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

Yes, this thread is awful.

Add to that far more outdoor unstructured play for the under 7’s. Ban smartphones for under 16’s. Encourage a society where being a carer is valued, a farm worker respected and a plumber an ambition. Academia is not the only measure of success

Why would you go on holiday to a caravan and just sit on the sofa watching telly you can do that at home without costing your mum a fortune

You have to earn £40k to be a net contributor. So anyone earning less than that is also making the "country screwed".
And thanks for making me feel bad about trying my best with the shit hand I was dealt with.

Aww go you! og she is bloody trying to function as an adult!!! Do you not realise eating disorders and ND are on a spectrum. I've had Anorexia and I'm ND too, I work- woopy do! I don't speak for everybody. My dd has battled continuous chronic hospitalising Anorexia and managed to stabilise herself even though so many professionals never thought she could. She's now battling CPTSD whilst managing debilitating ADHD, ASC and possible EUPD. She is fighting to get qualifications and eventually work however at the moment she can't work and won't be able to for some time. She is very much functioning as an adult- a very courageous one as are many many other people battling MH conditions.

@WhitegreeNcandle ai can't fix a broken loo I think all these trades will come into premium fashion

Ban smart phones from education. Absolutely have them travelling in and leaving but not through the school day

Some mental illness can be managed.

Paranoid schizophrenia, anti social PD, psychosis - not so much. Different ball game altogether. Routine does help, yep, but it’s not nearly enough with the majority of severe and enduring mental illness requiring sectioning, IM meds, depots, etc.

I think years ago people just had to get on with it. I'm audhd, depression, anxiety state, trauma and widowed young and I forced myself to keep going because I'd have lost ds if I hadn't. I once had a full blown panic attack whilst driving my car at 70 on the motorway, in the outside lane because I was being filtered off onto a dual carriageway. I was on my way to my nursing shift as well. I had to put both front windows all the way down and bit my hand hard to distract myself from the attack. I eventually got a GP appointment and got beta blockers.

I spent years on nights because it was the only way I could cope. It took its toll, but I'm still here.

Because my mum loves me and wants my company when she also goes on holiday?

So many people have no empathy. They haven't got any personal experience of debilitating mental health conditions so they try to equate their experience of making themselves go into work one day when they didn't feel like it with someone who faces severe anxiety that impacts their whole life. You can't possibly presume to know how other people feel. Until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes...

My DC has barely been able to speak outside the home since she was 2 years old. There's no support available. She's 15 now and I am in despair about how she will survive in the future. She's so intelligent but who's going to give a job to someone who can't speak in front of others.

I wish there was a wholesale change in society - the current world is designed for the loud, confident, sociable people. Everywhere is busy, full of information overload, electronics, technology. It's no wonder it's becoming harder and harder for some people to cope - especially the neurodiverse.

To be fair my mum had mental health issues in the 80s - once walked 13 miles down a dual carriageway in a dressing gown. Now horrendously sadly, dying of the brain damage she got from ECT she got that was meant to fix her. So I don’t know if we got on with it more before - or if we just zapped people into utter oblivion so they’d keep quiet.

Iv been sectioned multiple times i have bipolar and eupd. I manage to work part time yes it's not consistent but it definitely helps my mh having a routine and a purpose.

Well, it wasn't a decade straight and it was all NHS which I also waited for at times. I had my first lot when I was struggling with infertility and then more when I was diagnosed with adjustment disorder having lost my career, marriage and home in a one-er and then asked for more to help with the neglect I'd suffered as a child, the death of my father, the consequences of my mother's undiagnosed learning difficulties and the grooming and sexual abuse I'd suffered at the hands of a much older next door neighbour when I was a teenager. Some of us just don't dissolve at the first hurdle, you know? My life has been a literal shit show and I've just carried on regardless.

My dd has a routine and purpose. Shes not able to work at the moment though.

It depends how unwell you are though doesn’t it. You’d be surprised how many people are in institutional care for mental illness, and for how long - some for 30-40+ years. Once people are in, it’s bloody hard to get out again. People who are actively delusional, weaponising, paranoid, sexually harming (ie publicly masturbating), can’t work.

I mean, somebody's who that unwell clearly needs a different approach, but a lot of people can achieve quite a bit through force of will and knowing how to manage themselves.

But does she plan to work in the future with the right support or is she just saying no i can't work so I'm not gonna try, as there is a significant difference.

Lucky you! Literally nobody would get therapy for infertility, end of marriage etc- on the NHS now. So you’ve had 10 years of therapy at the tax payers expense for things many would just get on with as you put it but you begrudge others costing the state for their struggles .🤔

Christ thats awful Im so so sorry

Now that's unnecessarily spiteful.

PIP is not an unemployment benefit. It has nothing to do with employment status. If you are cocerned about benefits for normal living costs for people who do not work that is covered by universal credit.

Trouble is though that too often everyone’s treated the exact same way, regardless of how unwell they might actually be. And if I showed you photos of my mum with me, or told you the many amazing things she did, you’d say well she can’t have been that unwell. It isn’t always so simple to see from the outside - seriously mentally ill people don’t often wave a flag saying ‘I’m unwell’ unless they’re in crisis.

The latter. However many, many others feel the same and the right support unfortunately simply isn’t there.

I've read some interesting articles on asylums during the victoriana era and early 1900s. I'm not sure we did all used to just get on with it.