You do not have to be rich to have a breakdown

[UndertheCedartree]

I heard this recently - you have to be rich to have a breakdown. Meaning that those who are not wealthy have to 'just get on with it.' They can't have a mental breakdown as they have to work etc.

I really disagree with this. I had a serious mental breakdown and I can assure people that psychiatric hospitals are not full of wealthy people. I think this narrative is really dangerous as it makes people think they 'don't have time' to look after their mental health and the trouble is this then means a serious breakdown is more likely and at that point it is really not a choice. When you get sectioned you don't get a choice as to if you 'want' to have a breakdown or not as you need to work.

I think this also disproportionately affects women as there is the added narrative that you have to 'just get on with it' with the home and children. The truth is there are many mothers in hospital like I was.

I encourage people to choose to look after their mental health as otherwise you may end up being forced to look after it. Obviously, I'm not saying that you can always prevent these things but early intervention seems to have better outcomes.

Being held under a Section is obviously extreme. I think maybe people mean that if you don’t have to worry about earning a living you can take yourself off for a spa week or “get away from it all”, and that some people say it’s to stop themselves having a break down. Break down not meaning being Sectioned but worn out.

I’ve never heard this. And it’s obviously not true.

It trivialises MH issues as something you could "get over" if you had to, which is absolutely not true, and probably where people get the idea that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are just a bit sad and worried getting PIP.

My DD has severe anxiety, which has had her housebound in the past for months at a time. It winds me up no end when people talk about anxiety as though it's made up/you could get over it if you really wanted to.

Maybe some mean that. But this wasn't the context used. It was people saying you have to be rich to essentially be so mentally unwell you can't work/care for children/be hospitalised. Loads of people saying how mentally unwell they were but 'had to get on with it'.

Personally, I think if you can still work and look after children and function and aren't being hospitalised you aren't maybe as unwell as you think. I don't mean that nastily or to suggest more moderate mental illness isn't something to take seriously, to deserve empathy, support and treatment. Just that perhaps most people don't really understand what it is like to be so mentally unwell that you need to be hospitalised sometimes for years and it really isn't something people choose as they don't need to work or whatever.

Where did you "hear" this nonsense 😉

Breakdown in this context doesn’t mean sectioned. It means anything from taking a few days to yourself to getting signed off work.

someone on a zero hours contract can’t exactly get signed off for stress and still get paid.

I agree. I'm sorry about your daughter and I hope she is getting some help and support.

Can anyone tell me what a breakdown actually is? I don't understand what it means.

I’ve never heard this either.

although I agree with you that being admitted to hospital fits the definition of breakdown far more than a few days off work with stress.

It was on another Internet forum.

I have never heard this. Also, how is a breakdown’ defined?

If you have a mental breakdown you can't just choose to continue working either.

Maybe people just use the word 'breakdown' flippantly. But if you have a mental breakdown you aren't able to function in normal life at all. I would suggest you would need hospitalisation or at least some intense support to recover. Not take a few days to yourself.

An internet forum.

Must be true then.

It means when you are unable to function in normal life due to your mental health. Could be due to a range of mental illnesses like severe depression, GAD, Psychosis, Scizophrenia or Personality disorder as examples.

What do you mean? This was people's opinion. I have given mine. Why would I lie about it? If you don't want to discuss it you don't have to.

Not being able to function in normal life due to mental health.

Personally, I think if you can still work and look after children and function and aren't being hospitalised you aren't maybe as unwell as you think.

That ignores the many of us with severe mental illness that can mask. We might look like we’re functioning but it all falls apart when no one is looking. We might go to work but not sleep for days, not wash ourselves, not eat, might be having delusions etc.

"psychiatric hospitals are not full of wealthy people"

They are probably in private facilities though tbf @UndertheCedartree

Is the issue that people don't understand what happens to, say, single mums with no support if they breakdown? Obviously they can't leave the children so they tend to soldier on while struggling - so people equate 'being rich' with having plenty of support to be able to recover?

So no one rich has breakdowns? Utter nonsense.

You need to define 'breakdown' OP.
What internet forum?

And did you challenge it on that forum?

I’m not sure anyone here wouldn’t already know that something which is clearly nonsense isn’t true?

It's a simplistic way of talking about the very real phenomenon of poorer people having to normalise situational mental health conditions like depression and anxiety can be. Of course you are going to be depressed and anxious if you have to continually compete for basic resources and safety. That feeling of insecurity and apprehension becomes ordinary for poorer people and they can't afford to allow that to stop them trying to survive. They have to develop an inhuman resilience to it, but of course they do not.

They become ill. Mentally and physically. Their relationships suffer. Their dependents suffer. The illusion that they are "just getting on with it" is just that.

As I said I'm not saying that isn't serious and deserves all the empathy and support. I've been there and it's tough. I'm still there a lot of the time. But sometimes it becomes more serious to the point you can't mask anymore, you can't function atall, you've not slept for weeks, are underweight and frail from not eating and are psychotic and attempting (and sometimes completing) suicide. You fully breakdown and may be hospitalised for a long time. You do not have a choice to work or care for your children anymore. What I'm saying is we shouldn't be encouraged to 'just get on with it' because we aren't wealthy or have children until it gets to that point. As you say there are very real needs for treatment and support before it gets to that point.

What tends to happen if they are severely ill is they get sectioned and lose custody of their children, or in situations where they are very ill but not ill enough for authorities to notice, they start self-medicating with drugs/alcohol, and often they still end up losing their kids because of it, but with the bonus of being deemed scum by the general public.

No one who is seriously mentally ill is just getting on with it because they have no choice.