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PIP & Mental Health

6 replies

GreyBird84 · 06/11/2018 23:00

I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD & depression. Sleeping problems. Off work for 18 months. On sertaline & diazepam. See a psychologist every 3 weeks.

I’ve been looking into claiming PIP & a form is being sent out to me. But it seems to focus so much on physical difficulties - I have carpal tunnel & sciatica episodes but my mental health massively overrides those problems.

Does anyone have any advice on filling out the form? How to handle an assessment?

Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
GreyBird84 · 07/11/2018 14:47

Bump

OP posts:
flourella · 07/11/2018 15:31

Hi GreyBird84. I receive PIP daily living at the enhanced rate for solely mental health-related reasons. Before that, I was on DLA for ten years for the same conditions.

If you have read the form and consider most of the areas to be concerned with only physical problems, it may be that your illnesses do not affect you in ways that will qualify you for PIP, as I found it quite easy to look at the questions through the prism of mental illness. It is not the diagnosis, but how it impacts your life in the specific areas laid out.

If you need prompting and/or supervision for any or all of the activities, without which you really cannot complete them on more than half of the days, then you may score points.

It may help you to know that the reliability with which you can perform the activities is a major factor when considering whether or not you can perform them. So, can you (for example) prepare and cook a meal when required, to an acceptable standard and within a reasonable timeframe, ie not more than twice as long as a person without your condition would be expected to complete the task? If you can't, then you may be considered unable to do the task at all (although they are unlikely to follow that to its logical conclusion and give you maximum points in my experience. But you should score something).

The form is quite daunting and I recommend you look at dedicated forums such as Benefits and Work, Scope, Yourable, the benefits and disability sections of Money Saving Expert, etc. You can pay for full access to Benefits and Work and people say it's worth it, but I just read the forum posts. You could go to the CAB for advice; I got unlucky there with a pretty unhelpful individual, but many others seem to have received very good advice on how to best fill in the form to make it clear that their conditions affect their daily life and/or mobility in ways that meet the criteria to score points.

I filled in the form going into as much detail as possible, describing at length how my conditions affect me in each area. I also wrote a diary covering five days that laid out literally everything I did and how long each thing took me. I had no recent medical documents to send, though the support worker from my supported accommodation wrote a short paragraph for me and accompanied me to the assessment. That entailed going over all of the questions again and me just reiterating what I had written; it was unpleasant but the assessor was kind, and honest in her report.

I was terrified of being moved over from DLA, but it went quite smoothly and I got the award to which I was entitled, so not everyone has a bad experience. But I really drove home the issues around my ability to reliably perform each task, so that they had little option but to score me something on the relevent questions (not all applied to me)

I hope that is helpful.

GreyBird84 · 07/11/2018 16:40

Very helpful thank you....I think my current life just seems so normal now that I’m not sure how to describe it...

Eg I don’t get dressed until I have to take my eldest to bus for nursery & that’s an afternoon session @ 12....if I didn’t have to do that I don’t know when I would get dressed.....i often sleep with my youngest while eldest at nursery & then I often go to sleep in my clothes from during day...

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flourella · 07/11/2018 17:06

Hmmm...not getting dressed till you need to go out would likely not score points, because you can do it when you need to, but not having the motivation to get back into pyjamas so sleeping in your clothes could qualify. You have to make them understand that it isn't just a choice to not get changed, though. How could having the money that PIP brings theroretically help you do these things?

Unfortunately, even though having a poor sleep pattern can have a drastic, negative impact on life (one which I suffer myself), it is not directly relevant to any of the PIP descriptors. Unless it is the case that you are so low in mood that you go to or stay in bed rather than cook, wash, go out, etc? Would having someone there to prompt you to do things other than sleep in the day make a difference to your routine? Coming at it from that angle might help.

I know it's difficult, especially when you have devised a way of existing within the confines of an illness. It took me hours and hours to think about and then fill in the form.

Groovee · 07/11/2018 17:20

I would possibly contact welfare rights or fight back 4 justice to help you.

dancingthroughthedark · 07/11/2018 17:49

I applied on MH grounds I have panic disorder GAD and Agorophobia. I failed the assessment and have just heard I failed the reconsideration too though I did gain a few points. I had my assessment at home, when I got the report it was as if the assessor was talking about someone else. Despite all the medical evidence of appointments (which have to be on the phone) medication and daily assistance with therapies, the report says I have no psychiatric input or medication. The assessor decided that I was intelligent, tidy and my house was clean and I had a pet ( fish!) so I couldn't be mentally ill in any way. We discussed that I needed assistance for at least an hour a day, without it I don't get dressed, eat etc on the report she put I went out for an hour every day on my own (Last year I went out 6 times with an awful lot of support from others), I cant even put the bins out. All the evidence of the reasons for my anxiety and panic were ignored and important things played down , The report said I lived with my sons (I live alone) My sons heart condition a major factor in my anxiety was written as 'last year she got upset when she couldn't visit a relative in hospital' Throughout the assessment she constantly told me how she sympathised and understood how hard things were for me , she seemed so kind but used this to say I was comfortable talking to her so had no anxiety and needed no support or prompting.

While I expected to fail I had no idea just how upsetting it would be when the letter arrived, I felt like it was saying I was lying, I had some help with the reconsideration letter but it was still a no . I now need to decide if I can face taking it to Tribunal. I really get now why so many people give up and don't.

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