"Adjustment reaction"

[PassMeTheBlanket]

Long story short. I've been wrestling with anxiety and depression since I was a teen. Now 34. Started a new job after graduating university as a mature student. My mum's been diagonsed with stage 4 bowel cancer and is not coping with the chemo and the doctors aren't considering other treatment options.

I've been struggling mentally, considerably more so than I have the last few years. To the extent where I've had problems making it into work. Called my local crisis team this morning several times, but the line just rang out. Called doctor's surgery as I was in pretty bad shape.

Had a telephone appointment with a GP explained everything, including my history with mental illness. He offered me a two week sick note for work, didn't want to explore other treatment options. Was a weird call, basically him asking me what I wanted from him, me being a wreck had no idea. I just needed help.

I received the sick note via text, under the reasoning for my absence the GP has put "adjustment reaction". Silly me Googled this and honestly, I'm so angry. Whilst I understand that my current condition could be caused by the series of events that have unfolded recently, I feel that my existing diagnoses override this.

I've calmed now after a discussion with my boyfriend. But I genuinely feel that my current state has been minimised. I found the term quite derogatory and being honest, it only upset me more.

Guess I'm just wondering how others would feel about this? I feel like I've been told I'm overreacting.

I'm sorry you're going through this. A lot of people don't want long-term MH conditions referenced on sick notes.

GPs have a tendency not to put mental health conditions into sick notes as such, to avoid stigmatising of patients by their employers.

Are you already with secondary services? If not, the pathway to MH treatment is via the GP normally. The Crisis Team is usually snowed under with people for whom a crisis is happening right then, and who are under secondary services.

Thanks for the speedy replies!

I've honestly never come across this before. Whenever I've had a sick note in the past, the reasoning has always been "depression/anxiety" or some variation. Personally, it's never bothered me. Quite open about the fact (and it's also hard to deny when you've broken down in the workplace!)

I've had poor experiences with crisis teams in the past. Very little to offer in times of need. The best I got once was a telephone call to refer me to a group therapy setting in six months time. When I got there, I was the only one. Stopped attending as it didn't feel appropriate at all.

Fortunately, I've managed to avoid treatment the last couple of years, I've sort of just muddled along. Have crashed recently though. Thinking a bit more clearly after a sleep and a massive crying session on my DP, who thankfully, has been amazing.

I really despair of the NHS at the moment. Sad thing is, I know it's not their fault.

First of all, sorry you are going through such a difficult time.

But, I don't think it was unreasonable or 'minimising' to put this term on the sick note. Presumably the doc viewed your mother's illness as being among the triggers that meant your menal health was going through a particulaly bad patch, making it necessary for you to have time off when you have been able to battle through your depression/anxiety and work at other times.

It seems a bit unfair to regard 'adjustment reaction' as somehow trivilising of mental health problems. I'm sure people going through it don't regard it as less serious than other forms of mental distress. And in any case the point of a sick note isn't to communicate a full diagnosis or reassure the patient that their problem is taken seriously. It is admin.

The other failures in the appointment are more significant. But this is just the reality of mental health care. There probably wasn't anything more the doc could have done. It was a case for the crisis team and they weren't available ( a severe and common failure of the system.)

I've just noticed that you even use the term 'derogatory'. Is that really how you feel? Do you really feel that it somehow reflects badly on a person if they are going through intense clinically significant mental distress as a result of overwhelming life events?

Maybe I've not worded it correctly. At the time of reading, it definitely felt that way. The first post I found on Google stated "Your reaction is stronger than expected for the type of event that occurred." Putting this into context, I think anyone who has knowledge that their parent may be terminally ill would, understandably, have a bad reaction. It felt derogatory in this instance. Though I'm painfully aware of the irony that I may have overreacted to reading that I may be overreacting.

But ultimately, it wasn't just this. I have a longstanding diagnosis of depression and anxiety. Which I think should have been taken into consideration.

I mean no offence to others that have an adjustment disorder. It must be awful.

Mental illnesses and their definitions are a minefield.

Perhaps think of it as the GP beginning treatment with 2 weeks off work.