To lie about taking antidepressants?

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Been trying to figure how to get back to work with mental health issues. Realistically need to be able to work part time.

Am single, live alone. Currently receive ESA and PIP (PIP by skin of teeth, if working am sure this will be stopped).

I fucking hate this government already, but thought I might just be in time to get Working Tax Credit disability element before the whole lot is scrapped.

Have looked at conditions, for some reason it's very hard to qualify with mental health issues. Basically you have to be receiving treatment, which I am not, because the criteria for actually getting help is so strict. (Their view of me is basically I am too fucked up to bother with, need lots of in-depth therapy they don't provide any more.)

Tax credit condition states you need to be receiving treatment "under the supervision of a medically qualified person"... not sure if therapist would count anyway. Or would that be under supervision of GP?

The only thing I can think of is to take a script for antidepressants (I have tried many and don't find them helpful, which makes sense goven what my problems are, but GP would give them to me...) to fit the criteria.

Gosh. I know this is bonkers and I normally can't stand to lie at all, but I just don't know how else I can get back to work. I can't work full time, I keep pushing myself over the edge as it is, but there seems no other way of getting an income top-up. PIP would do it temporaily, but as mentioned I am sure this would stop if I was working.

Please tell me there's another way...

I'm confused? you want to take anti depressants so you can qualify for an income top up? if you are able to work

Can you not work full time to get more money?

Pip does not stop when you start work. Regardless if you only just qualified. If you get it you get it. Esa will help you while you are looking for work, but this has to be stopped when you are in full time employment (over 16 hours). but you can claim and work less than this. It can easily be restarted again if you fall I'll and are getting stat. Sick pay or if you have to leave your job.

Medical treatment could be medication, therapy,cbt anything a medical professional recommends. This could be by a nurse, doctor, psychiatrist, therapist and yes that includes you gp.

I wouldn't encourage you to lie.

aibu1983
Seriously? You can't see that someone might manage 16-20 hrs work a week but not 40?
Although the system is changing, for some years now it has been the case that disabled people can claim working tax credit once they work 16 hrs, with a disability top-up. This is vital in a situation like mine where full-time work is out of the question, but part-time work wouldn't pay enough to live on. However, if the disability involves mental health it seems much harder to qualify, despite being just as disabled by it. Does that make sense now?
It seems really unfair that for a physical condition, anything that means you can't sustain a "normal" working week counts, but for mental health it's really specific.

Meek I know PIP doesn't officially stop when you start work. But as I only just qualified for it (on appeal), and given that they seem to stop/reassess PIP when ESA is stopped (and vice versa), then it seems likely I'd lose it. Also my award is only for another year or so, so I have to assume I won't get it again and plan accordingly.

I have literally no mental health treatment. I'm trying to find a private therapist that isn't terrified of the complexity/depth of my problems, but I doubt that counts. The NHS just write me off. I'm "too complex" for CBT and other primary care stuff, and "don't meet the criteria" for secondary care. I was previosuly assessed and needing long-term therapy but they don't offer that service any more.

I'm trying to improve my life and it seems impossible. :(

Guava CBT, counselling or medication

There are other therapies than CBT. But not accessible for me, despite being what I need.

I can't access the correct treatment. I have tried all avenues for years (including MP). I have to do this on my own. Mental health services are shit, and massively underfunded. The GP cannot force them to help me. The therapy I need has been massively cut back; I'm unsure if the service even exists any more.

I need to find a way of having enough money whilst working part time or I will spend the rest of my life on benefits.

No advice, I'm afraid, but just wanted to say that the NHS can write you off if you have highly complicated issues - it happened to a friend of mine. All that was available was counseling by counselors (who freely admitted they were out of their depth) rather than any kind of therapy. You have my sympathy, OP, mental health provision in this country is non existent. You should do whatever you need to to get by, and don't worry about people judging you.

Pip won't even know you've stopped your esa unless you tell them? I've returned to work, and rang the esa office, and asked if I needed to notify pip office and they said not at all. My claim lasts another 3 years, so it'll go on for another 3 years, then I'll be reassessed. I haven't heard of anyone being reassessed unless they didn't get awarded pip in thefirst place and are going through an appeal.

Maybe get onto a gp who wants to take you seriously and get the help you need before thinking about going into work. However I understand how hard that is as I was out forward for therapy on the nhs where I was forgotten.about. put forward again, got a call months later saying "I'm sorry you're not depressed and anxious enough for therapy any more" well that's funny because I applied for help with my psychosis. So I went private (total waste of time and money, but that's a whole other thread) and In the end I worked out my own coping mechanisms and with time felt better. So sorry I can't give you more advice than that.

Areyoufree Thanks. It's frustrating when people don't seem to grasp the situation re. NHS mental health help.

Meek I've spoken to various people who have found that their ESA or PIP claim seems to be affected by the other benefit stopping. The DWP claims they are unrelated but this doesn't seem to be the case in practice - failing a medical for one seems to trigger assessment for the other. Perhaps actually stopping ESA without failing a medical may be different though.

Also my PIP award is only for 2 years - the last one was for 3 years and they reassessed me almost a year early! And I failed and had to appeal...

The whole thing is horribly nerve-wracking; I just want to find a way forward.