What do you say to panhandlers who ask for money?

I have never been asked for money here in Australia, nor in the part of the UK where we live. But when I was touring aroound the USA, I was asked lots of times, and if I had any small change, or single dollar notes, I gave it to them. They were very nice, and never aggressive, and once, when I was in an underground station, I gave all my change to a beggar, and then a whole group of big black guys came over and surrounded me, asking for money. I was alone and got a bit scared, but I explained that I had just given all my change away, and they were cool with that, and wandered off.

I have never been really hungry, or cold, and without shelter, but I would like to think that if I were, someone might help me. So yeah, I don't care what they spend it on, I give what I can afford. I have been approached on the continent as well, and people were always very gentle and non-aggressive, and politely grateful for whatever I could give them.

Everyone has their own approach, but I think it is only a small amount of money, and if they abuse my naivete, so what, but there is also a chance that it might just alleviate someone's suffering a tiny bit. And like someone else said, if they are prepared to embarrass themselves to the extent of asking a total stranger for money, I think they have earned something - I couldn't do that.

 

Nah, the homeless around here have plenty of opportunities to get food. We have plenty of homeless shelters and they are usually never full and will even take someone who wreaks of alcohol or is high as long as they promise to sober up. We have a myriad of churches that give food also, and there are various places that actually serve breakfast, lunch and dinner strictly for homeless people and they make a lot of food and usually never run out. The vast majority of grocery stores will give homeless people food that is expired or on the verge of expiration, or just whatever they can; they usually don't turn them down. And if that's not enough there are fruit trees literally everywhere, that would usually be technically stealing though... More often than not, the bums around here will spend whatever money you give them on booze/drugs, whether they are hungry or not. But I still give what I can.

I live in sunny southern California and I have spent my time on the streets (well, in my car). Usually the homeless people here want to be homeless. You'd be surprised how many I've talked to who are genuinely happy or content...

 

The truth--I don't have any cash on me.

 

Thats a myth. Schizophrenics medicated or unmedicated are no more dangerous than anyone else except to themselves.

 

You really think so? You need to do some research on this....

If the schizo is on meds, like bipolars, the meds will stabilize them and they can function well in their daily lives - w/o meds they can not b/c they have psychotic episodes, which makes them dangerous to others..... particularly schizos when they hear voices that will tell them to hurt a particular person that in their mind believes wants to hurt them.

That happened to a friend of mine who's daughter was born schizo - it can run in a family - and it surfaced when Laurie was 16. Several yrs later Laurie left home and was living on the streets and there, they will not take their meds. Her parents tried to keep her at home where she'd be safe and medicated, but b/c of her age, they couldn't force her....

One nite Laurie went to the bar, had fun, went home and a voice told her a particular guy at the bar wanted to hurt her, so she went back w/a knife and stabbed him. (There's a reason why they're called 'paranoid') The guy didn't die, but that's what it took to get her into a psychiatric hospital and medicated and she's been there ever since - safe and has to take her meds.....

I know another gal who's son is schizo - one day, unmedicated and w/o reason, he suddenly attacked her and beat her face to a pulp. He's now in the same hospital as Laurie and will stay there......

A couple yrs ago I read an article where an unmedicated schizo mother took her 2 little kids and threw them off a bridge......

What do you think is going on in the brain of a schizo or bipolar? Psychotic episodes. Many bipolars are 'cutters' - unmedicated, they take a razor and cut themselves. For some reason, they need to feel pain....

I had my own experience w/a schizo - a neighbor and I didn't know she was one until one day out of the blue, she accused me of breaking up her & her BF - I didn't even know the guy, except know who he was. She kept ranting and screaming at me about doing this and I started getting mad, asking her what was she talking about - then she said and I never forgot her words "for the past 3 weeks I've been having conversations w/your daughter and sister-in-law down at the end of the block and they told me all about you! And you also sent a guy to my place to have sex w/me!"

When she said that, I stopped, realizing what I was dealing with - a paranoid schizo was having conversations in her head about me. I calmly told her I didn't have a SIL in this state and that my daughter was in the hospital w/Leukemia and had been there for the past 2 weeks....everything I said went over her head....... 5 more times she approached me, accusing me of setting up her BF w/another woman and what really unnerved me was everytime she accused, she always mentioned my daughter - not as the woman I was supposed to have set her BF up with, but my kid was always mentioned in some way. After the 5th time, I told her to stay far away from me or I would call the cops. That put some fear in her b/c she had been in jail several times, but when she'd see me after that, she'd just stand there and stare and stare....

As much as I'm anti-pill, those w/serious mental illnesses and paranoid schizos is the worst, needs their meds to stabilize them. so they can function normally and they can...........

 

I hand them a pen and point them in the direction of the nearest fast food restaurant and tell them they are hiring.

 

if no change in the pocket usually give directions to the local welfare office, don't believe much in charity

 

I deal with the mentally disturbed every day, psychotic episodes are not necassarily a part of schizophrenia and seldom lead to violence. You claim about bipolarism and cutting is complete nonsense. You really should not be commenting on things you have little understanding of.

 

I should add, drug induced psychosis is a different matter and these people are inevitably apt to be extremely violent as they withdraw but I dont consider this to be a mental illness.

 

As long as a person with schizophrenia is on medication, I am not bothered by them. I live next door to a man who has had the illness for more than 30 years. He takes medication and apart from being insanely annoying, he is harmless.

 

There are different degree of panhandlers.But the ones who are
in urban downtown,in a red light district are dangerous.
They are drunks and sometimes kinda young.When you get out of yer car
keep a sharp out for them.They will probably spot you way before you
them.Once they get a bead on you,they will find a way to confront
you.You have to be prepared.These pandhandlers are very cocky and
may try to bump into you or act like they're just gonna take yer money.
You gotta treat them like yer about to split their skull.
Talk real Loud and tough like a Vice cop whose been on the force for
30 years.They understand that kinda talk.You gotta look mean and talk
rowdy as if yer about to punch them out.Otherwise they will demand
money and may try to pull somethin.Just to be on the safe side,keep
some spare change in yer pocket and maybe some dollar bills.
Never let these type cocky drunk panhandlers see you with yer wallet
in hand.

 

I tell em to FU#K OFF!

 

I do not like lazy people

 

Oh wow .... LOL! You 'deal w/the mentally disturbed' and you're this uneducated about the different types of mental sicknesses and the symptoms?

If you don't think that schizophrenia and bipolar isn't a psychosis, then what do you think those 2 are all about? People just having a bad hair day? And UNMEDICATED PARANOID schizophrenia is DANGEROUS!

The guy who went on the shooting rampage in AZ and shot quite a few people, killing 6 and shooting Congresswoman Giffords in the head was diagnosed as PARANOID SCHIZO!

Unmedicated bipolars can get violent, have killed others, but are more inclined to commit suicide when they go crashing down into that black world of depression........ bipolar used to be called 'manic depressive'... you might read up on that also......

I suppose you think PPD (Post Partum Depression) is just another minor mental illness? It's known for hitting women during pregnancy and childbirth and if they don't get the therapy and meds they need, they're very likely to kill their baby b/c they're PSYCHOTIC!

Every heard of a woman by the name of Andrea Yates? She had a full blown case of PPD and she drowned all 5 of her kids!

Yeah, all those debilitating mental illnesses are out there - you might want to read up on them..... Read "The Unquiet Mind" about bipolar and even Patty Duke's book "Call Me Anna" - she was born bipolar and struggled w/that illness for decades, not knowing what was wrong w/her b/f she finally found a doctor who recognized her illness, got her on the meds she needed and she found a sane, normal life....

There's a lot of good info out there waiting for you.......

 

That's right - as long as they're medicated and there's different types of schizophrenia besides paranoid, which is the bad one - meds will balance out their differently wired brain and they can be calm and sociable...

I don't think that crazy neighbor of mine who accused me of breaking up her and BF was paranoid, but more delusional - and she was always talking about sex, but always claiming she was celibate..... she drove me nuts, so I just avoided her as much as I could.

She moved last summer to Vegas where she has a daughter & granddaughter living. When I saw her loading up, I went to her and said "Margie, I know you & I never got along, but I just want you to know I wish you the best in Vegas"..... she stared at me for a long moment, then threw her arms around me saying she had always liked me...... strange.

Actually, I feel sorry for her b/c she has a serious mental problem, was always looking for a man to marry her - at least love her and want to be w/her - but it never happened and it won't..... not w/a normal, well-adjusted guy anyway.......

 

Your whole post is nonsense, you are embarrassing yourself. Like I said before people such as yourself who have so little knowledge shouldnt be commenting. Mental illness is an extremely complex subject, even medical professionals with decades of experience struggle to diagnose schizophrenia. And bipolar is a term which is used far too often by the confused and uneducated such as yourself. You simply dont know what you are talking about.

 

I usually say "No. Do you?" in response to "You have spare change?"

 

LOLOL! Well, if nothing else, you're amusing! Seriously, you should be embarrassed when you come up w/this psychobabble that professional psychiatrists/psychologists w/decades of experience under their belts have to 'struggle' to diagnose a schizo...... lol! Now about giving the pros credit for knowing their job? Especially those who have been at it for decades? You're funny....... lol....

Bipolar is also a very serious matter and for some, that includes cutting themselves. The need to feel pain is part of that individual's mental disorder and what's going on in their life at that time.....and the pros don't have to 'struggle' to diagnose bipolars either .... you have a lot to learn, don't you? ..... oh well.........

 

What do I have to be embarrassed about? You clearly do not understand what you are talking about. You appear not to know the difference between psychosis and schizophrenia which is pretty abysmal for someone seeking to pretend to educate others on the subject. You are a prime example of a completely uneducated layperson spouting ignorant nonsense, and using factual information is not "psychobabble" as you put it. Simply because you have had contact with a couple of mentally ill people does not make you full of knowledge on the subject.Schizophrenia unfortunately is not always a clearly definable illness, the pathologies of mental illness are complex and in many cases overlap. The symptoms of schizophrenia as an example can vary between individuals, one may present as catatonic (look it up in the dictionary) while another may be energetic or manic. They are no more prone to violence than anyone else unless in an agitated state, mine and the personal safety of my colleagues depends on knowing this and being accurately able to judge these peoples actions.

 

Oh come on, bubba .... I didn't say anywhere that all schizos are dangerous - I was talking about the paranoid ones......unmedicated, they definitely can be and you should know that since it's your 'business' to know - and of course, the symptoms vary due to the type of schizophrenia.....

As I had said, I believed my neighbor was delusional, but obviously unmedicated b/c she had also told others about the voices in her head.... and I still think you need to give the pros credit for knowing their business and they don't have to 'struggle' to diagnose a patient after decades of experience in that particular field........

Don't understand why you treat the serious mental disorder of bipolar so lightly when it's not....... but - whatever! Some day it'll dawn on you.....

 

I replied to this statement of yours.

Unmedicated schizophrenic affected people are in the main not dangerous at all, however I have lost count of the times I have seen a LEO mishandle the situation so much due to lack of training and sheer bloody mindeness that the siutuation has been mismanaged entirely resulting in a use of force. Not all schizophrenics experience psychosis and not all psychotic people are violent. FTR, some of the most violent people I have had to restrain werent those with a mental disorder that I was aware of, they were those withdrawing from tobacco.

You think Psychiatry is an exact science? Doctors are Gods? They it get wrong a lot of the time, not only which as I stated previously with mental illness symptoms may overlap which is why the drugs used to treat these illlnesss quite often cause other problems for those on medication.

People use the term too easily, depression is much more complicated than labelling all people with depression bipolar.

 

Even the paranoid ones can be harmless. The unmedicated one's, too. Schizophrenia is a very complex illness that manifests in very different ways in people. You cannot lump all the paranoid's together, that's silly and misinformed.

It's not about "struggling" to diagnose... doesn't matter how experienced someone in the profession is, the diagnosis is not to made at the snap of a finger. Human beings aren't tins of peas that can be so easily labelled / diagnosed.

Ian isn't treating the illnesses "lightly". He's already spoken of the "complexity". It's actually you taking the matter lightly - in terms of knowing so little about mental illness and making blanket statements about the mentally ill that are so incredibly off the mark.

Some of the most dangerous people are those without any mental diagnosis attributed to them. Psychopaths are often off the radar in terms of having any mental illness being attributed to them.

Ian is right. You are embarrassing yourself. You shouldn't discuss mental illness when you know so little about it.

 

There but for the Grace of God, and all that...

 

I apologise to anyone in this thread I have been rude to, including Hummingbird. This type of discussion is a sensitive point for me, some time ago someone very close to me was diagnosed with mental illness and it eventually ended in tragedy despite everyones best efforts.

 

I'm truly sorry to read this, Ian....... when something like that happens so close to home, you often wonder if there was something else you should or could have done to help that person, but in cases like that, despite your best efforts, it was something that was meant to be, I guess....... and people are left behind w/broken hearts......

In my friend's case, one of the most heart-breaking things that was happening was Laurie had 4 babies - 3 of them crack babies. All 4 were taken away and put up for adoption.... it took her stabbing that guy to get the pregnancies and other heart-ache to stop and get her in a mental institution........