You do not have to be rich to have a breakdown

Thank you. She is under a psychiatrist now and is doing much better. She has a part-time job in my friend's shop, which has helped her, in that she has a routine and it is building her confidence, but getting her to the point where she could do that was a long road. For the first few shifts, I had to go with her, or she physically could not bring herself to do it, even though she really wanted the job.

If 'breakdown' means being a danger to yourself or others then I don't think this is a state of mind you have a choice about, can 'soldier on' with or 'get over'.

Meant to add to my long post above: the reason I went freelance was so I can work from home. I have days where I can’t eat or shower or where I can’t stop crying. If I’m at home, no one sees that so I can mask.

Yes, this

I’ve had severe chronic depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation since I was 12. I’ve been on antidepressants (which keep the very worst of it at bay but will never ‘cure’ it) for 30 years. And I’ve recently been diagnosed with autism and PTSD.

I’ve often felt unable to work due to my mental health; certainly I struggle to socialise most of the time because of it. I’ve definitely had weeks where I’ve not been functioning: where I’ve struggled to get out of bed and have felt that I really needed help.

I’ve had two breakdowns - one in my early 20s where I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, and one in my 40s that led me to be diagnosed with PTSD. Both times I could only afford to take a few days off.

I’m now a freelancer so don’t get sick pay, but when I was working in a permanent role, I had so much time off with my mental health that I stopped receiving sick pay from my employer anyway. So I had to keep working, or I would have lost my home. I lived in London at the time and benefits wouldn’t have covered my bills and rent (I did look into it).

So in that sense, I do sort of disagree with your title. I guess if I’d been even more unwell than I was, I wouldn’t have been thinking of my home or my bills - but as it was, I thought “if I come out the other side if this, I’ll need somewhere to live”. The thought of putting my stuff into storage and what would happen if I gave up work (the admin and the cost of renting with bad references - that sort of thing) - was just beyond me. It was easier to just carry on. If I’d been wealthy, I’d have taken the time off I needed and not worried about anything other than my health.

I have a friend who has similar mental health problems to me. She lives in a flat that her dad has given to her, so doesn’t need to pay rent. She’s now stopped work altogether (in her 40s) because she’s not well enough to work - and I admit, I’m jealous that this is an option for her. She’s always saying to me that I need to take a break and I just say I can’t afford to.

I realise that at some point my mental health might get so bad that I’m forced into a complete break from work, but at the moment the fear of losing my home and belongings and also the administrative nightmare of getting back on my feet is what keeps me going.

I wouldn’t say that. It’s possible but very few people are hospitalised so the number of very wealthy in that is even smaller. Private facilities aren’t very good for life threatening mental illness

What tends to happen if they are severely ill is they get sectioned and lose custody of their children, or in situations where they are very ill but not ill enough for authorities to notice, they start self-medicating with drugs/alcohol, and often they still end up losing their kids because of it, but with the bonus of being deemed scum by the general public.

No one who is seriously mentally ill is just getting on with it because they have no choice.

It's a simplistic way of talking about the very real phenomenon of poorer people having to normalise situational mental health conditions like depression and anxiety can be. Of course you are going to be depressed and anxious if you have to continually compete for basic resources and safety. That feeling of insecurity and apprehension becomes ordinary for poorer people and they can't afford to allow that to stop them trying to survive. They have to develop an inhuman resilience to it, but of course they do not.

They become ill. Mentally and physically. Their relationships suffer. Their dependents suffer. The illusion that they are "just getting on with it" is just that.

And did you challenge it on that forum?

I’m not sure anyone here wouldn’t already know that something which is clearly nonsense isn’t true?

You need to define 'breakdown' OP.
What internet forum?

So no one rich has breakdowns? Utter nonsense.

Is the issue that people don't understand what happens to, say, single mums with no support if they breakdown? Obviously they can't leave the children so they tend to soldier on while struggling - so people equate 'being rich' with having plenty of support to be able to recover?

"psychiatric hospitals are not full of wealthy people"

They are probably in private facilities though tbf @UndertheCedartree

Personally, I think if you can still work and look after children and function and aren't being hospitalised you aren't maybe as unwell as you think.

That ignores the many of us with severe mental illness that can mask. We might look like we’re functioning but it all falls apart when no one is looking. We might go to work but not sleep for days, not wash ourselves, not eat, might be having delusions etc.

An internet forum.

Must be true then.

I have never heard this. Also, how is a breakdown’ defined?