Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

> I don't use hard drugs

Do you use cannabis? Your writing suggests to me (not a medical health professional but a family member to a person with mental health struggles) that you might be experiencing thought disorder, which is a sign of psychosis. In some people, cannabis use (including after a long period of use with no apparent negative effects) can cause substance abuse psychosis. Thought disorder can also be a sign of other non-drug-related psychotic spectrum disorders, like bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia.

If you use soft drugs, consider taking a prolonged abstinence to see if your functioning improves.

Regardless of substance use, consider talking to a mental health professional. In Pennsylvania, the National Alliance on Mental Illness has a helpline for people undergoing mental health crises:

1-888-264-7972

> multiple degrees

Okay, good. What are your degrees? In what?

Note: there are temp-to-perm agencies that fill white-collar office jobs; that might keep you afloat while you're looking

"Everyone I met in this predicament, it was due to severe mental illness (like, schitzophrenia, etc) or a severe substance abuse issue."

I understand your situation can be incredibly stressful, but have you been evaluated by a mental health professional?

I see quite a few disconnected thoughts here that I'm having trouble making sense of. In addition notions of being persecuted, discarded, etc, esp. linked to taking part in social causes. I'm certainly not a medical professional myself but it seems similar to a schizophrenic I've known in the past.

It might be the case that getting a handle on this, esp. if it comes to a medical intervention, might be a good first step. Also just a note, the mention of "hard drugs"... if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately as it can greatly exacerbate symptoms.

> I'm currently in a hotel that lacks basic anemities like a functioning shower, paid monthly by family

How does a hotel not have a shower?

You sound depressed and you need to get numb and stoic and practical and focus on survival. Be grateful for minor successes and when people help you but dont indulge in all these negative emotions your expressing in your post...they are delusional.

All that matters to you right now is your practical day to day survival.

You will need to find a free shower. In the past I've used gym showers, shelter showers, beach showers, campground showers, marina showers, university gym showers, friends showers, etc. Call around and see if you can find a shower. Alot of times places like the YMCA or community center's or homeless shelters have sliding scale memberships. You have to call and explain your situation and see if you can het a free membership. Many times if they cant help they can guide you to someone who does.

You need food. Look around for soup kitchens, food banks, church food lines, apply for food stamps.

Most cities in America and I imagine Europe is similar..have a place you can go and apply for government social safety net services like food stamps, medical care, job search support... and they will give you a caseworker who can guide you through social safety net options your region offers.

Overall I need to emphasize...you need to remain stoic and practical all of these depressed thoughts youre posting are wrong and will destroy what limited confidence you have.

You mention you don't use drugs but then you start talking about being an activist, potentially doing something extreme, and looking for "jobs for people with depression". The problem is that all of this still screams "baggage". Maybe not as bad as a hard drug problem or criminal record, but it's still "baggage" that nobody would want to deal with when there's plenty of other people that either don't have it or hide it well enough.

When you're looking for help and handouts, "going against the grain" is not a successful strategy, so you need to put all the activism/strong morals/etc aside and never bring it up. Make up a believable backstory about yourself that doesn't bring any of this up nor raise suspicions to explain your predicament to potential employers (someone with degrees in knowledge work applying for menial work is more surprising than a blue-collar worker) and use that to slowly rebuild.

> Is that what I should do... emigrate back where I came from?

If I had to choose I'd rather be homeless in Europe than the US. The latter is a country where fucking the little people is considered good business and so much existing business relies on that, where moneyed interests have effectively seized control of the government and where the general groupthink would be against (or can easily be convinced to go against) anything that would help the little people in fear that it would be "socialism" - definitely not a good place for someone in this position.