Terrified I will lose my disability benefits :(

mrcow

deedee71 wrote: »

Yes I've had trauma induced depression and giving in to it by lying in bed all day doesn't actually help.

Obviously psychosis may be different, but I stand by my previous comment. With this new government, hard times are coming.

I suffered from depression for years too. It very nearly killed me. Getting back to work and returning my life to relative normality with the right support is the only thing that "cured" me (although you don't get cured from it ever really). It's still always there with me, but now I have learned to recognise and reach out for help when I need to.

If I'd have been stuck on some sort of support benefit, I don't think I would have found the strength or motivation to ever get my life back together.

deedee71

mrcow wrote: »

I suffered from depression for years too. It very nearly killed me. Getting back to work and returning my life to relative normality with the right support is the only thing that "cured" me (although you don't get cured from it ever really). It's still always there with me, but now I have learned to recognise and reach out for help when I need to.

If I'd have been stuck on some sort of support benefit, I don't think I would have found the strength or motivation to ever get my life back together.

Not wanting to let me colleagues down is my main motivation for getting up in the morning.

ankspon

The work and pensions secretary said he is looking to get 5 million people to work from sickness benefits,yet in the same breath said there are 1/2 million job vacancies available,you do the maths.

stephief

Hi,

My partner is currently on Higher rate incapacity due to mental health problems. He also claims dla (he also has physical disabilities) I have to say I welcome the new rules. At the end of the day, if you can demonstrate that you are genuinely in need of the benefits (which is how it should be) you dont really have much to fear, and it may give those in real need of the benefit a bit of a better reputation as at the moment Incapacity is very much seen as a benefit the 'bad back brigade' take the mick out of. We would be more than happy if we were told my partner could return to work as the one thing stopping him at the moment is his doctors refusing to allow him back to work due to the mental health (he isnt depressed, he has bi polar, personality disorders and psychosis) ,and I am sure we could find him a job that would be sympathetic to his physical disabilities. But at the same time his doctors have made it quite clear that he wont be going back to work anytime soon, so I dont think the new rules would have much impact on us. But I would welcome a change to the rules that may give him some hope in the future instead of being lost in the system.
If you are worried about being deemed fit to work when you feel you are not, speak to your gp/consultant/etc and see what their view is. Keep a record of daily events that would stop you being able to hold down a job, and when it comes to the assessment, just be honest with them. If you have to go to appeal, do it. But at the same time, dont rule out getting a job at some point as, if the system works as they claim it will work, anyone who needs the extra support to get back to work, and stay there, will be given it and it may not be as daunting a prospect as you think it will be. But chances are, if your problems are genuine, they will see that and you will be allowed to continue claiming. The people they are aiming to get off of incapacity are those who just dont need to be on it, not those who do.

seven-day-weekend

Sensible post stephief.

KxMx

Iain Duncan Smith says that people get parked on IB and forgotten about. He really has no clue!
That may be the case for a minority but I myself, and rightly so, have medical reviews every single year with respect to IB to make sure I am still entitled.

donnac2558

I watched the documentary on Scottish tv last night about ESA.

One woman with lung cancer told she was fit to go to work. She died five months later.

A woman with ME ATOS did her medical for Works and Pensions and she was deemed unfit to work and lost her job. She worked in a Job Centre. Yet ATOS did her medical for ESA and said she was fit for work.

A doctor who works doing the ATOS test said she was pressured all the time to make sure people are signed fit for work.

40% who appeal win, the man who invented the ESA idea even said this was too high the figure they had worked out should only be 10%. So the test is far to restricted.

ATOS who do the tests are it seems given insentives(sp) to make sure as many as possible are deemed fit for work. They have contracts with the government and want more.

The man who invented the ESA and some experts including a Lib Dem MP are convinced the whole system will go into total melt down when they start moving people on IB to ESA. They system cannot coup, with new people claiming ESA and then then others moving over.

Infact they think the whole think should be scrapped and or put on hold and rethought.

kdallsop

I had my medical for ESA last week. Was medically discharged from the army in march with a spine injury, was referred to a neurosurgeon to assess for surgery, a decision im still waiting on and signed off by my GP for 3 months.

Had a meeting at the job centre prior to my medical, and she openly said they will probably find me fit to work. Got me pretty worried.

So, had my medical, was as honest as I could be, and am awaiting a decision.

Had to return to my GP, as 6 weeks after the neurosurgeons MRI scan, I still have no answers, and my sick note ran out. He firmly said, I am not to work, at least until the neuro had decided, and signed me off again for another 3 months.

I am really worried at the moment that they are gonna say I have to work. I would love to work right now, I have gone from working every day since I left school, to doing nothing, I cant even train/run etc... or do anything I used to be able to do.

Every bit of me wants to get a job, and get out the house, I miss the interaction with others, and the sense of achieving something. But I know at the moment I would struggle!!

dmg24

deedee71 wrote: »

Yes I've had trauma induced depression and giving in to it by lying in bed all day doesn't actually help.

Obviously psychosis may be different, but I stand by my previous comment. With this new government, hard times are coming.

Trauma induced depression is reactive, and reactive depression is more often than not short term because you know what caused it, and therefore with the right support can work through the issue that caused it.

Endogenous depression is entirely different. Try tackling a problem that no one can tell you the cause of, that drugs can mask to some extent but are very unlikely to cure.

You cannot compare short term reactive depression to endogenous depression. Unless you have been through the latter, you really have no idea.

kessik

dmg24 wrote: »

Trauma induced depression is reactive, and reactive depression is more often than not short term because you know what caused it, and therefore with the right support can work through the issue that caused it.

Endogenous depression is entirely different. Try tackling a problem that no one can tell you the cause of, that drugs can mask to some extent but are very unlikely to cure.

You cannot compare short term reactive depression to endogenous depression. Unless you have been through the latter, you really have no idea.

Please don't get into a 'my depression is worse than your depression' spat...that's not what the thread is about and doesn't help the OP.