People who work have anxiety too

[Fedupandgrump]

Anyone else on the verge of a breakdown with work, kids, mortgage and cost of living?

I’ve read a lot of threads recently about people with mental health conditions worried about being forced into employment when they feel as though they would not be able to cope. Whilst I sympathise, it’s come at a time where I am completely overwhelmed, burnt out and wonder how the fuck I’m going to get through the week. I treat myself to a half hour sob in Sainsburys car park every couple of days and I wake up every morning with dread, fear and anxiety about what the day will hold. However, I go and work because I. Have. No. Choice. I have two kids and a mad dog that relies on me and my husband to keep our shit together and a roof over our heads. Every day I can feel my heart racing and I feel permanently like I’m in fight or flight mode and I wonder if this is going to lead to a premature heart attack in my 30’s.

I sometimes feel like people who don’t work due to poor mental health thinks those of us who do work, are suffering less than them. I know IAMBU but I can’t help the way I feel at the minute.

Well, it they do use their PIP for therapy, then why are people complaining about getting vouchers instead of cash?

Yeah it will because many don’t have the wherewithal to manage a voucher system which would likely force them to use whatever fad a DWP manager thinks is a one size fits all cheap solution. That is if they can even get to it….here is your voucher for Zumba at a gym thirty miles away. Nevermind you just want to go to your local gym within walking distance and swim…

Or here is a voucher for cooking classes…oh wait OT says you cant cook safely? Well this will teach you!,

Survivor bias, what about those that didn't make, it's not like suicides didn't happen is it?

This thread is likely to sink through the planet with the amount of denseness some poster are displaying let alone the prejudice and able ism

Because vouchers will rob them of choice and over complicates the system. It will cost more to run a voucher system than it would to just give PIP claimants money to choose for themselves what will work for them. It will cost the lauded tax payer more to run that the current system.

Because not many therapists are going to be accepting them.. and in my friend's case, her therapist in the USA definitely wont.
Also, there will be a time limit... you only get enough for 12 sessions, for example. Like it is with the NHS anyway. Any anyone with severe MH issues, or even moderate, is not going to be "fixed" in 12 weeks. They will barely get to know the therapist in that time.

Completely agree with you OP

I think part of the problem is that workplaces have become much more pressurised - target driven, micromanaged, always pushing for 'more' from their employees - more of their free time, more ideas, more productivity,

I think in these circumstances it is no surprise that coping with anxiety and other conditions becomes very difficult in the workplace.

That's before you get on to the use of disciplinary measures for sickness absence to make things worse.

A relative of mine has mental health difficulties and gets no benefits. He keeps getting fired because he can't cope. Breaks down sobbing in meetings, rings in sick too often. He never passes his probationary period, but still manages to get another NMW job. It does not seem like a good way to live to me.

I agree with this. In my job, like most, I have targets and have to report regularly in how I am meeting them. Work was not like this when I started out. You were expected to work hard, but as long as you were not skiving you were fine.

Pretty sure a lot fewer people would be signed off permanently due to poor mental health and anxiety if there weren't the benefits that we have today. Throughout history have had to cope with so much worse than this, especially during, between and after the world wars. People need to take more responsibility and do everything they can to get better, including therapy, medication, exercise, flexible working, etc.

Productivity is an issue in either work setting

I have (pre disability) worked with people with appalling productivity in the office

Suprise suprise they also have appalling productivity working remotely

But somehow it's the remote work that gets blamed rather than a poor work attitude regardless

I have a friend who has severe depression and was so psychotic she was sectioned 4 times in 1 year. She is in supported accommodation now as she was homeless after her divorce

She used to work but was made redundant and honestly I can't imagine her in any job.

One thing that helped a lot with my CPTSD was downsizing to rural Somerset. My new house only has 20K on the mortgage and is the same size as my old house which had almost 100K on the mortgage in the south east of england.
I have the same job on the same money as I'm NHS so can work anywhere.
Life is much slower here, people are friendly, it's all just so much more manageable.
If I had to go back to the city I think I'd just die quite frankly.

Plus the constant restructures

My current company has had 7 restructure in 3 years. I know people who have been put at risk 3 times in that time period

My previous company restructured at least once every 12 months

So even if people with anxiety and depression get a job, how are they supposed to cope with the constant, persistent risk of suddenly not having one again on a semi regular basis

What you do not understand is there used to be jobs that were mentally easy. These have disappeared.
Sitting as a cashier on a till in a small shop and chatting to the regular customers. Being a roadsweeper wandering around with your brush and dustcart.
I in my early 60s and an ex colleague and I were saying that there were people employed in our previous job that would never be employed these days. One woman who got anxious at anyone new and worked doing the filing in the back office for example.

Jobs have become more complex and more is demanded.

What can a GP do? Prescribe drugs that mask symptoms, but they don't tackle the cause. The cause of the anxiety is the crippling load so many people are under.

Some people are able to work and others aren't. Those who are too ill to work should be supported.

They're being supported by the taxes of others who are struggling! I have huge sympathy for people who have clinical depression, but poor mental health has also become the 'bad back' of the 2000s. Too many Dr's are willing to dish out pills while there is no investment in proper care to tackle the root cause of people's problems. In turn, too many people see themselves as 'unable' to cope and opt out.

First of all it isn't a race to the bottom. Secondly there is a difference between being stressed or feeling sick before going into work and actually being sick at the thought of going into work, being crippled with anxiety to the point where you have intrusive thoughts. Instead of focusing on others look at what you can do to help yourself. An appointment with a Gp or mental health nurse may well get you medication but they can also direct you towards CBT and counselling. You have to be willing to engage to get better. If you are both self employed and running a company then why can't your partner pick up the slack or your employees if you need to take a step back for 2 weeks or so? If you are struggling then you need to stop making excuses and start looking for solutions op. Easier said than done I appreciate but of there are things about work specifically that are making you struggle then you need to address those factors. If your anxiety or stress is centred more on family time or juggling life then you need to look at division of chores or how you can outsource things to make life easier.

I had anxiety related to my work in October 2022, adjustments couldn't be made to support me because of a lack of staffing. I have never suffered with my mh before and working in healthcare it qas dangerous. I was signed off for 2 months, did cbt during that time and ultimately decided to leave. I was able to get counselling through my profession and did so for 12 weeks helping me to recognise symptoms and reframe my thinking inorder to manage/avoid the intrusive thoughts. I went self employed and eased myself back into work.

My seizures have come back quite badly recently due to a particularly stressful time at work. It’s not nice having to go to work after a seizure but I can’t be off all the time 🤷‍♀️

Yes I agree. It’s accepting that you’re going to have anxiety and depression forever and not looking for ways to recover that’s the problem

As someone who has young kids, high rent to pay and works full time, and is going through a diagnosis and referral for GAD, I have no idea why you would assume that people who have gone through the process of claiming PIP etc due to their mental health are thinking about you and how you probably have it easier, nor why you assume you know what “they” (the homogenous blob of MH issue folk?) are going through on a day to day basis and what limitations they have.

Shame on the amount of people agreeing with you too. We wonder why MH is so poor in this country when on top of all the shit we have to deal with, we have attitudes like this towards people, both in and out of work, who are suffering.

This pretty much happened to me to. Anxiety can manifest in so many ways. When you get physical symptoms like these are being taken to hospital multiple times it’s at a different level as you physically cannot tolerate any level of stress anymore. It’s not like you can just go into work and carry on

So you think people with genuine anxiety disorders and or depression never work? This is so rude it's offensive

No ability from you to accept that some people who are not working are actually struggling less than some people who are working.

PIP is not means tested, and therefore you can be a recipient of PIP and still be working.

Please, people, take time to stand back sometimes and try to count your blessings.... Or imagine how much worse things could be, eg. living in countries which stifle your freedom, living in an age when diseases can be treated, winning the lottery of life by even being alive (and not disabled). Yes, I know that does not solve the problem, but try to step "outside" the immediate present sometimes... Maybe you can fool yourself into thinking things are not so bad... (!)