Special Problems of Homeless Families and Mentally Ill

Thank you for your excellent editorial. According to Dr. E. Fuller Torrey in his book “Nowhere to Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill,” a minimum of one-third of the homeless in the United States are seriously mentally ill--mostly with schizophrenia. The mentally ill have mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children who suffer daily from the frustration of not being able to help their family members.

I have a paranoid-schizophrenic sister who left home to live in a camper truck with her 10-year-old son, parking on the streets at night. In her paranoid world, she is afraid her family wants to lock her away and take her son.

Even though I have the financial resources to help, only someone who is an “immediate danger to themselves or others” can be helped against their will. Meanwhile, my nephew has to endure his mother’s shadowy paranoid-schizophrenic world.

There are so many families with similar problems that we have a support group: The California Alliance for the Mentally Ill--a statewide organization. Your local Alliance for the Mentally Ill can be reached by calling (818) 441-0208.

BRIAN JACOBS

Long Beach