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

I take sertraline as I've always been prone to bouts of lower mood. I also have Aspergers. I do everything I can to maintain my mental health. I'm very organised so I don't get overloaded, I live on a schedule, I run 4 times a week, walk outside every day whatever the weather. I eat well and maintain a decent weight. I have a few hobbies and male sure I mostly work from the office so I'm not isolated. I know if I give into it I could quickly become a chubby hermit. I also actually engaged in the CBT course I was recently sent on despite being a little sceptical.

I still believe that people talk about mental health far too much and it causes a lot of issues. The resilience level of so many people is alarmingly low. School refusing never really used to be a thing, so many people have CFS or anxiety and call themselves disabled.

I'm not sure what the answer is but I feel we are a significantly less resilient in the last decade.

Erm why because I'm wanting individual support to be given to each person to help them live a more fulfilled life? Okay then

I work in mental health and I would say over the years there has been a massive increase in self diagnosis and people saying they have an anxiety disorder because of normal anxiety provoking situations eg exams, meeting new people, starting a new job. I wouldn’t totally blame lockdown as young people were getting very unwell before then. From my observations I would blame snow plough parenting (removing obstacles and difficulties) and social media/phones. As young people are constantly stay distracted by them online world, they won’t engage with the real world so can’t cope with it -socialising, difficult feelings, concentration.

On a side note I've seen the vitriol towards unemployed autistic adults for being "lazy" "waste of space" making excuses so they can't work" but many of them are going on job interviews almost every day but no employer wants them because most employers want someone who is "a people person " "confident and chatty"etc.

So why would they want to hire an autist who struggles with all of that and cannot even make eye contact or understand social cues. Give autistic people a break it's disheartening enough all the job interview rejections and then they have to put up with people calling them lazy, scroungers, and fakers.

🤣the most ridiculous most yet and there have been a few. My dd desperately needs her PIP. It was CAMHs who insisted we desperately needed it and pushed/ supports us to fill out the form.The reason there is no therapy is because MH services is on its knees, it’s been badly mismanaged for years and staff are leaving in their droves. It starts in CAMHs, kids leave CAMHs having not had the treatment they need and then transfer to an already overloaded adult services which has next to nothing to offer.

Also to add I do think parents removing children from all battles and fighting their corner is a problem e.g. my child doesn't like running... should I withdraw them from sports day? They were sad this morning... did I do the right thing keeping them off school for a mental health day? I didn't like that the teacher told my daughter she was being silly and giggly... should I involve the governors?

Yep You are only allowed to do courses via the Job Centre

How? I don't, Tell me how I can get the same as NMW on benefits. I am a single person with no kids and no housing costs. So it is not possible.

Cant vote one way or another because he has a point and again he does not. MH always was (and is) underfunded and misunderstood, so any increase to provision is going to seem shocking because it is against a background of chronic under identification and treatment. On the other had, there are more people (more in the younger generations ime) who find any kind of anxiety to be intolerable. We are also all under more stress and life is pretty grim - which always leads to an upswing in MH problems. So I guess overall, he has a point but is not totally right.

Okay, clearly you're happy with the status quo of taxpayers throwing money at PIP where we have no idea how it's spent or what on. You may be happy with that, but many of us aren't

I never ever thought i would agree with Blair, i hate the man with a passion but for once in his life he is right. We can all get sad, nervous angry, fed up etc, they are all normal emotions, it doesn't mean we are depressed or have anxiety . Some of us are a bit unsocial, clumsy, tardy, unorganised etc, all perfectly normal and doesn't mean we have ADHD or Autism. Of course there are many with genuine MH issues but there are way too many that just love an excuse to do as they please, to have an excuse for not doing anything they don't want to do.

It is daft. He would be making decent money, but 'computer says no'.
It does leave people feeling trapped.

Are you happy to throw money at pensioners to sit and do nothing? When pension was introduced, people were only living a few years post work. Now people are retiring and surviving 20-30 years. What can we do about those people? The budget that is spent on those people will dwarf those that get PIP for anxiety. Sickening you put anxiety in quote marks, it is an affliction that can leave people completely incapacitated

She is but until she has the therapy she needs she won’t be able to access work.

It would costs even more to work out what PIP claimants need the money for, and to review what it is spent on.

“Some of us are a bit unsocial, clumsy, tardy, unorganised etc, all perfectly normal and doesn't mean we have ADHD or Autism.“ Which is why those who are just a bit disorganised won’t have a diagnosis of adhd or autism .

And again and again, this is something people do not want to hear

Pensioners have paid into the state pension and their own pensions in many cases. So very different. This thread is clearly about mental health if you read the title. And I put anxiety in quotation marks not brackets because I was emphasising the anxiety that is actually just normal life or anxiety that can be worked through with help and support. No reason to bite at everything, calm down

Tough. It’s needed and I really don’t see any government any time soon taking much needed funding that helps the disabled function and access work.

Yup, the vitriol that I dare mention targeted mental health support instead of PIP and posters are acting like I've said they should be locked up at birth!

You don’t get PIP for anxiety.

£20k?

In 2024, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) standard weekly rate is £72.65 for daily living and £28.70 for mobility. The enhanced weekly rate is £108.55 for daily living and £75.75 for mobility.

Max PIP is just over £9k per year.

You can do if you fill in the forms the right way.

A lot of people posting on this thread seem rather ill informed about PIP and its eligibility criteria.

It was another poster who initially mentioned 20k a year. We were talking about the combo of housing benefit, UC, PIP and any other benefits for those who aren't working due to MH etc. PIP is the top up.