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.

Absolutely agree op, it’s awful. Couldn’t live off pip as have dependents and a mortgage so I have no choice but to worik and it’s SO hard when you have anxiety.

Why on earth are you sharing those patient details on a forum?

Totally agree OP. I’m on antidepressants and have been for a long time. Life is hard and I feel overwhelmed and burnt out regularly, yet I still work full time, 6 days a week because I have to.

I mean anxiety and depression is hardly "the normal anxiety we all get occasionally" then is it

But unless you are actually medically qualified then you "seeing the medical records" is irrelevant

Dizziness is a symptom of anxiety disorder 🙄🙄🙄

I’m not anxious but I’m exhausted, have just sat down after arriving home from long commute and have some kind of unexplained sharp pain that is coming and going on doesn’t of hip. DH does similar but is often away with work so home management is often down to me as well! I am lucky though I do say that to myself.

This thread is quite shocking because it reveals the overall state of the population's mental health. Some serious research is needed on how things have come to this situation and there needs to be radical change.
I appreciate the extreme stress on parents keeping so many plates spinning whilst financial stresses increase but there are also the increasing numbers of adolescents who are severely unhappy and withdrawn. I'm looking at this as a person who is now retired and has a roof over my head etc. I have had my time as a full time working parent with a family to look after and it was difficult but I don't recall the level of stress people are currently experiencing. There have always been people with severe mental health issues but not on the current scale. I feel so sorry for the people who are struggling through life and getting no enjoyment from it, whether they are able to work or not.

An incredibly informed post. Clinical anxiety (ie true anxiety of the sort that renders people unable to work, not reactionary stress/anxiety whereupon choice is always retained) doesn't just go away, it has to be managed.
You've cracked it, and it'll have taken hard work on your part. But how incredible to know that you don't have to fear it now, because you're very skilled at managing it.

As you say, not everyone has the same life experiences/support/resource/confidence to get that grip on it.

Lots of people who get pip work.

I honestly find this all a bit bizarre, as I come from an area of the world whereby this (people getting paid to be off work for "mental health" reasons) simply doesn't exist. My home governemtn doesn't pay people to be off work because of anxiety. So people just have to work and cope.

How do you know they are on benefits? Should you be snooping into people's records in this way and then talking about it on the Internet, even anonymously? Ghastly, unprofessional behaviour.

If you knew diddly squat about PIP you would know that a huge percentage get turned down and are only awarded it on appeal.

PIP is not awarded on the basis of "self reported" health conditions.

What happens to the people who can't work and can't cope?

To some people on this thread, these are goals for the UK to aim for.

I live in a Mediterranean country and am currently in the UK on business for a few days. I have found time to catch with a two very close friends who live in the UK and I have known for over 20 years and they both feel exactly like the OP. We were all at law school together and both work in the City. as I did previously. Both have said I have a higher standard of living despite earning less than them, have a nicer house and I have to say, I am not stressed all the time like they are. I get stressed but not at that level. It really saddens me as to what has gone wrong. They are older than the OP but feel they are going to be thrown out of their jobs, said they feel depressed daily, find life a chore, feel threatened by AI and just can't keep up with the pressures of elderly parents, kids at university and their jobs and life in general. It's really sad and they didn't want to do anything or go anywhere and they just felt down. Where I live we don't have any subsidy benefits, salaries are lower, cost of living much less and people are out of the door at 5pm, work half days on Wednesdays or Fridays in most offices and quality of life outside of the office is valued and seen as very important. My two friends who work from home in the UK seem to work much longer hours. I don't get it and I really felt for both of my friends. I really feel for a lot of the posters here and just sending you all lots of hugs.

I don't know why you're having a go at people who are signed off with anxiety. The only person I know who is signed off with anxiety simply cannot cope with work. He will have one thing to do in a week's time and cannot function in the lead up to it. He will genuinely consider crashing his car on the way to work so he doesn't have to go. He is signed off because he is too ill to work. I don't get why you're setting yourself up against people like this - he doesn't think that others are well, he just knows that he himself is deeply unwell.

I remember seeing a documentary years back about what happened to people with poor MH in developing counties. They were literally chained up in tiny little buildings and left to rot...

You're judging everyone against your life, lifestyle, up bringing and standards. Not everyone has a mortgage to pay, children who need feeding or even the tiniest of reasons to get out of bed everyday.

85% of people who voted on this tread don't know what anxiety/depression really is - because if they did they'd wouldn't be able to work.

And they just hate disabled people generally.

I am qualified and do work in a mental health capacity (not prepared to say more here) and part of me does agree with you OP, because there ARE a significant number of people who a) purposely play the system, and b) need to realise that what they have is mild anxiety/ stress and - I hate to say this, but - dig deeper and do difficult things.
Before I’m flamed, let me qualify this more by saying this does not include people with significant mental illness. I don’t think OP is referring to people with actual mental illness or suicide ideation.

Plus, I also believe that capitalism and piss poor governments have resulted in a sick society. We are collapsing under pressure. There isn’t enough mental health support for those who genuinely need it.

I think it’s pretty incredible you’re continuing to work, your condition sounds so challenging.

yes, I’m stressed, depressed and skint but I have no choice but to hold it together and go to work. I’m
self employed, if I don’t work I don’t get paid so even though a doctor could sign me off work it would financially put me in the shitter as I live alone and would not be able to pay my bills. I spent 18 years holding my hair together as a single mum, and I have nothing left to give emotionally, I just plough on every day working to pay the bills and know that this is my life until the day I drop, no retirement for me.