Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among homeless people in Athens area: a cross-sectional study

Homelessness is a chronic social phenomenon in European and other Western cities. In the recent years, the number of homeless people in Greece, mainly in Athens, is also increasing.

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among a sample of 254 homeless people, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.). The sample was drawn from the existing shelters, soup kitchens, and the streets.

The sample was predominantly male (74 %) with mean age 51 years, being in their majority homeless for over 25 months, 27 % of them living in the streets. The vast majority of the sample was single or separated with an education level <12 years. Current prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 56.7 % with 20.8 % comorbidity. For psychotic and mood disorders, current prevalence rates were 13 and 16 %, respectively. One year prevalence of alcohol and drug dependence was found to be low. Logistic regression analysis revealed that being older with higher number of months living in the streets and exposed to high frequency of adverse social events, increase the likelihood to become a psychiatric case. Finally, the vast majority of the identified psychiatric cases were lacking any current psychiatric care.

The magnitude of the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was more than three times higher than that of the general population in Athens. Implications for psychosocial care and the organization of a support network for the homeless people are discussed.