Tony Blair says we need a national conversation about MH as its costing too much

[B0xes]

Tony Blair said recently on Jimmy's Jobs of the Future Podcast (clip available on youtube) that we need to have a national conversation about mental health. Why are we spending so much on it. Why are people self diagnosing. He believes people are being encouraged to view everyday challenges we all face as mental health issues.

Is he being unreasonable? In one sense, I'm inclined to agree to an extent, in the other, I believe he led the charge for so many of the social changes that have made us less resilient and many of these issues are due to individualism which led to atomisation and loneliness and being encouraged to see the market as the entity that fulfills our needs rather than strong families and robust social networks.

YABU - Blair can do one.

YANBU - He might have a point

He does have a point. Some people are self-diagnosing because GP services and the wider NHS are on their knees, but others cite MH as a way of avoiding any difficult feelings or situations, or to get out of inconveniencing themselves. E.g. "I need to WFH because I'm too anxious to come to the office".

Both options are correct. Blair was responsible for many societal changes that have lowered peoples levels of resilience; but there are many occasions where people are sad because of an external trigger and the emotion is natural and valid but people are medicating those emotions away.

I'm sure I'll be slaughtered for saying that on here.

I should point out that I have diagnosed MH issues which are challenging, but I would do myself no favours by using them as a reason to hide from society. Hard doesn't mean impossible.

I'm curious - which societal changes that have lowered people's resilience do you think Blair was responsible for?

He was a major proponant of the buy to let market took us into an illigal war and destroyed the value of an undergraduate university education. He can fucking do one.

On this issue, he is correct. It's normal to be anxious, upset and feel a variety of emotions at different points in life but these days everything has a label and needs a diagnosis.

I think people are doing it all the more because it's become a sort of get out of jail free card. Want a day off work- need a mental health day. You were an arsehole- I have poor mental health. You're flakey and unreliable - again blame mental health.

(Edit to add, I haven't seen the video so I'm going by your account OP)

It depends on what this conversation will cover.

If it will be about what’s causing the current MH issues and what we can do about it - for example, rein in social media, encourage face to face socialising and exercise - then that might be useful.

If it’s going to be people without MH issues telling people with that they need to buck up as they’re costing too much - not helpful.

He has a point to a certain extent. He’s right that words like anxiety are overused when it’s perfectly normal that things like a new job might make a person nervous.

People are self diagnosing because the waiting lists are years long and NHS GPs often like to gatekeep access to services. On more than one occasion I had to book multiple GP appointments over months, years to get a referral to a specialist by which time the condition was worse.

As someone with multiple, diagnosed MH issues and who is currently on the pathway to being diagnosed with autism, he can fuck off, quite frankly.

Maybe we should look at why so many people are struggling and why they seem to want to totally opt out of modern life and look at changing those issues instead.

As long as the conversations also include nationwide rationing food on health grounds, increasing access to swimming pools and gyms

It’s a bit rich to blame a politician who’s been out of office for nearly 20 years. If anything’s to blame it’s Covid.

I think there’s probably a good argument that too many people are using anxiety / depression / ADHD etc to avoid having to engage with things they don’t like eg work.

The number of people claiming disability benefits has increased by 1m people since 2019, and a significant % of this is related to mental health issues.

Do all those people really have mental health issues so significant they need additional financial support or are unable to work? Seems unlikely.

I got my wrists slapped recently for saying the word resilience. Apparently we shouldn't need to be resilient and the world should be set up so we don't have to be.

I'm sure you've posted on here blaming Thatcher!! Just saying!

Many young people have missed out on crucial aspects of social development as a result of Covid lockdowns. This has led to an increase in anxiety/stress.

There are perverse incentives in the benefit system to claim mental health issues. This leads to people with mild anxiety claiming they are too ill to work.

There is insufficient investment in mental helath care, mentoring etc.

These issues ALL need to be addressed.

It is not in the interests of young people in particular to decide at 18 that they are never going to work because of mental health issues.

It’s weird how flippant we are about MH compared to PH.

Unless he has detailed access to these people’s medical records his view is unreasonable.

Also just because something is an “everyday challenge” does not stop it being an MH issue for some people. Phobias are “everyday challenges” but are a subset of anxiety disorder which is very much a mental health issue.

I agree with this but I also agree with him on this.

Tony Blair needs to get over his messiah complex and shut up.

You cannot just click your fingers into being resilient.

We can't afford for everyone with anxiety and depression to spend their entire lives not working. And not working isn't going to help with those mental health issues anyway.

I agree. There is a balance to be had. We must acknowledge that there are, and always have been, people who struggle significantly with their mental health, and they deserve the same support and help that we expect people to get for their physical health (and we should expect better than we are getting on either right now). But I also think that we have got to the point of normalising a lack of mental resilience, and people are diagnosing and medicating for things that are part and parcel of lifes normal challenges. It seems that we are getting to the stage where almost everyone has a diagnosis of some mental health condition, and if you don't, you want one. I think you are very brave to say that you see it as your responsibility to tackle your mental health and not hide behind it. I know that some people can't do that. But equally some people won't. I know people who won't, and in every case, over the years, I have seen them get worse and worse because of that. And I'll self-declare - no mental health issues but physically disabled. I can barely walk, but I refuse to not try. I use my legs every day no matter how hard it is. I know people like me with less serious medical conditions who can't walk because they gave up doing it.

Whether its your body or your brain, they both need the effort to exercise them. You use it or you lose it. And medication isn't always a help, it can be an avoidance. We need better mental health support, especially in terms of supporting and building resilience.

He's right. The issue is we simply can't afford PIP for all these people and we need them in the labour market. Plus disengaging from the labour market is not usually good for those individuals either.

I agree with this.

The NHS is on its' knees though and there's practically no support for people with MH issues other than tablets. I'm having to pay £50 a week for private therapy as what I need has a waiting list of over two years 🤷‍♀️

I'm also on a waiting list for an autism assessment but my doctor was pretty clear that all we could do in the meantime was "try medication" to help with the MH issues I'm having as a result of being undiagnosed and still having to work to feed myself.

He's also not actually able to diagnose me with autism himself as he's not a psychiatrist, so even though he's certain that I have it, I still have to sit on a waiting list for months in order to be formally assessed.

The whole system needs fixing if you really want to tackle mental health.

No, but it is a skill that can be learned. Like any other.

As with many other posters here I think he has a point but only to a certain extent.
His vast wealth will cushion him from some of the effects of life's difficulties, what does he know!?