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.

I have suffered from Anxiety too but perhaps not to same extent. Meditation and yoga helps me to cope with the day to day pressures. I listen to guided meditation from mindful movement in YouTube and do a short session of yoga every day from yoga with Kassandra.

People on here genuinely seem to think you have a bit of anxiety, straight to the drs you go get a sick note then call pip and start claiming. Its actually Infuriating when people have opinions on things they know nothing about.

They're not.

I know someone who left education with an ambition to pursue something extremely selective and unlikely to come off (arts related), got a job but it didn't like it, left to pursue their artistic passion, didn't make it (funnily enough) and is now too anxious and depressed to work.

I think a lot of the expectations of some generations also has a lot to answer for.

❤️🩷❤️🩷❤️💞💕

Yep agree.Divide and conquer!

YABU

I don't live in the UK so accept things may be different but I work with people who have mental issues and official diagnosis of a mental health illness which can only be done by a psychiatrist. So all these posts about GPs your GP can sign you off work for sick leave but as far as I am aware that would not be enough for disability benefit you would need to be under a psychiatrist. People are also forgetting that medication for some mental health illnesses are extremely strong and can leave people quite drowsy, slow to function and difficulty getting up in the morning. There is always a pathway back to work though and most after a time will recover enough to get back to some kind of work but this can often be supported employment.

I had to laugh at the posts from people who say they can't afford to stop working so have to keep going. Bingo! Being on disability benefits is no fun and you are pretty much living in poverty, who would honestly choose this if they could work in some way? Everyone I work with long to be back working, back to routine, back engaging with people socially it is their number 1 goal for themselves. I don't understand why some posters assume this is a lifestyle someone would choose.

This

I have anxiety. Medication just makes things worse for me. I'm ok at the moment, but I know it doesn't always take a lot to tip me over. I work full time as a nurse in a middle management role. Not working would make me more anxious. I like the structure work brings. That helps me massively. I agree that we all have our own coping strategies.

I believe that the condition exists and can evolve into horrendous forms. I've had repetitive strain injury (initially caused by using a computer) that has been bad enough to cause me to cry from the pain of carrying a plate. We are spending more time on computers, smart phones and tablets than when I was diagnosed over 20 years ago, so it does not surprise me that there are lots of people really struggling with a similar condition and in it's more disabling forms.

Can you tell me please then how do you believe most people on a benefit package due to mental health issues starts being on it?

This.

I'll keep on saying it, and so will others.

Among other things, the Tories want us all to believe that for a person to succeed, someone else has to suffer.

This. If you have responsibilities and you're signed off too often you go on Statutory Sick Pay which will not cover your bills. It takes ages to get assessed and get benefits. In the meantime, mortgages still need paying and kids feeding.

I ended up on SSP as a result of a physical illness - the entire family almost went under, so I went back to work before I should have done.

I was like you OP, until I actually had a breakdown. I didn’t think I’d just quit my job and go on benefits, I was sacked due to poor performance stemming from a complete and total breakdown. Rather stings that those who are in the same position I was right before my breakdown are judging me when I’ve never once thought those who are working didn’t have it just as bad.

Well said. I guarantee anyone who is entitled to pip for mental health are under secondary care. When I applied for pip I needed letters from my physchiatrist, cpn and care coordinator. Plus years and years of medical notes. And that was just the mental health stuff. I also had to get letters from all my consultants for the physical stuff and I still had to fight to get pip.

You are suffering less than them! Now if you hadn't compared yourself to others as a way to have a go at people on benefits I would have nothing but sympathy, I myself work and have had periods of really bad anxiety. I also work with and have family members with severe mental health problems who can not work, some of them also have mortgages and kids to pay for. These people can't hold it in to cry in a car park, they had to leave work because those tears and panic attacks happened on the job, some couldn't leave the house because of debilitating panic attacks just getting to the front door, some attempted suicide because they felt like such a failure and no use to anyone ( posts like this will be part of the reason) some have been detained in mental health hospitals because they posed such a risk to themselves, I've worked with people who have been heartbroken and attempted suicide after loosing their children because they could not meet their needs. One of which cane very close to death and has lasting liver damage. People who can't even be motivated to wash and have zero chance of being employed if they tried.
This is a massively ignorant and insensitive post. Go and work with people with mental health problems then have a rethink and pray you don't actually have a breakdown and end up in the same situation as them.

I think the fundamental issue is lack of treatment.

I was signed off sick for a little while as I needed the space to recover, and I accessed treatment through my private medical insurance, as the NHS came up with nothing. If I hadn't been treated, I wouldn't be capable of resuming work in a high-earning career.

People on lower salaries aren't likely to have that health cover, and if they can't be treated properly to go back to work, the problem isn't actually the benefits being available, it's the lack of availability for treatment on the NHS.

Enough people say this, but it wont get through to some. They think you can go to the GP, say you are anxious, get given meds (that you will throw in the bin... someone on a different thread actually said that!), and just get PIP.

I was under CMHT too, lots of sections, lots of therapy, I was under a scheme for people that get picked up by the police a lot (Serenity Integrated Mentoring).... my CPN kept insisting I apply for PIP but also was worried the whole process would finish me off, as it is fucking brutal.

Thanks, Captain Obvious. Of course it wasn’t a golden age for mental health treatment. My point was that there have always been people with mental health challenges (and historically far more environmental stressors) and that we are not facing it now on some unprecedented scale.

None of these are mental health conditions.

I've had mental health issues since childhood. On and off counselling only ever 10 sessions per time. Fat load of good any of it did.

I worked and worked even when it was detrimental to my mental health. I had roughly two 3 month occasions off work though during the past 5 years.

On 2 lots of medication. I keep going for my mum that's the only reason otherwise I would commit suicide. Work is something I have to do to pay the bills.

I shouldn't really work but I do because of how hard it is to get support with mental health from dwp and the constant threat they would withdraw PIP from me.

Currently I use PIP to pay for therapy, the gym (I don't go) and other things. Dwp actually removed the driving part in March when I was reviewed. I still get enhanced daily living.

I don't tell anyone I get PIP due to views that have been aired within this thread. I feel ashamed of telling anyone which is daft as I feel bad enough as it is.

OP I get what you mean however direct your anger at the Tories and rich bankers who pocket fat pay cheques.

Unfortunately it definitely is a race to the bottom in just about all aspects of life - pay and conditions, employment rights, mental health, anti-social behaviour. The rich are getting richer and are delighted to watch us fighting over the scraps.

Having raised four kids and now in my sixties I look back and wonder how we did it every day. I often thought about keeping driving to ‘escape’ on my way to work each day - living on adrenaline and sheer determination - thankfully there were teachers holidays but boy were we stressed and stretched to the limit. Thankfully retirement has been great once you get there. 30s - 50s have some tough times but hang on in there nothing is permanent

You genuinely have no idea how the system works, does it? Or how mental illness works, full stop.

1. psych wards are full. Last time I tried to kill myself they kept me in there as long as it took to pump my stomach, then sent me home and said the home treatment team would be in touch. Note- I was experiencing psychotic hallucinations at the time but they deemed me unlikely to hurt anyone else and could be watched by family to stop me hurting myself so I didn't merit a bed.

2. there is not a clear dividing line between 'so unwell you are unsafe if let out in public' and 'will reliably be in work every day at 9 am, showered, well dressed and ready for a full day of work' and I find it bizarre that anyone thinks it works that way. Much like you don't go from 'plaster comes off broken leg on Monday, start running 5km per day on Tuesday'.

Your comment is utterly unrealistic.

You put it even better than me. Couldn't agree more!