California doctors on the front lines of the homelessness and mental health crises are using monthly injections to treat psychosis.
Get the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.Dr. Rishi Patel from the Akido street medicine team checks on an unhoused man living in a vineyard in Arvin on May 28, 2024. Street medicine teams throughout California are increasingly using long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication to stabilize the mental health of people living in homeless encampments.
The Akido street medicine team look for unhoused people in a vineyard to provide medical assistance in Arvin on May 28, 2024. Street medicine teams throughout California are increasingly using long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication to stabilize the mental health of people living in homeless encampments.
Despite some street doctors’ rave reviews, injectable antipsychotics still aren’t reaching everyone who experts say they could help. Street medicine teams report having just a handful of patients on these medications at any one time . Some patients don’t want the shots, balking at the idea of having a drug in their system for an entire month, especially if they have feelings of paranoia related to health care.
The Akido street medicine team checks for a patient they are looking for in a homeless encampment in a dirt field in Arvin on May 28, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local “You look over your shoulder and there’s not a psychiatrist there helping you out,” King said. “And we want to meet the need. We want to take care of these patients. They’re really, really ill, they’re really disorganized, and suffering and dying on the streets.”
“I don’t think it’s rocket science to diagnose schizophrenia, as long as we’ve done it with some thoughtfulness,” King said. To make sure a patient doesn’t have an adverse reaction, doctors typically give them an oral dose of the same medication for a few days before administering the shot.
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