To be finding the Labour government really hard on my mental health (ironically given Wes Streeting's latest)

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

Why can't they talk about reforms and improvements without having a go at ordinary people?

Is mental illness over diagnosed (as Streeting claims) or is modern life just really really shit and a lot of us are unwell as a result?

im currently waiting to see a new private psychiatrist because my old one took on an NHS contract and now is totally unusable (no need to even mention the NHS services available, we all know the score there). I work and I don't expect any special treatment but it would be nice if the bloody government stopped slagging me off for trying to remain functional.

But a large number of people who are claiming to not be fine, actually are.

That’s the point.

They are conflating life with mental illness.

I honestly think more people are mentally unwell. The world has felt different since covid.

Plus the fact that work doesn’t pay for a lot of people at the bottom when food prices and the cost of doing anything at all have doubled but wages haven’t. Companies are giving out 8 hour contracts. Etc.

I don’t think that that means they are “fine”.

Life can actually be really fucking hard.

Ummm...kind of. I'm autistic, a full time LP with one child still at primary, and I'm in perimenopause. I'm self employed, but don't do the 30 hours the government thinks I should be doing. Because I bloody can't. I can't look after the house and the kids and regularly drive a 2 hour round trip and do a job that requires intense concentration week in week out without ending up lying on the sofa unable to move, speak or function.

So I went to get a sick note from the doctor, and she has signed me off with "stress and anxiety".

I don't have stress and anxiety. What I think I have is rolling autistic burnout caused by society's unrealistic expectations of me, exacerbated by perimenopause. Which is what I told her, yet here we are. So technically yes, I have been misdiagnosed with mental health issues.

MsMoonpie
**
…. Life can actually be really fucking hard

It always has been, for the majority. At least there is a welfare system now.

Yes but that doesn’t mean they should then get given handouts for claiming that they have mental illness. It makes a mockery of the system. That’s why the public has become so hardened against this continuing gravy train.

Tackle our bloated immigration situation but I imagine you won’t like that sugggestion.

Of course it can but we have to help our children to be more resilient to be able to deal with these things, education and support must be a part of that.

Agreed. Being fed up with life is not a mental illness. We live in an overly labelled world, where people can’t just be having a bad week/month/year, it needs a diagnosis.

I also find the over diagnosis of MH issues is destroying people with genuine issues who are finding it harder to see a doctor because the system is clogged up with people who aren’t depressed, they just aren’t massively happy at the moment

Nobody seems to ever be sad, it’s always depression. A family member dies your supposed to be sad it’s meant to be upsetting but so many people end up signed of with depression for what is a normal feeling to losing a loved one.

A lot of normal feelings are treated as if we shouldn’t be having them like robots.

Agree. The immigration gravy train is just as bad as the mental illness one.

Where can I sign up for this gravy train please ?

Agreed

Life isn't harder now than in the past. Mental illness has always been a thing but in the past it wasn't acknowledged as much unless it was extreme.

Tackle our bloated immigration situation but I imagine you won’t like that sugggestion

Ah, so empathy only extends to British people? Not some of the most vulnerable people on earth. (Most of whom just want to work)

Ok. Gotcha.

You can extend empathy to whomever you like but there is a global financial crisis, and if people have to be put first in terms of spending l it’s the people of that country, yes.

Great! Let’s do that one next.

I dont think its helpful when the health secretary of the UK says things like this. Mental health services are dire in the NHS and cutting PIP is not going to achieve anything other than making vulnerable people worse off.

Depends how long the not being fine goes on for and if it developed into anything else.

Given the lack of mental health care for anyone struggling (note this is not the same as having a mental health condition but someone in need of support anyway).

I don’t think very many people are getting handouts for mental illness. PIP is very difficult to get.

Some very skilled liars and manipulators might be but since the governments own figures show that less than 1% we’re considered fraudulent perhaps it’s not the thing to focus on.

This. 👍

as someone said- it’s both . I agree with streeting on most stuff if I’m honest

JandamiHash
You can extend empathy to whomever you like but there is a global financial crisis, and if people have to be put first in terms of spending l it’s the people of that country, yes.

OP has been banging on about how hard done by they are and berating everyone who dares to hold a different opinion. Calling them malicious and telling them they completely lack empathy. OP’s word.

But there we have it. The opportunity arises to metaphorically kick the “others”, pull up a lifeline to people who have experienced hardships that OP never will, by virtue of where they were born, and OP is straight in there doing just that. Tells me everything I need to know about them.

Empathy, my arse, OP. you clearly have none.

That's not what the poster is saying at all. Of course someone with a serious physical disability who is unable to work should be fully financially supported, but anxiety and depression is not a reason not to get a job and be supported by the taxpayer

Modern day life isn’t conducive to good mental health and it has a massive impact on some sections of society.

A&E, police and hospitals are just going to get fuller if MH treatment and support continues to not get the funding it needs.

Its a false economy.

My 2 suicide attempts, chronic anxiety and multiple episodes of depression is mild compared to many but still relevant to this discussion. The over diagnosis appears to be largely made up of depression and anxiety not severe complex conditions like schizophrenia. There are still too many people who expect to sit at home feeling sorry for themselves doing nothing about it and getting money from the state to support them. Allowing people to do this doesn't help them.

More MH support - which can't be funded atm (maybe moving the money from welfare the MH services) and employment in the right sector/job will provide a better life than social exclusion and money for nothing.

It annoys me that those that need the money get sooo little to assist with complex medical care, whilst those that play the system (which many do citing depression and anxiety) get handouts for checking out the right reddit board before heading to the Dr to get an inaccurate diagnosis.