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

Because I have faith in people that they can try to improve their lives and not just give up and accept a life of sitting on the sofa watching tv. The best thing for mh is routine and a reason to get up and leave the house. I feel really strongly about this. Mental illness can be manageable with hard work and determination but only you can do this and you've got to want it.

The bottom line is obviously catching children before they turn into adults with issues. Those we can help of course.

That means massive culture change in education you only need to glance at threads on here bashing dc with sen from people purporting to be in education!

Teachers must learn sen in the pgce or what training they get.
We need different reading schemes that are fluid and flexible to meet child's needs not :forcing all of children through the narrow funnel of phonics.

We need more Ed pysc available along with properly trained Senco who actually have stragety to help children with needs in their classes.

We need more help for young dc with problematic families to support them emotionally.

I'd live someone to post a list of diverse employers falling over themselves to employ society's outliers and the vulnerable. If being in my mid 50s with a diverse CV can't even get me past screening how do all the people on here with multiple mental health issues with the flexible and understanding management get these jobs?

And before someone posts a screed of "inclusive policy" for every employer in the country, what is written down to tick boxes very rarely materialises in my experience.

Companies need to make maximum profit for minimal outlay. Promises of reasonable adjustments may look good on paper, but if those who require them "aren't the right fit" a company is under no obligation to employ them or provide for them.

I'm baffled by the implication that the UK is an employment Utopia and that if you just demand a job you'll be given one.

Nobody said it did. But she needs to learn that things might not always be hunky dory and that she still needs to function as an adult. I say that as an ex anorexic/bulimic and someone who was fantasising about driving into walls at one point. But you know what, I didn't because I had two little boys who would have been devastated and I just kept going (including to work as a full time teacher) and things got better!

Why do your employers think it's fine for you to sit at your desk and sob all day?

It's a bloody good job that we all don't feel that way then!

I have not given up. I don't sit on the sofa watching TV at all. I try and make a routine for myself. Mostly self care like a shower, and chores like hoovering. I struggle a lot of the time with those. I had my first shower of the year yesterday.
I have a dog, but she is very old so not great at getting me out the house as she wants to stay in bed!

I am not sure what you mean.

Oh get over yourself. You’ve had 10 years of therapy!!!! Chronically ill people are getting nothing, zilch and spend years on waiting lists.

But if your going to the pub twice a week do you not shower for that 🤔

This!
It is all very well saying disabled people are not working, when the main reason they are not working is because no one will employ them.

I have literally stated this on this thread, and I am still being blamed for being unemployed.

They never knew. I was lone working in an office in the middle of an agricultural showground, and I'd taken that job precisely because I was struggling and didn't want to be around people. Still did what I was paid to do, still didn't dissolve into a heap maintaining that I couldn't possibly work. That was a really bad time actually, divorce, had to sell the family home and move into a rented hovel, younger son at one point was suspected of having a fatal kidney condition. It was bloody tough and I was actually diagnosed with adjustment disorder, where your life changes so fast that your brain can't keep up. Guess what, never had a day off sick and got glowing references when I left.

No, I don't. Look up Spoon Theory. I saw that, and it applies.

Yes but you said it was down to no qualifications and a criminal record! Nothing to do with mental health issues.

I know what it is. Which is why I'm amazed if your so ill you can't work that you have the energy to go on holidays and the pub twice a week maybe your spoons need redirecting

I don't think it's me that needs to be getting over myself, actually.....

Maybe I missed that bit. It is MH issues. I have a ton of medical evidence to for that.
If I missed that bit, sorry!

If everyone thought that making other people happy was more important than being a tax payer, the country would be even more screwed.

I have numerous disabling mental health disorders after a lifetime of abuse. I’m taking all the help they’ll give me. This thread is making me worry I’ll lose my benefits.

I think there's a big difference between being sad and having a diagnosis of depression. Or between feeling anxious and having a diagnosed anxiety disorder. People have adopted medicalised words and applied them to everyday situations.

But I'm not sure about the statement that mental illness is costing too much money. In my local area, there aren't many services that people with a diagnosis can access beyond websites with self help information. You might be able to get yourself onto a waiting list for 6 sessions of CBT over the phone. Or be booked onto a stress reduction webinar with 200 other people. It doesn't go a long way towards getting someone out of an actual mental health crisis.

Lots of people with an actual diagnosed mental illness manage it with medication and carry on being productive members of society.

So I think that overall his statement was more problematic than useful.

I’m not the one lecturing to people who are on endless waiting lists having had 10 years of therapy!!!!!

Both are correct I agree. Just my experience: I came to the UK 6 years ago from a very poor country decimated by HIV/aids in the 1990s as well as globalisation of World Bank/IMF policies as well as many other factors too many to mention. I lived at a time when lit. every one in my class had a relative dying of HIV. Where kids nursed both parents through harrowing, long draw deaths with meagre resources. Then a 15 or 13 or 18 year old being left to fend for siblings. Yet I see many of these people thrive and grow into well adjusted adults regardless of whether they are now economically successful or not. I see happier people in my country even when they are going to bed hungry and experiencing premature deaths of family people than I see here. I hear people say they are so traumatised they cant function from very minor things and it makes me wonder: where is this countries sense of resilience? Yes we all have different capacities for coping but we need to build some resilience. What would happen if there was a war here? Or a major disaster? Yes many would cope. But there are also so many more that we as a society need to work with to build resilience so they can cope with life's ups and downs. Life cannot be a constant happiness and top achievements. We need to learn we will fall. We will fail. We will get disappointed. Get sick. Loose friendships. And we need to find ways of coping. At the same time, I am a big proponent that not everyone can cope well. So for those, we need to build fair and responsive systems to support them. But for now, everyone seems to have a MH issue. Perhaps some of those are simply life issues and do not need to be pathologised.

What do you want-a medal?

I go on holiday once per year with my mum. She is not my carer in an official capacity, but she is still my carer. She pays for the holiday. It is literally us sat in a caravan. We don't go anywhere, not even the campsite entertainment. Why is this an issue to you?

And my pub visits is my boyfriend taking me out. He has ASD too, but he does not have social anxiety. He has been amazing, and is getting me out about. I am gripping his arm when we are out, and when he goes to the loo, he makes sure I am ok to be left alone

Maybe I could redirect my spoons to just working. Then it would be nothing else at all. Not even washing myself, as I struggle with that even now.

To add to this, we need to be careful in this discussion not to dismiss those that need help with MH.