ESA Medical-Anxiety & Depression

MISS-CLARABELLE_2

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for some advice. I have been claiming ESA and now have to go for a medical. I received the letter this morning. It has sent me into total meltdown. I'm really scared. I have been suffering from depression and severe anxiety for a little while and have panic attacks. I can't leave the house without my partner and unfamiliar places make me freak out. I don't know how I'm going to cope with this assessment. Fortuneately my partner is able to take me to the appointment, but I'm so anxious about it already I don't know how I'm going to get through this next two weeks until this appointment. I've read online and literally everyone out there with a similar disability says they've been signed off ESA and told to claim JSA, or had to try appealling for ESA. I don't know what to do. I can't face this. I felt like I was making progress and now I've taken 100 steps back because of this stress. I couldn't even do the form, my partner had to do it because of the anxiety it caused me. I want to work, but I can't right now because tbh I can barely function. Does anyone have any helpful advice? I'm literally desperate here.

Thanks,
Claire

[Deleted User]

claire it is not a given that you will be turned down,remember most people take to the internet to have a moan,its good that your partner can go with you and it probably wont be as bad as you imagine

bedpotato_2

You're saying you can't leave the house and unfamiliar places make you freak out, yet you're also saying you're going to go to an unfamiliar place to have this assessment.

That's a contradiction. They will pick up on that straight away, and claim that the fact you attended the assessment is proof that you're lying, and can in fact leave the house. They will NOT accept your explanation that attending the appointment was a huge, major, massive struggle for you, and a one-off event, and that leaving the house is something you cannot be expected to do every day.

I suppose you wrote down on your ESA form that you have panic attacks when leaving the house and going to strange places. Unlike the ATOS doctors, I am going to assume you aren't (and weren't) lying. There is very little else that would make you pass their exam. Presumably you have the use of all your limbs, etc, so the whole thing rests on your ability to prove that your mental health is currently in a very bad way. Therefore, to avoid shooting yourself in the foot by effectively giving them "proof" that you are "lying" by obligingly attending an appointment outside your house in a strange place at their request, what you need to do is the following:

Contact your GP surgery ASAP (by phone, you don't have to make an appointment) and request that your GP write an urgent letter explaining that your mental condition makes it extremely difficult and distressing for you to attend their appointment outside your house, and s/he is requesting a home visit for you instead. Ask your GP to fax or post this letter to the ATOS appointments department (you can get number/address by phoning ATOS). Meanwhile, phone ATOS to let them know you are doing this, and they will cancel your current appointment and make a temporary new one for you some time in the future, until the fax arrives from your GP and they will then cancel the temp one and book an actual home visit one. Then you can sit back and stop shaking, and feel the surge of relief at not having to go on a terrifying marathon expedition after all.

If you do not do the above it is extremely unlikey you will pass the medical since your ESA claim apparently depends chiefly upon your ability to prove that you are currently unable to leave your house and are in very poor mental health. Therefore, by merely attending the appointment, you will probably fail.

Do NOT let them bully you and feed you the lie that you "MUST" attend their appointment. That is not true. It is certainly true that you "MUST" be assessed - but that assessment can be carried out at home.

Hope this helps,

From an autistic MSE member with severe social anxiety xx

P.S. Also, at the medical appointment, do not feel that you must politely restrain any urges you may have to cry, shake, rock, or anything else you may or may not do when feeling upset. Do not modify your outward behaviour just because the doctor is there, because the doctor will actually be noting all those things down. If you appear visibly calm, smiling, collected etc, you will not come across as a mentally ill person. I am not by any means saying you should lie, fake, or exaggerate symptoms you do not have. Rather, I am merely saying do not suppress the ones you do. This is something that is applicable to autistic people such as myself, who often put on an act of being OK just to please other people. I do not know if it is applicable to you or not, or if you would just "be yourself" in front of the doctor. But definitely, when it comes to ESA applications on the grounds of mental health, small things count such as crying, shaking, wringing hands, etc. If those are things you normally do and you find yourself wanting to do them but restraining yourself because the doctor is there, DO NOT HOLD BACK. Just do them. You will notice the doctor writing them all down!

Also when it comes to your clothes and hair etc do not get yourself all dolled up and try to look smart. I made this mistake when the doctor came to visit me because I never have any visitors so I was excited that somebody was coming. I hoovered all the house and made it look all tidy and did my hair in a fancy way. WHen she arrived she looked around and said "I see it says here on the form you are sometimes too exhaisted to do your housework - but your house looks fine." I had to explain to her I'd made a special effort due to being nervous at her visit. Also she commented on my hairstyle and said "that's quite a fancy hairstyle - do you have someone who helps you with your hair? It says here you have no carer." So basically do not make the mistakes I did and try to smarten yourself up for the doctor. Obviously you should not fake something you're not, either, but do be yourself. If you normally have slightly greasy hair in an basic tidy ponytail and big shadows under your eyes, just let them see you as you usually are! I have got another one of those medicals coming up soon and at my last one the doctor asked me all sorts of non-medically related questions. It felt more like an inspection of my home environment. She kept looking around with eagle eyes. "I notice the curtains are shut. Do you always shut them? Are you frightened of letting the light in?" "Oh no," I told her. "All the other ones are opened during the day but I often shut those ones because my dog barks at anyone who goes past and makes a noise." She nodded and started scribbling it all down. Also she noticed a blank canvas resting against the wall. "What's that?" she snapped. "Are you a painter?" "Oh no," I told her. "That was just my OH trying his hand at some amateur painting but he's left and doesn't live here now. He left it behind." She looked rather disappointed. I think she was hoping she'd caught me out as a fraud who was claiming benefits while moonlighting as a successful artist (I can't even draw a stick man).

What I mean is, if they come to your house, it's not really a medical. It's more of an inspection. Some of the questions are weird. Be prepared to have your appearance, mannerisms, and home environment scrutinised by the doctor and be prepared for them asking weird questions you may not think are related to your claim - and just tell them the truth. When you do that, you can't go wrong.

Hope this helps

Bedpotato

HB58

Whilst it is your right to ask for a home assessment, ATOS are very reluctant to grant these (and are under no obligation to do so) even if you have very strong supporting evidence from your GP. It is certanly worth a try, but do make sure you have a 'Plan b' too.

bedpotato_2

HB58 wrote: »

Whilst it is your right to ask for a home assessment, ATOS are very reluctant to grant these (and are under no obligation to do so) even if you have very strong supporting evidence from your GP. It is certanly worth a try, but do make sure you have a 'Plan b' too.

Make sure plan B involves not holding back until you get home - having major meltdown or panic attack in doctor's office when being forced to attend their appointment if refused a home visit would be beneficial.

Do not fake a panic attack, obviously, but, equally well, do not fake that you are OK during the medical due to embarrassment at looking stupid. Otherwise, you will fail (see above).

Hope it goes OK and you get better soon

Bedpotato xx

princessdon

bedpotato are you for real!

You are advising people to bascially make up symptoms or exagerate

What is wrong with being honest!

Telling them that their OH took them and it took great courage and will affect them

Unless you are qualified and have the OP's full history I find your motive to be fraudulent.

How do you KNOW what OP will face?

bedpotato_2

princessdon wrote: »

bedpotato are you for real!

You are advising people to bascially make up symptoms or exagerate

What is wrong with being honest!

Telling them that their OH took them and it took great courage and will affect them

Unless you are qualified and have the OP's full history I find your motive to be fraudulent.

How do you KNOW what OP will face?

If you read my post again you will see that I very expressly stated that they should of course NOT make up any symptoms. I was merely stating that they should not hide or suppress any symptoms that they genuinely have, which is something that autistic people tend to do. I am autistic so I was sharing things from my point of view, as that was the advice I was given: "be yourself. Be honest. Don't act." Again, if you read my post properly you will note I mentioned that I was aware the OP is not autistic and the autistic phenomenon of pretending you are OK to please other people may not apply to her. Nontheless, it may. It often applies to people who are mentally ill.

Unless you are mentally ill or autistic yourself and have ever undergone an ATOS medical, I don't really think you should be commenting. In the spirit of MSE, I was merely trying to be kind and pass on my knowledge and experiences to help out someone I can identify with. I notice you have no helpful advice for the OP and you've only jumped onto this thread to attack and bully me. Please go away. It's people like you that make people like me so ill. My autism doesn't make me ill. It's the nasty mean haters out there in the world who give me social anxiety, not the autism.

bedpotato_2

princessdon wrote: »

bedpotato are you for real!

You are advising people to bascially make up symptoms or exagerate

What is wrong with being honest!

Telling them that their OH took them and it took great courage and will affect them

Unless you are qualified and have the OP's full history I find your motive to be fraudulent.

How do you KNOW what OP will face?

If you read my post again you will see that I very expressly stated that they should of course NOT make up any symptoms. I was merely stating that they should not hide or suppress any symptoms that they genuinely have, which is something that autistic people tend to do. I am autistic so I was sharing things from my point of view, as that was the advice I was given: "be yourself. Be honest. Don't act." Again, if you read my post properly you will note I mentioned that I was aware the OP is not autistic and the autistic phenomenon of pretending you are OK to please other people may not apply to her. Nontheless, it may. It often applies to people who are mentally ill.

Unless you are mentally ill or autistic yourself and have ever undergone an ATOS medical, I don't really think you should be commenting. In the spirit of MSE, I was merely trying to be kind and pass on my knowledge and experiences to help out someone I can identify with. I notice you have no helpful advice for the OP and you've only jumped onto this thread to attack and bully me. Please go away.

You clearly have not read my post properly at all. The very last thing I said on it was "tell the truth. When you do that, you can't go wrong." Didn't you get that far?

If you have no understanding of mental illness then you will probably not be aware that mentally ill people often fake. But it's not the usual kind of faking, that means pretending you are ill when you aren't. Rather, they fake that they are OK in front of others, when in reality they are not. All I was doing was telling the OP NOT to fake in front of the doctor and NOT to pretend that she is OK when in fact she is not. That is not faking an illness. Rather, it's honesty. It's owning up to an illness you actually have, and not trying to conceal it any more.

princessdon

Of course I have no experience - My life is hunky dory

My response had already been given in post 2

Don't assume the worst and be yourself

Not much more to say other than that really.

bedpotato_2

I found this, which may help you understand the importance of not going to the appointment:

http://www.mentalhealthforum.net/forum/thread14912.html

http://dawnwillis.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/if-you-can-wash-dress-make-tea-and-travel-alone-to-your-new-esa-medical-you-are-already-screwed-mhuk-mentalhealthuk/

princessdon

bedpotato wrote: »

You're saying you can't leave the house and unfamiliar places make you freak out, yet you're also saying you're going to go to an unfamiliar place to have this assessment.

That's a contradiction. They will pick up on that straight away, and claim that the fact you attended the assessment is proof that you're lying, and can in fact leave the house. They will NOT accept your explanation that attending the appointment was a huge, major, massive struggle for you, and a one-off event, and that leaving the house is something you cannot be expected to do every day.

The OP said "without her partner" who is with her

To do as you say would be lying against what she said - she has said she can go with support from a trusted source (which many with MH issues will understand).

therefore she needs her OH for support (ie not going to happen at work unless they employ them both).

Everything else you suggest is hypothetical and based on your own or other users scenarios

Many with MH issues have reported on here how they were dreading the assessment but how nice and understanding they were. You are assuming the worst and putting fears where they may not be due

By all means suggest a home visit - but that will be Op's decision.