Over and again on this thread I've seen the refrain that it?s the people who are faking Mental Illness that damage the standing of real mental illness. This is similar to those people who talk about the scroungers harming the real people who need benefits. When they don't know about people's circumstances or what is going on in the background.
So where is the thread about people who pretend to have a cold damaging the standing of people with real colds in the work place? It?s not here, because of cause a cold, like any other physical ailment is a visible and proper illness isn't it.
The fact is that with mental health you can't see by looking at someone whether they are ill or not, but them looking OK doesn't mean that they are OK.
Let me use myself as an example here - as I pretty much did everything that people have highlighted as taking the piss. Where someone could have said something negative, I've put it into Bold.
Work has been incredibly stressful for everyone where I work over the last few years. Multiple restructures, redundancies and ever increasing workloads. Very, very stressful. Now everyone got stressed, but because I have an underlying MH condition, it caused me to have a major relapse and I became very ill. At first I tried to struggle on, but in the end had to be signed off sick.
I went off sick during a very stressful and busy time for everyone, maybe I couldn't cope with the work?
During the time I was off sick, I was encouraged by my doctor to get out of the house as much as I could as staying in and withdrawing from friends and things that I usually enjoy can make it worse. I was encouraged to socialise and exercise.
I was seen in town on a night out, so I must have been faking, right?
After 4 months I tried to come back into work, but I had such a bad panic attack that I couldn't get out of the car. When a colleague came over to the car to see how I was, I pretended I was OK and had a friendly chat with them. I then drove off and called my boss to say I couldn't make it in.
But I was happy and friendly and was able to chat along and have a laugh. There was nothing wrong with me then, so why didn't I come into the office. Maybe I was enjoying lazing around too much!
In one last desperate attempt to get myself out of the mire, I went to visit a friend in London for a few days. I went and it was lovely, but when I got back I fell to pieces.
I was seen getting onto a train to London - if I was well enough to do that I was well enough to work.
Eventually I was admitted to hospital as the suicide risk was so great they had to admit me for my own protection. While I was an inpatient I was allowed grounds leave and then leave to the wider area. I went into town with an Occupational Therapist to get some lunch one day. I had to go with someone as I couldn't cope on my own. In town, I bumped into some work colleagues.
but I was see chatting over coffee with a friend, so why wasn't I in work?
After my discharge I was still hypomanic. I cycled everywhere and long distances to burn off energy. I went to every support group I could.
But if I am able to cycle and meet up with friends, I must be well enough to work.
Finally, on the recommendation of my CPN, my DH, DCs and I went on holiday together. Me being away from my family for 6+ weeks in hospital and horribly ill for 5 months before that had taken a horrible toll. We needed to get away and try and rebuild ourselves as the whole experience was traumatic for everyone.
I was supposed to be signed off sick, but there were my pictures on facebook of me having a good time with my family on holiday.
I'm the main breadwinner and was shit scared of what would happen when my sick pay / insurance ran out. I went back to work, still ill, in order to pay the mortgage, against the advice of my psychiatrist and CPN, but the stress of getting into mortgage arrears was so bad I forced myself to go back in.
I went back to work when my sick pay ran out, so I must have been milking the system.
So basically, you see, everything that can be seen as me taking the piss - going out, going on holiday, riding around on my bike, going back to work when the sick pay ran out - all has a reason behind it and all was in conjunction of me having a serious mental health condition - the supposedly "popular these days" bipolar.
If you are not the person involved, their family, GP, their CPN, their social worker or Psychiatrist, you really don't know what is going on and you really should stop with this horribly ignorant bollocks.