Barriers to returning to work after depression & psychosis

[forsummer]

Are there any occupational health workers on here who could advise? Or anyone been through similar?
Husband has been off work for approaching 6 months now. Diagnosed with psychotic depression. He is stable and recovered. He's ready to return to work.
He has a senior management role. After speaking to HR, his direct manager & now an external occupational health doctor it seems that they don't want him to go into work in person until they have reassurance from someone involved in his care and they also want him to be part way through CBT therapy. There are huge waiting lists for this and he hasn't even started it yet.
Occupational health have said this is because they need to consider the safety of the other staff, and also make sure that he is actually OK to do his job. They want him to work from home on light duties & have no contact with any other staff. Usually he's speaking on the phone to staff all day.
Now I completely understand why they feel this way but can they legally stop him from going in? Or from speaking to people?
On top of this is the financial worry. He's had 3 months full pay, 3 months half pay and now just SSP. We cannot manage any longer without his full wage.

@forsummer i don't mind at all. I've had an email saying you've sent me a message but I just can't access it. I only have the app, I wonder if that's why? I'll keep trying x

My dh had a mental health breakdown and was advised not to return too soon as the second crash would be harder. They were correct and it was.
Don't rush it.

@forsummer Sent you a reply.

It isn't clear from the OP what triggered the psychosis in the first place. It can be stress related.

If it was related to work then it seems sensible to be careful with this. Could get the relapse plans from MH and they could be helpful perhaps with planning in case of a relapse.

They think it was initially triggered by 3 traumatic events back to back he went through a few months before. One which included hospital admission for severe pain. Mixed with a slow decline into depression because we were having marriage problems.
He had absolutely no issues with regards to work, they had no clue anything was wrong with him

Hi @forsummer I have Schizoaffective disorder which includes psychosis & bipolar.

I work part time and my employer is very good, I went to occupational health dr & they told my manager & hr that they had to make Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Act, regarding eg my shift pattern.

Your husbands employers need to follow the Disability Act.

CBT is only worth a try for your husband if he's been stable for a while.
Among other types of therapy it can be useful as a 'tool' to help with psychosis especially with paranoia.

For example I completed a group therapy psychology course on coping with unusual experiences which included some CBT techniques.
To be honest though I mainly find it's meds that are useful, and when I'm paranoid not much really helps as I'm not rational.

Your husband is so lucky to have had so much input from an early intervention team.
I see my psychiatrist 4 monthly but can phone the duty worker at the cmht anytime.

I'm also taking Aripiprazole- I take 30mg a day. What are your husbands experiences with that drug? I find it doesn't fully keep the psychotic symptoms at bay but my psychiatrist wants to keep me on it as it goes with other meds.

He's still on a lowish dose at the moment, but because his psychosis was mild it seems to be working but they will be increasing it next week anyway
We've since spoke to the nurse and told her about the work situation. She said she's never heard of a workplace or occupational health requesting cbt as a condition to return & she reiterated that cbt isn't a standard treatments for this anyway. He took it up because it was optional. The psychiatrist is going to speak to them on our behalf