, it should be noted that Trofinetide has been shown, in a very short adult Rett syndrome trial, to be effective in adults as old as 45, consider that- a brain that has been damaged for 40+ years showed improvement on small doses of Trofinetide in a very short period-less than a month. The method of disease in the Rett syndrome brain is genetic and therefore when it is approved will mean a lifetime of taking it, but I, personally, find it exciting to think that a brain, where trauma is the causal factor of disorder, might be permanently restored or, at the very least, set a patient on the path to recovery. I am disappointed that a follow up trial is not in the works because I have seen and heard miracles in person and as a veteran I think our soldiers deserve another crack at this.

Homelessness among veterans is and has long been a major issue in the United States. There are many reasons for the high number of homeless vets, such as depression, drug abuse, anxiety disorder in combination with PTSD and TBI.

Shad Meshad worked as a psychiatric social worker and explains in his article “Why Are So Many Veterans Homeless?” his first-hand experiences with the problems of PTSD and TBI. To get veterans out of homelessness and to provide them with the right medical treatment, Shad Meshad writes that “we have to look at … all elements that come together to build a life. Education …, … medical care, gainful employment, and meaningful social contact.” I agree with that statement, and I think that getting proper medical care has a large effect on whether or not the veterans become homeless. During my research of this topic, I came across a survey that stated that providing primary care helped veterans deal better with their mental issues.

Shad Meshad writes that “the VA´s Inspector General said, ‘Presence of mental disorders … is the strongest predictor of becoming homeless after discharge from active duty.’” I strongly agree with that, but I think that financial problems are a major problem for homelessness too. Upon looking at my research, child support arrears especially seem to make it difficult for veterans to integrate back into society.

The author says in the article that “the VA now has a special section targeting homeless vets that is staffed by previously homeless vets.” I believe that this strategy works great because those employees can relate better since they experienced it first-hand. This also provides jobs to those veterans that were previously homeless.

Overall, I agree with all points that Shad Meshad makes in his article. I believe he is very credible because he interacted with veterans experiencing homelessness due to major mental illnesses. My research correlates with the writer´s article, and I think that organizations need to steadily improve their ways of providing assistance for homeless veterans.

I am writing a novel in which an encampment of homeless war vets with PTSD develops on the campus of a prestigious all-girls private boarding school. I want to tell the story through the eyes of the veterans. I would very much appreciate knowing some specific experiences, true experiences of veterans that causes the PTSD and the homelessness. This would enable true empathy on the part of readers. I would respect privacy by not revealing names. My e-mail is stevdav@comcast.net 

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It involves a disenfranchised blind, homeless vet & the forgotten 1930s film goddess

Please have respect for people who gave so much of themselves in the line of duty, and when all the dust settled, found that they had not enough left to carry on with their lives normally... The gap between what they gave and what they deserved is what we the common citizen must fill and that too, many times over. Be grateful people and show it!

I READ PREVIOUS ARTICLES FROM SHAD MESHAD, AND AS ALWAYS HE HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD. IT MUST START NOW, BECAUSE WE DON\'T WANT THE WHEELS TO FALL OFF. WHY CAN\'T THERE BE A \"SHOE CAMP\" WHEN TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE MILITARY, YOU KNOW SIMILAR TO THE \"BOOT CAMP\" PHASE WHEN GOING IN TO DETERMINE WHO CAN MAKE IT WITHIN THE RANKS AND STRAP THE BOOTS ON, THE \"SHOE CAMP\" WILL GET THESE COMBAT AIR, SEA, GROUND SOLDIERS, AND MARINES A PHASE THAT THE MUST COMPLETE PRIOR TO EXITING THE RANKS THAT GIVES THEM SOME THE PROPER SET OF DIAGNOSIS BASED ON THEIR EXPERIENCE AND EXPOSURE WITH THEIR DIVISION OR WHAT EVER. THIS CAN PERHAPS HELP ACCESS TBI VS PTSD OR BOTH AND THE LEVEL OF TREATMENT THAT MAY BE REQUIRED. THE CHAIN OF COMMAND KNOWS WHAT TYPE OF CRAP BRAVO COMPANY EXPERIENCED BASED ON FEEDBACK FROM THE UNIT COMMANDERS ETC. THEY ARE SETTING IN SOFT CHAIRS BEHIND THE LINES. SOME HOW THIS MUST BE WRITTEN IN THE MANUEL AND SIGNED OFF THAT THE COMMAND HAS DONE ITS PART TO DECOMMISSION THE INDIVIDUAL THAT HAS \"GONE THROUGH IT\". STOP PUTTING IT ALL ON THE VA WHERE IT BOTTLE NECKS AND CREATES FRUSTRATION ON TOP OF EXISTING ISSUES. THESE ARE OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS THAT ARE ON THE FRONT LINES ON OUR BEHALF AND YET WE GO ON WITH OUR LIVES AND JUST SAY OH POOR JOHNNY OR POOR JANE THEY WENT TO WAR. THIS STARTS FROM THE INSIDE (SERVICE) AND MUST BE ADDRESSED FROM THE INSIDE AND NO LONGER IGNORED, AS IT HAS BEEN SINCE THE CIVIL WARS.