Why Homelessness Is a Brain Problem.
The article focuses on the neurobiological framework explaining why homelessness interventions often fail when applied too late. It presents evidence that chronic stress from homelessness progressively damages brain regions responsible for planning and future-oriented thinking—such as the hippocampu...
| Publicado en: | Skeptic Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 38 - 48 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Skeptics Society
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196097430&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196097430 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10639330 SKP jtl: Skeptic issn: 10639330 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 31 iid: 3 pid: 2484 pub: Skeptics Society artinfo: ui: 196097430 ppf: 38 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 5.7MB tig: atl: Why Homelessness Is a Brain Problem. aug: au: MENKE, J. MICHAEL su: Brain damage Neurobiology Homeless persons Treatment delay (Medicine) Homelessness Rehabilitation Psychological stress Cognition disorders United States sug: subj: United States Brain damage Neurobiology Homeless persons Treatment delay (Medicine) Homelessness Rehabilitation Psychological stress Cognition disorders ab: The article focuses on the neurobiological framework explaining why homelessness interventions often fail when applied too late. It presents evidence that chronic stress from homelessness progressively damages brain regions responsible for planning and future-oriented thinking—such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex—while reinforcing survival routines in the basal ganglia, thereby narrowing the "recovery window." This damage reduces the ability of long-term unhoused individuals to benefit from conventional therapies that require intact cognitive functions, making early intervention critical. The article highlights that current U.S. homelessness funding prioritizes chronic cases, where recovery is least likely, rather than prevention or rapid response, contrasting this with Finland’s early, housing-first approach that significantly reduced homelessness. It calls for integrated systems that identify housing loss in real time, provide transitional private housing, and tailor counseling to the stage of homelessness to improve outcomes before irreversible brain changes occur. pubtype: Periodical doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Skeptic is the property of Skeptics Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Skeptic holder: Skeptics Society dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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