Table 3.

Participant Quotations on Symptom Qualities

Theme/Sub-themes	Quotations
Theme 1: Symptom relationships
Existential, psychological, and social symptoms cause as much distress as physical symptoms	“I’m getting more used to the idea that my life is a complete waste. I don’t have family. I don’t have a career. I’m not a productive human being. It’s day after day of wasting my time… I am a walking dying woman. I walk until I can’t walk anymore, and then I sit. The busses pass me by.…We are untouchables and I don’t think anybody’s going to do anything about it” (78-year-old woman) “[Where I sleep] affects me because my back pain is pretty real because I’m sleeping on cement, but the thing that really gets me is the future. Sometimes, there is a hopeless feeling that comes on…” (52-year-old man) “…My homelessness all these years is fine. I’ve adapted…The only thing really destroying me now is I want to see my mother. I think my stress and everything would be okay once I see her. I’m an older man now and I never tried to get in contact with her because I was angry. I’ve been angry for a long time now.” (54-year-old man)
Interconnectedness of symptoms	“My loneliness affects my mind and my body…all of [my symptoms] bother me, but number one would be the pain, and then…the pain trickles down to everything.” (63-year-old man)