To be terrified of being mentally ill under Tory Government

[NightTerrier]

I've been increasingly anxious about the future of people with disabilities under this government.

Mental illness can be one of those invisible disabilities, although not always as I am clearly batshit crazy when manic. I have Bipolar 1.

I probably have a serious depressive and manic episode once every 18 months to 2 years despite being medicated and then have to go through the recovery process, get stabilised again and rebuild my life and sort out the mess left behind. This and the time for rehabilitation basically fucks up a whole year in terms of occupation and employment.

My partner was made redundant and now works in a minimum wage job and I'm in recovery and it's been a long slog for me. I don't think many people understand the devastation that a serious full blown manic episode can cause.

My DLA is due to move to PIP in Sept and I'm terrified, as it helps top up my income so I can afford to work part time when well enough. Now I hear that people are being turned down for PIP even if they are well enough to work part time. DLA was meant to be an in work benefit.

Employers don't want someone who's unable to work for months at a time and could randomly become ill. I don't think it's even a matter of the government not being aware. I think it's more a case of them not caring, or even some kind of idealism involved and they think it's a moral failing and your own fault if you can't be a 'productive' member of society. The fact that some people might begrudge me getting a disability benefit makes me angry too. It really isn't a cushty option by any means. In fact, I think the way the government is handling things is making matters worse for a lot of mentally ill people and they are getting more ill as a result.

The local CMHT has been really supportive. Unfortunately, this only seems to be the case when people have bipolar 1 and schizophrenia. Getting good treatment is an indication that you are pretty much fucked, but I'm very grateful for it and they've really helped me after the last manic episode and my life is getting back on track again. The most worrying part is that I'm highly likely to find myself back in the same situation in a year or two and stress, sleep disruptions and other things could perhaps trigger mania or depression sooner that.

A lot of people are in a similar situation and it's just really grim, worrying and quite depressing.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but AIBU to be terrified for the future of people who are debilitated by serious mental illnesses?

[SofiaAmes]

The Mental Health Parity laws that we have don't make people automatically behave, but they do give me the right to sue on my child's behalf and because we're such a litigious society, suing is how you change things here.
I suppose I'm lucky because my child is a child and it's him and not me that needs the help, so I am able to give it to him without struggling myself with mental illness. I also have put a strong emphasis on his finding a career that can accommodate his mental (and medical) illnesses. I think that's much easier to set as a precedent when you are starting the patterns at birth, rather than trying to remake yourself as an adult. My ds gets accommodations in school and his testing, but I have not signed him up for Disability assistance as I prefer that he tries to figure out how to have a career despite his adversities. Again, in a perverse way, I am so glad we had to start this journey when he was a child as it makes it so much easier to set paradigms and patterns.
Unborn I am having such great difficulty in taking Trump seriously that I am not worried at all about his impact on disability rights which is perhaps not a good thing. He is awful when it comes to pretty much everything, so I'm not hopeful. However, the status quo talked a good game, but wasn't actually much better, so maybe change will be good. In any case, the checks and balances do a pretty good job of keeping the president in check, so unless Congress gets it together (highly unlikely at the moment....they are making the Italian government look unified and organized), Trump won't get too much achieved which may or may not be a good thing.

[MsHooliesCardigan]

I'm a mental health nurse. When ATOS started doing their assessments, I accompanied a patient to an assessment who had just come out of hospital after a 4 month admission. Bearing in mind the pressure on beds, that in itself indicates that she must have been pretty unwell. She initially went in informally, was then placed on a section 5 (2) which is an emergency 'holding' section, then a section 2 and then a section 3 and was transferred to a private hospital because she needed a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) because her behaviour was so disturbed. Throughout her admission, she was assessed by six consultant psychiatrists who all concluded that she had Schizo-Affective Disorder. The ATOS doctor assessing her concluded, after meeting her for an hour, that 'with all due respect, this lady does not have a serious mental illness'. The evidence for this was that 'she made eye contact and did not display rocking movements' and 'was fashionably dressed and wearing make up'.
So their judgement gets to over-ride numerous doctors with years of training in psychiatry who have spent months assessing this patient. I had another patient declared fit for work 3 days before she was sectioned. I have a 100% success rate on the appeals I have done for my patients and, to be fair, some of the judges have had the grace to apologise for the crapness of the system and have looked quite embarrassed.
Some of the judgements literally seem to be saying that, if someone is not frothing at the mouth or waving an axe around, they cannot have a serious mental illness which shows a shocking state of ignorance. DLA and PIP are not good at assessing illnesses that fluctuate and Bi Polar is the ultimate example of a fluctuating illness. When people with Bi Polar are well, they are as well as anyone else but, when they are ill, they can inflict so much damage to themselves in a very short space of time. I have an ex boyfriend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 8 years and saved enough money to buy a house outright when he was 30. He then had a manic episode and drew out all the money he had saved for 8 years and wandered round London handing it away to people. The money he had spent 8 years earning was gone in 48 hours.
I agree with the OP that mental health care is becoming dangerously inadequate.

[mollie123]

PFI under the labour government increased massively - google it!
and much of these initiatives are still draining billions from the current NHS and cannot be un-done as they are existing contracts

[Believeitornot]

PFI did increase and have you ever stopped to think why?

First they were introduced by the Tories. Second it was to reverse significant underfunding under the Tories.

Also you don't hear the Tories highlighting this as a cause of NHS funding issues. Which they could quite easily do and blame labour for.

However instead the Tories spin all sorts of lies about the NHS to keep up the narrative that it is the fault of the NHS. And the unspoken narrative that the private sector is better.

They're funded by private sector donors who want more money.

Anyway, I don't believe that the private sector is better than public sector. It's a false distinction. The public sector should provide services that the private sector won't, and which support a healthy economy to enable the private sector to do well.
Unfortunately we've got in to such a mess now that, with the help of successive governments, it's become one big fight. A fight between private vs public, those on benefits vs those working on low wages, the young vs the baby boomers.

All the while the rich keep getting richer. They keep causing all these fights to distract from what they're doing. They're getting bolder now - I mean seriously who is Farage to say he's speaking for the people? Trump? Is he a man of the street.

It is ludicrous.

[MsHooliesCardigan]

I agree that PFI is a disaster- it's the equivalent of going on a massive spending spree on your credit cards and spending the rest of your life struggling to just pay off the interest.

[UnbornMortificado]

MsHoolies doesn't surprise me, I've been told in the past I'm too pretty to be mentally ill

[PlayOnWurtz]

Mental health services were dire under labour. I was referred as a high risk patient by my gp and it took over 2 years to get an appointment. Under the tories I was seen the next day.

[NameChanger22]

Things were much better under Labour. All we've seen with the Tories is cuts, cuts and more cuts. Obviously this going to have a massive effect on lots of people's lives, particularly those that need the help most. The Tories do not give a shit. At least Labour tried, they didn't always succeed, but they did try.

[Dawndonnaagain]

Mental health services were dire under labour. I was referred as a high risk patient by my gp and it took over 2 years to get an appointment. Under the tories I was seen the next day.
I suspect you are a rarity. In almost every other county in the UK, mental health funding has been cut drastically.

A Labour govt would be just as bad, don't kid yourself otherwise. And the same for any other party.
The next Labour government has said they will look at the way the assessment companies work and ensure that the assessments are fit for purpose. They are currently not so.

[Katy07]

The next Labour government has said they will look at the way the assessment companies work and ensure that the assessments are fit for purpose
They're very good at talking. That's what politicians do. Somehow it seems to change when they actually get the chance to take action.

[Dawndonnaagain]

I'm sure they are, but as a person with a number of disabilities, I'll take the chance, thanks. I'm tired of being marginalised. I've spent years fighting for the rights of people with disabilities. We got so much done only to watch the last two governments erode everything.