To agree with Wes Streeting's statement that MH issues are overdiagnosed?

[Locutus2000]

Pretty controversial stuff.

Who decides?

At the risk of being harsh, hardly anyone on this thread actually possesses a basic understand of what mental illness entails for many people. Even anxiety can be crippling if it's bad enough.

Nobody is getting PIP for mild mental health problems.

And let's face it, there wasnt much for poor, illiterate people to do when they had downtime.

This generation would struggle with the boredom, before even contemplating anything else.

I think there needs to be much more early intervention and support. This is so severely lacking. MH services are so underfunded people are left on a downward spiral until they are seriously unwell.

Maybe more people are being diagnosed, but perhaps if there was more early support people could get help sooner before it becomes too serious and a long term issue.

Religion is the opiate of the masses (not sure whether that was ever actually said)

But we all need an opiate actually. And I say that as an atheist.

Too easy to confuse a lack of technology with a worse lifestyle though. Yes, we have antibiotics now but the existence and knowledge of them doesn't depend on everyone working themselves ill. They were discovered over 100 years ago and have been in production ever since. People in medieval Europe suffered in many ways, but most of them were never isolated or used to the same degree the modern population is.

Stroke or epilepsy?
Brain tumour?

Well for at least a decade all we've heard from every direction is how mental health is just as important as physical health. We've all been urged to speak up and seek help if we're struggling. There have been innumerable campaigns to destigmitise mental illness (although that only ever seems to apply to depression and anxiety, never conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar mania). The government can hardly now be surprised that there's such a massive increase in diagnoses, NHS wait lists and welfare benefit claims... what did they expect to happen?

The problem is NT people seem to now think they are ND. Everyone has adhd or anxiety. It is being over diagnosed.
Why should those receiving PIP for significant problems all be under review because of the mass increase in mh diagnoses?
Mh experts need to come uo with stricter parameters fast.

Depends what Mr Streeting means. I work in SEND in a secondary school, I spend about 25% of my limited time and energy trying to stop the endless amateur hour diagnosis industry. Parents, teachers, non educational professionals like social workers and the kids themselves all merrily diagnosing all manner of conditions.
Sometimes I have a quiet laugh to myself when CAHMS return a referral saying there are no grounds for an assessment.
On the other hand there clearly is a crisis in actual care for people with MH problems. There always has been inadequate care and its clearly become worse. So many children in my school have dreadful home lives, overcrowding and inappropriate housing is one reason. As is a lack of access to play spaces and fun for want of a better word. And I literally never speak to a parent whose child is send who doesn't have sleep problems. Social media and 24 hour access to entertainment have much to answer for.
But I havent noticed Mr Streeting or his government addressing the causes of mental or physical health problems so far.

I agree too. Pretty much every single Mumsnet thread nowadays mentions neurodiversity in some fashion.

They had lots of other things to contend with, death, disease, threat of starvation, little stimulation, exposure to the elements , etc, etc.

Amd community does not have to be lost for the current generation.

I don't know whether they are or not as I'm not a psychiatrist who's assessed every mentally unwell person in the country. Neither is Wes Streeting.

I know I'm mentally unwell and the way him and his pals in the 'new Tory' party are talking about me I'm literally getting worse by the day. I'm fearing for my life at this point.

Imagine being a cancer sufferer and being told that most people with cancer are either faking it or exaggerating? It's a disgrace to treat vulnerable people with such contempt.

Agreed

It may be as much overpathologising as overdiagnosis. My dc can’t get through a week at school without teachers talking about mental health and how to deal with anxiety and managing stress and emotions. Ordinary experiences of grief, sadness, anger and nervousness are labelled too quickly as problematic.

'Imagine being a cancer sufferer and being told that most people with cancer are either faking it or exaggerating? It's a disgrace to treat vulnerable people with such contempt.'

Imagine telling everyone with a headache that they might have cancer and sign them off for 6months just in case. It would not happen. Gps are over diagnosing too may people with anxiety, depression and various other mh problems.

I need to see the data he is using to make this claim. I cannot comment on whether it’s over diagnosed as I am not a MH specialist and have no access to the data.

How do you know they are doing this?

Don’t be ridiculous everybody does not have ND. 🙄1 in a 100 people have autism.

Also ND is not mental health just so you know.

Oh because of the massive increase in PIP claimants for those allegedly with mh problems.

The stigma has definitely gone but it has gone too far the other way. Everyone is ND nowadays.

Have you read any medieval history? People were used. Brutally so. Not isolated, but I really don’t think there is evidence to point to ‘people didn’t work themselves ill’ unless you’re observing that the serfs were worked ill by their lords?

Yes, life wasn't easier then, but humans were more adapted to it. Tens of thousands of years of human evolution and adaptation means that people could endure because they weren't living in a captive type situation. People now are living in the human equivalent of a zoo. They also had a philosophical framework (their religion) to enable them to cope with death and suffering.

So one poster wants kids taught to manage their emotions. Another doesn’t want emotions identified or strategies identified .🙄

No they are not.

Community isn't something you really choose to have though. When it's lost it's almost impossible to rebuild. Modern life means few people even know their neighbours faces let alone names, they are all working too much and are too arrested to have time, mass immigration has fractured old communities, the rise of tech has meant people are less sociable generally and the constant stream of bad news/ barrage of white from the Internet makes people hostile and suspicious of one another. Add in underinvestment in community basics like parks and libraries and you can see why there's absolutely nothing left for most people now..

Daft statement to make.

There are many obvious reasons as to why the number of people with mental health issues is increasing.

• Long waiting lists to access counselling and a proper diagnosis
• Lack of funding for mental health services in general
• The after effects of Covid and the lockdowns
• The cost of living crisis and a poor job market putting more and more pressure on people
• More awareness of and less stigma around mental health issues mean more people are likely to seek help.

I guess it is easier for Streeting to try to gaslight people who are struggling and to suggest that their mental health issues are not real rather than try to fix the root causes.

Rather pathetic and baseless statement from a minister...