To think that White Dee from Benefit St isn't doing people with depression any favours

[Bearbehind]

I've just seen White Dee from Benefits St being interviewed on Sky a News about the budget.

She said she can't work due to her having depression- yet she can appear on TV and is not ruling out standing as a politician

Really stdg, psychiatrists dont diagnose based on watching one tv interview? Bugger, that knocks that off my list of piss easy jobs to do when i can be arsed to get a job

This thread has been, somewhat ironically, rather depressing.

You don't get to have "an opinion" on whether someone else has an illness unless you are a qualified medical professional. Much as whether someone else has cancer/diabetes is not a matter of opinion but a medical fact.

Fudge is right.

It stands to reason, that if her depression was that bad, then her kids wouldn't be living with her, because she wouldn't be coping. So she must satisfy the kids school, GP, social services that she is coping well.

Yes, with no job she is currently coping enough to satisfy gp/social workers. With a job she might not be.

Cleaning toilets is hardly stressful, is it?

who knows, she might find it therapeutic

Utter bloody bollocks, sugarmouse. According to the Goldberg Scale, I am severely depressed. My psychiatrist agrees I am very depressed. I am not having suicidal thoughts at the moment, but I do hope not to wake up in the mornings.

I have been worse than this. Never bad enough to be admitted, but pretty damned bad, all the same. I have been depressed since I was 14, and have had PND after each of my three dses was born, and guess what, social services have never been even remotely involved with our family, no-one has ever raised a concern about my parenting or their safety or well being. The children have remained with me the whole time, and have grown up healthy, well balanced, and are doing well in their academic, social and sporting lives. A friend has been admitted for having suicidal ideations - her children stayed with her, and were not at risk either.

None of the people I know, who have depression, have had their children removed, or have even been at risk of that.

It is perfectly possible to have severe depression, and still parent well, and be allowed to keep your children - so the fact that her children are still with her does NOT mean she is not depressed.

I am depressed by the level of ignorance some people have shown on this thread.

Ah sugarmouse and her knowledgeable insight into mental health issues.

Most people with depression manage in spite of it. I have chronic depression yet manage to care for a disabled child. For many years I also worked full time.

Depression is awful, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Working might help but it might not.

I have had two years out to support my son and my mental health has improved massively. ...so much so I am going back to work .

The world is not black and white, there are all variations of colours in between.

I've had depression and anxiety all my life, but I've still managed to do my job, keep the house clean and cared for the kids. I've driven down the motorway at 70mph whilst having a panic attack (had to come off at the next junction and pull off the road for safety) and been so suicidal that I've seriously thought about doing myself in with the insulin, but have always managed. Having a job is good for you when you have depression and other mental health problems. It gives you a different focus and forces you to think about other things.

Depression is treatable, especially these days with the wide range of medications and CBT.

White Dee has a criminal record and probably knows that nobody will employ her anyway.

Given that we have so many brilliant HCP's on this thread would anybody care to dx my foot issue?

hidden

A friend of mine has depression and can't even feed herself at times,there is no way she could cope with a job

What's the matter with your foot?

Well hidden, I was kinda hoping some of these wonderful armchair doctors could just dx it,having no information about my symptoms and never having seen under my sock,what with them being such experts with other hidden conditions.

But between you and me (just don't tell the others) its swollen and bugs me

White dee is not depressed. She is lazy, lost and misguided.
So she doesnt do people with depression any favours you're right op

Needsasock actually I've got a foot problem too. Shall we compare and contrast?...

SDT- I KNOW its possible to be depressed and parent well. But if a person can parent well, why can't they scrub shitters for a living? it's far easier then dealing with a screaming baby and a stroppy teen!

So, are you telling me that you are a wonderful Mum, but incapable of doing any sort of paid employment????

Doesn't make sense.

What a lot of lay people don't realise is that you can have dual or triple diagnoses. A person can have a Depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, behavioural issues or what is termed a 'personality overlay' and other conditions such as substance misuse.

Somebody like Dee may well be acopic (chronic or acute spells of inability to cope), suffer from what we call chronic anhedonia (loss of pleasure in life) for example but these are labels for collections of symptoms and presentations which transcend diagnoses.

All of these things may cause a mixture of intermittent symptoms and more chronic long term symptoms and interact in truly individual ways. Psychiatry will never be and must not be an exact science because if this happens, we deny the essential uniqueness of each and every person.

Hidden

For the last time, many people with criminal records have got jobs, many employers never even ask!

How do you know she isn't depressed Mac? Are you privy to her medical records?

You would probably say the same about my friend. Severe depression and anxiety but able to get out if she has to
People could say she isn't depressed without knowing her history.

Fact is you can tell precisely bugger all by looking at someone.

Dee might be depressed or she might not. I am not qualified to say....and neither are you. All you CAN say is that her TV appearances suggest she might not be.

She might not be depressed now but once the media drop her she will sink back into it.

sugarmouse

Would you care to pass judgement on my friend.

Long term depression and anxiety.
Hasn't worked in years
Is a loving mother to her daughter
Incapable of work at the moment

Of course she can "scrub shitters" (how charming you are).

Can she get to a place of work
Can she get there every day she is needed.

No. Severe anxiety means it is hard for her to leave the house. Some days she can and many days she cannot.

Long history of severe abuse as a child....Think aged 10 and think EVERY type of abuse including rape.
Think about it going on for years.
Think about the physical problems it left her with not to mention the mental health issues.

Now tell her she needs to get off her arse and "scrub shitters".

Can you understand that she cannot just do this?

Jake bullet

How is your friend a great mother if sometimes she can't leave the house? what if her daughter got ill? it can't be healthy for her daughter to be shut up in the house without learning how to socialize etc. What about school? obviously, depending on how old the daughter is. Regardless, some types of work can be done from home. And anxiety can be managed to a certain extent with medication and CBT. That's if she's willing. Can't make someone who just needs to help themselves.

Btw, I suffer panic attacks myself and have been on ADs in the past, and working has not been without its problems, but I have never and will never totally give up, I dont view myself as entitled to benefits for doing fuck all.

Sugarmouse - I have always put my family's needs ahead of my own, even at cost to myself. Days when I can't look after myself (ie. by showering or cleaning my teeth), I still manage to look after the boys.

Plus I have a very supportive husband, who has picked up far too much slack over the years.

I would not cope with the demands of work on top of that - I know I do not have the emotional strength or the ability to motivate myself to be in work, giving 100% every day. I have very finite resources, and I know what I can and can't cope with. I do not claim any benefits, but even if I did, I would still not be able to hold down a job, to please the benefit bashers.

If you have depression, you start the day with a tiny percentage of the energy and strength of a fit, well person. Just getting out of bed, dressing and doing the basics for the people dependant on us uses up pretty much all of those resources - there is nothing left for a job.

A job, and the satisfaction of holding it down might help someone with mild depression feel better about themselves, but someone with severe depression won't cope. And if I go to an employer, with my years of depression and having not worked for so long due to the depression, are they going to employ me? I doubt it.

I get the feeling I am banging my head against a brick wall - you don't want to know about the realities of depression, and prefer to hang onto a 'just snap out of it and get a job cleaning toilets' theory of treating depression. If it was that easy, don't you think psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and therapists would have been prescribing it for years?

sugarmouse

Any thought about my foot?

Needs

There is a serious case of Foot In Mouth disease on this thread but it ain't you.

Sdtg, I think you need spoon theory :) though you shouldnt really need to expalin it to someone who has had depression themselves guess it depends on the scale though?