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

Ah but it is not impossible to get, I agree with that, or of course nobody would be getting it, but to imply that it is easy to get, is another thing. That is simply not true, in my experience.

Sigh. I was saying that if the number of people applying for PIP is so high it can’t be impossible to get as many claim it is. Not sure what your post has got to go with that?

No, it’s not.🤷‍♀️. I’m a benefits advocate and it’s just not impossible,

I was saying that there are actually a lot of genuine claimants or potential claimants so a high number of people on PIP is not surprising, and not necessarily indicative of widespread fraud.

Alright perhaps I shouldn’t have used the word impossible. Hard to get. If if it was hard to get the numbers would not be as high as they are.

So what's going to happen when all benefits are scrapped? There aren't enough jobs to go around for a start. What about the inevitable sky rocketing suicide rates? How do people feel about that? (Not expecting anyone to care to be honest, also wouldn't expect this to be covered on the news or anything).

I read his comments. He is not wrong.

Too many people are medicalising every 'down', every 'anxious' moment, every 'difference' as something that needs a label and medical support instead of treating emotional ups and downs, nerves and differences as part of life and just getting on with life.

It's really sad, tbh, that so many people completely lack normal day-to-day coping skills any more. Worse, that they don't think they should have to learn how to.

Thank you thank God at last

It seems some people on here think that the threat of benefits being stopped will magically make people better. Newsflash - threat of more poverty wont improve MH issues.

Indeed it has been proven time and time again that the threat to take someone's benefits away doesn't magically make them get a job the next day.. instead they sink deeper and deeper into poverty, irreversible MH, crime etc

Probably best just to pay them their few £ of benefits for gods sake.

I can't think of anyone I know who lacks coping skills or resilience, of any age. Most people, certainly by the time you get to middle age, are coping in any way they know how with some very difficult things that life can throw at you.

That is very unlikely to happen though. I would be extremely surprised to see them scrap benefits completely. The fallout would be too great.

Excellent analysis.

The early years should have social and emotional development as their primary focus, not phonics. Schools have devolved into veritable sausage factories, with draconian rules, obsession with academic results, and an atmosphere of deep distrust and suspicion between students and teachers. Instead of adequate financial provision for the smaller class sizes, the social workers and therapists/ counselors and SEN diagnosis and educational accommodations that are so clearly needed, successive governments have doubled down on ridiculous curriculum adjustments and placed their faith in detention and exclusion policies that turn the school environment into one where problems are generated, not solved.

This.

But that's what the population wants @LadyKenya

Indeed. If someone has been out of the workforce for years/decades, has MH issues, then the likelihood of them getting a job is slim to none.
I think there needs to be a a serious discussion about UBI.

I don't think so. In the main, most reasonable people understand that there has to be a safety net, of some sort. There will always be people who need to access it, for one reason, or another.

Blair doesn't have a job where he is micromanaged , has impossible deadlines , pointless tickboxes , too many hours , not enough staff , failing IT etc , there are many people who jobs were managable along side everyday stress years ago , that now reach a point of burnout .

I completely agree. What we need to be looking at is WHY modern life is causing MH problems?

I’m pretty sure his daughter had poor mental health as a pre-teen/teenager.

I'm not really sure what business it is of anyone's if someone is suffering with a long-term mental health condition or a temporary mental health issue. This could happen to anyone and a safety net should be in place. Unless, of course, you are one of those people who contribute to people's mental health issues negatively. . For example, you may be a shite landlord. You may be a shite employer. You may be a crap manager. You might just even be a judgemental arse who, by writing bollocks on the Internet for people to read who may be struggling with their mental health, is contributing to the problem. I imagine many of the problems people and families face could be solved/ improved with more investment in public services and stricter employment laws and rental laws in place. This comes at a financial cost but benefits everyone. Unsurexwhy it seems a more popular past time for people to stigmatise certain vulnerable groups of people. We've had the lot here today. Children, benefit claimants, and potential mentally unwell/ well people diagnosed by neighbours, friends, relations, work colleagues. The highlight for me has been the lady who suggested her work colleague was faking it because she had mice in her apartment. Poor housing leads to poor mental health. Poor working conditions leads to poor mental health. Poor pay leads to poor mental health. Poor treatment and judgement by others leads to poor mental health. It's all very well posters saying that we should all take responsibility for our own well being but we should all take responsibility for how we treat others and talk about them.

Or maybe we are seeing the fallout of years of

• social media and smartphone use
• lack of mental health support including CAMHS
• failing NHS - long waiting times for physical health issues leads to mental health issues
• over concern about safety leading to helicopter parenting, limiting the life experiences and skill development of children and young people

Along with all of us having lived through a pandemic which has left millions with long Covid, and the impact of covid and lockdowns has impacted the mental health particularly of young people who had their development stalled.

But yes let's just blame the people affected by all of this and call them flakey and beat them with a big stick for not coping. Because it's much harder to actually fix the societal issues.

Plus I'd just point out that berating people struggling with their mental health and calling them names and telling them how useless they are, really works in getting them to pull their socks up and get back to work.

This is without doubt the crux of the matter. I think some of it is lack of hope and stability. It's all very well saying that previous generations had it worse, or people in war torn countries, or whatever comparison people want to make, but it seems that we live in parallel universes where allegedly so much better off in so many ways, yet accessing much of this improved life is getting harder and harder.

No wonder people become depressed and anxious to a pathological degree when despite following all the rules they don't get anywhere, or have their lives upended in some way every five minutes often for reasons completely out of their control such as the knock on effects of geo-politics or the vagaries of "the market".

People live to say we've had it too good for too long but that means we don't all have the same resilience to deal with left field occurrences because they have been a thing of the past for many until recent years. Getting housing for example, has never been more difficult, even for those in employment, because of the way eligibility for private rental is calculated. Perhaps living in a tent would supply this resilience we all need, as long as you don't succumb to hypothermia.

"Neurodiversity is just that though - a difference in thinking" @Probablygreen no it isn't "just that". You clearly know very little about ADHD if you think you've covered it.

As for what you say about ADHD not existing in apparently functioning adults because if it was real they wouldn't be able to hold down a job etc - that's rubbish and an insult to people who have struggled for years often, in the case of women being misdiagnosed with EUPD, depression etc etc along the way. A diagnosis of ADHD is not just about present functioning but also past functioning. It's not just about hyperactivity but also impulsivity and inattentiveness, social functioning, mood and RSD and crucially about comorbidities.

Just because behaviours like losing car keys are discussed on TikTok etc as being indicative of ADHD doesn't mean that adults who have a diagnosis from a clinician are pretending. Your DS's ADHD is likely to change as he grows and matures and he may develop strategies and become less hyperactive - will he then be classed another faker? I just don't think any of us can say that others are not genuine unless we have walked miles in their shoes.