To think our attitudes to mental health are going backwards

[Hotfuzzed]

Mental health services are criminally underfunded. Our prisons and care system are full of people who need mental health support but can't access it. And now the government is changing policy so that those who suffer from crippling anxiety and depression aren't considered eligible for disability benefits.

It's a fucking farce.

as the mother of an adult dc with OCD and crippling anxiety, I feel your pain.

dementedma

Yes I agree. I think people's general attitudes as well, suggesting people should just be able to snap out of mental health issues is such a common thing. Mental health should be treated like physical health.

Well I do think money would be better spent providing good mental health services to help cure or at least help people manage conditions such as OCD, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia etc - rather than leaving them on benefits for life. Ditto with the thousands disabled by treatable back conditions.

But to neither offer treatment and support or pay disability benefits is immoral.

I don't think this government will be happy until they bring back workhouses and Bedlam asylums.

I didn't know about this at all....does someone have a link to news about the change in policy?

I think it depends on what it's spent on. I think it's good for people to be aware that mental health is already the biggest expenditure for the NHS (above spending on circulation problems and cancer) - why are we not seeing good mental health care if this is the case?

Thank you hotfuzzed. I seem to have something in my eye.
I have 3 DC's, two adults, one aged 15. I've done all the usual ailments and trips to A and E ,from bumps and bruises to emergency operations, broken bones etc. And it's all physical and I can see what the problem is and how to ease it or fix it.
But dd1's mind is broken and I can't fix her.I can't help her.. It's horrible

Yanbu. I stopped speaking to my GP about MH issues a few years ago. I know an amazing local private counsellor but at forty quid a session I could only afford a few weeks of it.

Yes , I completely agree.

A colleague at work said the other day that she had been having thoughts of suicide and had been signed off for a fortnight due to it. Another colleague, quite senior and experienced, said she'd never have guessed that as colleague seemed such a bubbly happy person, she didn't think anyone would expect she was (whispers) suicidal and how terrible..

[Hmm] .. I was highly tempted to ask her what a person with mental health problems ought to be like? I self harm frequently, I'm very shy/not confident , maybe I'm more the type she expects?

My boss has surprised me though, knows of my self harming and says she wants to support me , helped me sort therapy out.

Government are shit though and PIP doesn't seem to recognise that mental health can be disabling. My mum takes frequent seizures (up to 3 episodes of 4 a week) due to post traumatic issues and was refused PIP as her seizures aren't daily?!

YANBU, but it's not just mental health - the whole ethos of the country has changed. If you can't work in a high paying job and afford to buy your own house, you are worth nothing and certainly not deserving of state help.

The state of mental health is shocking though. Crisis teams only able to come out if you are actively commiting suicide, people with all sorts of mental health issues told by health professionals to phone Samaritans FFS (Samaritans do a great job, but they are not trained to deal with mental health issues / able to offer any practical help)