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 can't help feeling certain inhabitants of Matthew Parker Street are very busy on the eve of the local elections. There are a few threads running like this right now.

Hope the overtime pays well!

Disabled people can't have nail varnish or lipstick? Who knew?

I am very doubtful about the reality here.

For example, my neighbour has multiple, complex, overlapping needs, of which mental health is one. But his mental health problems come from some kind of severe learning disability plus complete inability to go out of the house.

The guy is very naive, completely inept at social engagement and there is no way I could imagine a job he could do. The figures the Tories are using don't give causality or reason for someone being off work. They just show how many of the cohort have comorbid mental health conditions.

So please do be careful looking at these headlines, the govt and their right wing propaganda rags are masters of sleight of hand.

In the case of my neighbour, he went through an assessment with ATOS and got classified as able to work, despite the assessment from his GP. He never managed to present an appeal and he now lives in abject poverty with his mum on her state pension.

They only heat the house for an hour a day, wearing fleeces and outdoor clothes inside. They live off the cheapest possible food. There are many others like him who are essentially unsupported.

I don't think there is this generous benefits machine that the papers obsess over.

Do you think people with disabilities shouldn’t be able to wear make up or have painted nails?

You need to get a new job. You clearly don't respect your clients or their right to confidentiality.

They are all on pip but always have their faces made up, lips done and nails of perfection.

All of the pip claimants? Even the men?

I’ve just done a bit of a search and apparently @threatmatrix works for the NHS, works in a school, works 4 days a week in a cafe, works in a ‘very high powered industry’ with her own staff, and works 6 days a week while running a house but has a cleaner. Oh, and has an astronomical chip on her shoulder about people who dont work, or don’t work full time.

@threatmatrix I painted my nails the other day. Fingers and toes. Should I hand back my pip?

@TwelveAngryWhiskers I'd be crabbit too if I was working all they jobs! She must be knackered

Oooooh I knew I recognised the name!

@TheGrimSqueakersFlea and she still has time to post endlessly on here. There really is no excuse for the likes of us, painting our nails with PIP money.

You have spare cash for nail varnish? Grifter!

I’ve had a few psychotic episodes. The only place that would take me was McDonalds and I used to “see” mice running around in the fries. It didn’t matter bills had to be paid and in fact, during the worst of it, homelessness didn’t bother me much. I wouldn’t sleep for days and be screaming randomly because walking dead people so real I could smell them, would jump out and scare me.

That was only sometimes though, most of the time it was depression so bad I had to get a couple teeth removed because I never brushed them. Didn’t shower and was so anxious I couldn’t breathe when I thought about going to the job centre. They sanctioned me and told me I should try harder blah blah blah everyone has stress… just like you OP and many commenters.

Do you think I could have gotten over it with a quick cry in a car park? Hahaha if only I COULD have cried! I felt so emotionally numb I physically cut myself and felt zero pain.

Would you want to work with a suicidal/homicidal person?

I suppose in threatmatrix world, men are far more likely to be genuine PIP claimants because they rarely wear make up and nail varnish? If that is the #1 red flag for a faker…nothing misogynist about that is there?

Some of us have offered support though and hopefully ? helped her see she’s not alone. It is really tough out there for a lot of people. Life is really hard for some people but I wish it was different! There’s a balance between having some empathy and also having some perspective. Some days you need just empathy and it’s clear the OP was having a difficult time of it.

THIS… one size doesn’t fit all

Funny. I had a brother in law with depression. He couldn’t manage it and hung himself.

You do realise that there are different levels of depression, don’t you? My Mum was given Electroconvulsive Therapy on many occasions when was locked up for months at a time on a psychiatric unit. She was catatonic, literally a zombie. Couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, just completely absent.

But well done to everyone who is “choosing” to go to work, and to not be sectioned or worse.

I don't think anyone who's saying every sick and disabled person should work has answered my questions yet.

How to make employers hire disabled people? Many businesses don't want to hire sick and disabled people, and many sack people on incapacity grounds instead of making adjustments.

Secondly, I ask again. Where are the jobs? Even if every single disabled person currently on sickness benefits miraculously recovered, there's not even enough job vacancies for everyone on job seekers, before we even get to people on sickness benefits.

Reversing the state pension age would free up some jobs but I don't know if it would be enough. Although it's a start, I suppose.

Also, how many of those vacancies that do exist are zero hours contracts that provide no standard employment protection and can be self-employment masquerading as employment?

During job searches I have seen MLMs posited as "self employment opportunities " - these disproportionately target women.

I tried to get a job as a shelf stacker at night to prop up my shop at one point. I couldn't even get an interview.

I was rejected from a cleaning job because I was a retention risk, likely to leave if I found something better. Never mind I was desperate at that point to get any job to get me off benefits.

It's really not as easy as some make out.

It also occurs to me that Rishi has played a psychological blinder.

The framing of it all as "work will set you free" regardless of whether it is low paid, in an unsupportive environment, insecure and tedious, because it gives one purpose is not coming from a place of genuine care for people's well-being, be it mental or physical.

Covid was the testing ground for the Behavioural Nudge Unit to fine tune ways to put fear into people, divide them and leverage fear. Now we have institutional gas-lighting at its finest to divert attention away from what TPTB are up to.

Pathetic. Are they three inches long, with diamontes and need refilling every couple of weeks at the cost of around £35? No, but I suggest if you’re able to bend and paint your toenails……..

I own a eatery, I also work for the NHS and yes my business is very high powered. I’ve always had a cleaner because I’ve always worked my nuts off and yes I despise people who are able to work but don’t. I’ve had at least 10 different jobs over the years. And as you’re being nosey I worked abroad for a while and had a beauty salon. You didn’t need to stalk me just had to ask. I take it you’re on benefits.

@threatmatrix

Are you currently a nail technician by any chance? Or is that one of your many side hustles?

Why, I’m good at my job, it’s wonderful catching people out.