Key points

People's situations and behaviors often arise from not only psychological but also social causes.

Popular media often simplifies and overattributes non-normative conduct to mental illness.

Openness to considering multiple possible causes for others' behaviors can grow our insight and compassion.

Public attention to homelessness has increased after an executive order was issued to expand involuntary psychiatric treatment for homeless Americans. Hardly anyone would deny that homelessness has existed in US cities for generations. Yet, should issues like this be solely viewed through the lens of psychiatric disease?

Research suggests that two-thirds of homeless people have mental health conditions and about one-fourth face severe mental illnesses. That said, escalatin

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