To think there is still stigma surrounding mental health and disability?

[malificent7]

Judging by ableists. I read on here the other day that people are out of work for " feeling a bit sad." How dismissive and rude.
I think that modern society makes us sick. I belive if we had a 4 day working week we would all cope a lot better and productivity would increase.
I also believe we are just as prejudiced as ever before about disability.
Be careful what you wosh for...if you ever get too sick to work would you want to be helped?

I think people prefer thinking mental illness is just people feeling a bit sad or a bit worried because it's less scary for them than having to accept some of us our totally off our fucking rockers, and they don't lock us away anymore.

100%. It is getting worse not better which is alarming.

I assume this has come from the recent benefit threads.

Mental health is a full spectrum though, isn’t it?

There are people with mild difficulties and people with severe, enduring issues.

I think it’s possible to appreciate that some people choose not to help themselves, while others cannot. The issue comes from people having a blanket judgement across the board.

Yes it's getting worse. Government policies are openly hostile to people with MH conditions. Treatment and support budgets have been slashed and now they're going to financially punish those who are struggling as a result.

However. There could be some unintended consequences of poking this particular bear. "Don't point your finger at crazy people", as Angelina Jolie said.

Love Girl, Interrupted!

In the past I suffered from depression and anxiety - it was all consuming. I worked and my company was decent I had access to immediate 6 sessions of therapy.

GP appointments face to face and prescribed medication. Work did refer me to occupational health and I engaged with them. I had 3 months absent from work and then 4 months of managed return to work slow increase of hours. This meant I was lucky to only be on statutory sick pay for a short time.

Work helped it gave me a purpose, I had an amazing manager who supported me. Gave me a purpose to keep going.

I wouldn’t wish depression on my worst enemy. I was lucky to have access to the support needed. If the services weren’t so badly funded to actually support people - it’s probably cheaper in the long run to fund proper Mental Health support than the eventual benefit costs.

But as a country we keep firefighting rather than preventative measures.

The money to help people needs to come from somewhere though and from what I understand they feel they can get this money from reducing the benefits bill and being able to reallocate it

I think the biggest problem is some illnesses and disabilities have no way of being measured.
I've said before that I feel fortunate my illness is so obvious that I immediately get that look of pity sympathy.
It's only the patient's testimony and behaviour that is taken into consideration with some conditions, leading to some thinking they're swinging the lead.

As a human race, I feel we are prejudiced against many things. I’ve lost all my hair through chemo. I braved my baldness whilst shopping on Monday. I lost count of the number of stares I received. Ignorant fuckers!

I think most peoole dont understand severe and enduring mentsl illness ,we hear so much about,taking care of our mental health these days which leads some people to think mental illness is just mild anxiety and depression,both of which can be debilltating on the severe end of the spectrum
Any severe mental illness such as schizoprenia ,schizo affective disorders etc are still very taboo.

One poster making persistent references to "too sad to work" appears to have been deleted this morning.

Agreed there.

I do not think there has ever been a stigma around either and support, advice & care have always been there.
Unfortunately there seem to have been too many chancers jumping on the banfwagon in the last 20 to 30 years - yes, that long, so this has diluted understanding and compassion.
In addition, there is far too much on SM and everyone wants some kind of label, which dilutes everything even more.

There’s still a stigma and judgement around everything.

Disability - you have no arms and no legs but I’m sure there is a job you could do.

Poverty - just get a job so that you can move out of your 90th floor flat so that you can move to the Home Counties

Mental health - just go for a walk and be grateful for what you have

Addictions - just stop drinking

Obesity - just eat less and move more

Obviously if all the above was so easy then everyone would be fine and dandy - but this is real life and some situations are a lottery of birth.

It’s very easy for people to stigmatise and judge when they haven’t been through something themselves but that pot luck could run out at any time.

We all judge to some extent and clearly some stuff in the UK isn’t working (which I won’t comment on as I don’t know enough) but I really do try and have empathy for people. It could be me next 🤷‍♀️

I think people also don't understand how serious anxiety and depression can be. Serious illnesses are stigmatised in a different way, but anxiety/depression are stigmatised in that people think they're just minor inconveniences or excuses.

Yes me too. People cannot grasp something tbh at is different for different people or that there is a spectrum.

For physical to mental heath.

But yes I agree it is stigma. I see posters saying they decided to “help themselves” and ate better and went for a walk.

Great because that’s such a sucessful treatment for severe psychosis. 🙄

Agreed on another thread a poster was sayng people with depression should get out and excersise and the routine of work would be good for them and i dont disagree for people with mild deprssion excersise and routine will help
But when i was a mental health nurse there were some people whose depresion was so bad they were catatonic
ECT was still given in extreme cases of depression.( albeit rare cases.)

Yep I had postnatal depression and anxiety and I honestly felt like I was dying or losing my mind, my sister had it and was put on antipsychotics. I remember people telling me to take a bath and smell some lavender when I was waking up at 2am shaking in the middle of constant panic attacks, thinking about jumping out the window.

100% agree about the 4 day working week.

But life is no grimmer now than it was in the past. In fact the workplace is more inclusive than ever. Society is no sadder, there’s always been problems, the issue IMO is the over pathologising and over labelling of everything. Feeling depressed and anxious is an entirely normal human feeling we all experience, but the message is now very much that this is a symptom of a label. I think that’s a very problematic narrative that seeps problems into many corners of society, not just the workplace.

Agree with this.

There was no apocalyptic event that changed our society and turned us all into people unable to cope with the world we live in. Any changes have been gradual and adaptable.

How often do people want mental health days from work or feel that anxiety before a job interview (obviously bloody normal!) is too much of a barrier to applying because they can’t manage the feelings? People who can’t open the door to a delivery man, jump when the phone rings, avoid calling a utility company because they’re overwhelmed? Basic, normal things are unreachable.

Resilience is honestly non-existent for some people. If it’s not fast, easy and instantly gratifying, it’s too much for them to cope with.

Obviously it goes without saying that there are genuine people with genuine need (I’m absolutely not tarring everyone with the same brush here) but there’s also a distinct helplessness in society now. Mums cooking for their 30 year old offspring, doing their washing etc. It’s all a bit wimpy.

Yes to this. People cannot help themselves anymore. Everything needs a diagnoses, no resilience because it’s too easy to claim some sort of ‘mental health’ and expect sympathy. No accountability.
But in the meantime people who have genuine and debilitating issues are also lumped in with these people.

it cannot be almost every other person suffering with issues?

There was a time when mental health problems were so stigmatised that people did everything to stop a doctor even mentioning it in records. Back then the biggest cause of absence from work was back pain because it couldn't be definitively diagnosed. Regular stories in the news of people caught dancing or doing DIY while off with back or motility problems.

I think society has a huge issue with resilience and laziness and mental health has become the new way to pull a sickie. It's not fair but most of all it's not fair for those who genuinely suffer from incapacitating mental health problems.

Mumsnet and the gov have proven that over the last few days.

Yes.

The problem is that it is obvious that more people are declaring mental health issues now, whilst some were under diagnosed in the past there is also a growing body of evidence that normal feelings are being expressed as illness now people definitely lack resilience. I’ve also had increasing situations where the blanket term “mental health” is being used as an excuse to get out of normal day to day responsibilities or not play your part where as others are having to step up more to cover that, arguably causing them more stress and “mental health “ it’s of course so anecdotal and we don’t know how others are doing because unlike a broken leg it’s invisible

They’re not. Wholeheartedly some people are in genuine need, and I’m not referring to them here at all.

For the rest, it’s a combination of many factors, IMO.

The “are you depressed?” quizzes that pop up online, Tik Tok’s with influencers listing 15 symptoms of bipolar disorder that you might have, self-diagnosis being accepted, bad behaviour in schools being informally labelled as autism or ADHD, parents looking for signs of these conditions in their literal babies (see MN almost daily).

Everything is medicalised, even normal feelings like being sluggish mentally, feeling depressed one day for no reason or feeling your heart race in a busy shop. I think people desire a perfect life that gives them no trouble and never causes them sight worry or issue, and any deviation from this deserves sympathy and concession.

Young lads leave school and spend their lives in the bedroom playing PlayStation while their Mammy cooks and cleans for them. Zero social skills, no life experience. They just fester. Same with young women. No wonder they feel like shit sitting in their Mum’s house with no friend contact, no purpose to get up in the morning, no prospects.

I’ve often wondered what these people would do if the crutch of the benefit system didn’t exist. Would they magically find it within them to get out into the real world and function when their income source is gone? Of course they will.

People need to toughen up, IMO. The state doesn’t owe them anything.