Job center and mental health

FBaby

girl_in_need wrote: »

for your information I'm now sign off and I have apply for ESA . thank you very much .

And then what? From reading your previous posts, you have not worked for 4 years, ever since finishing college, so maybe you have never once worked. 4 years of supposedly looking for a job (bare the short time you attempted self-employment). Now that clearly you have failed there (although it is not your fault because you have skills), you want to take yourself even further away from employment by claiming that you can't work through illness.

For a start, you will be lucky to get it, but assuming you make a good case and your GP backs you up, you are highly unlikely to be in the support group, so in 12 months, you will be in exactly the same situation with your only chance to continue with living off benefits trying to convince everyone that you couldn't possibly get better and manage any type of work.

Being long term unemployed is depressing, but breaking the cycle is not about letting the depression take over your life and even further away from what would make you feel better. It's about accepting where you are, what your weaknesses are, where you have gone wrong, and making changes to break that cycle.

You are looking at taking the short term easy route, but long term, you are setting yourself up for a life of dependency, lack of control and aspiration, which inevitably will only make your depression gradually worse and worse, and it will be your fault for not dealing with it appropriately at a time when you can still do it.

iammumtoone

girl_in_need wrote: »

for your information I'm now sign off and I have apply for ESA . thank you very much .

To be honest I don't think you will qualify for it. You may be ok if your doctor keeps signing you off till the assessment but then it is most likely that you will be back where you started. It is extremely difficult to claim ESA with depression.

Take a few weeks off and use that time without the pressure of the job centre on your back to really think about how you want your life to be. I know its hard I understand what it is like to be depressed (as in medically depressed not just feeling down) but do you really want to feel like this forever? I know I don't I will get well and many people do. Do you see a counselor? If not you should.

I have been on ESA myself for a month when my doctor signed me off, when she asked if I wanted another sick certificate I said no. I knew I would have to go back to JSA so it is far better to make that decision yourself so you are taking that control than be forced back onto it when your ESA claim fails (that is certainly not going to help a person suffering from depression).

dktreesea

Dunroamin wrote: »

If everybody who was prescribed anti depressants could claim sickness benefits, the country would be on its knees - nearly 46 million people are prescribed them currently.

??? three quarters of the population??!!:eek:
Do you have a source? That seems a bit high to me.

dktreesea

I've seen a couple of people have panic attacks. It was quite scary to watch. I can't imagine how awful it must be for the person suffering from them.

For all the people out there who think people with any kind of impairment, let alone mental health issues, should get a job and stop sponging off the taxpayer, working isn't for everyone. I've been in that world, getting up at 6.30 every morning, just to be sure of getting into work by 8.30am, and then not home until just after 7pm, and that's on a good day. It's a tough way to work, and physically exhausting to boot.

A significant part of the working age population are just not capable of managing the effort you have to make around the work when working in jobs involving other people. Things like getting up in time every day, managing the commute into work, putting up with ten or twenty colleagues day in day out, putting up with stressed out customers every day (can you imagine working in a bank's call centre? That must be a horrible job, having to tell some people they missed out on loans they desperately need) having to dress a certain way each day, having bosses who are numpties push you around, having to work in stressful conditions (I wonder what the percentage of the working population would be who could cope with a job like driving a gritter along freezing roads at night. Not many, i would bet).

The NHS is hopeless at things like rehabilitating people after accidents, providing help with mental health issues, - like teaching people coping mechanisms to survive the world of work - giving people ongoing access to therapies which would help them to cope, for instance with diseases that can be progressive, like arthritis.

And then there are the jobsworths at places like jobcentre plus. One of whom on a different thread, described herself as a "gym bunny" and referred to the obese as slobs. These kinds of people shouldn't be inflicted upon anyone, let alone vulnerable people.

Surely we should be spending more time, effort and money on supporting people in vulnerable situations, by helping them to get the coping mechanisms they need in order to be able to financially support themselves rather than telling them there is no more money in the pot and they need to help themselves?

Dunroamin

dktreesea wrote: »

??? three quarters of the population??!!:eek:
Do you have a source? That seems a bit high to me.

I used the figures for prescriptions not people.:o Somebody's already pulled me up on it, but well spotted.:)

FBaby

A significant part of the working age population are just not capable of managing the effort you have to make around the work when working in jobs involving other people. Things like getting up in time every day, managing the commute into work, putting up with ten or twenty colleagues day in day out, putting up with stressed out customers every day (can you imagine working in a bank's call centre? That must be a horrible job, having to tell some people they missed out on loans they desperately need) having to dress a certain way each day, having bosses who are numpties push you around, having to work in stressful conditions (I wonder what the percentage of the working population would be who could cope with a job like driving a gritter along freezing roads at night. Not many, i would bet).

This statement depresses me The ability to make efforts is not something you have or you don't have. You LEARN to make efforts, and the more efforts you make, the easier everything becomes. The problem is there are too many people nowadays who are not prepared to even start making proper efforts. They want everyone to do support them with as little effort as possible and then justify their situation by 'well it's not for me, I can't give all the efforts required'.

It start in childhood, with parents doing so much for their poor tired darlings... they can't possibly do a whole day at nursery, much too tiring, they can't possible get up at 7am and then walk 1 hour to school, that's too much efforts for these poor angels. I hear it all the time and frankly I am sick of it. We are brewing a generation of lazier and lazier people.

I am often told how lucky I am to have a well paid flexible job as if I just fell straight into it. I didn't. What I did is face years of exactly what you describe above whilst being a full-time mum to two children under the age of 4 to start with. It was hard, it was exhausting, I cried a number of times because after I had paid everything, I was not much better off then my friend who was claiming IS and the rest and wasn't suffering from the exhaustion. But the efforts paid off for me AND my children who are very hard working and can cope with a full busy day.

Panic attacks are disabling. I have suffered from them, but especially if they have just started occurring (as it seems to be the case for the OP), they can be worked on. Again, it demands efforts because the best way to deal with them successfully is to face them rather than avoid them. the more you avoid the situations that can bring them on, the worse it will get. OP doesn't seem to be prepared to make the efforts to learn to deal with them, instead wants to use the fact that she started experiencing them to be assisted so not to have to make the effort to confront them...and she's only in her 20s....

Dunroamin

dktreesea wrote: »

For all the people out there who think people with any kind of impairment, let alone mental health issues, should get a job and stop sponging off the taxpayer, working isn't for everyone. I've been in that world, getting up at 6.30 every morning, just to be sure of getting into work by 8.30am, and then not home until just after 7pm, and that's on a good day. It's a tough way to work, and physically exhausting to boot.

A significant part of the working age population are just not capable of managing the effort you have to make around the work when working in jobs involving other people. Things like getting up in time every day, managing the commute into work, putting up with ten or twenty colleagues day in day out, putting up with stressed out customers every day (can you imagine working in a bank's call centre? That must be a horrible job, having to tell some people they missed out on loans they desperately need) having to dress a certain way each day, having bosses who are numpties push you around, having to work in stressful conditions (I wonder what the percentage of the working population would be who could cope with a job like driving a gritter along freezing roads at night. Not many, i would bet).

I see that FBaby has given you an intelligent, reasoned response but, in my normal brash way, I have to say that this is absolute rubbish!

There are obviously a small number of people who are unable to work because of either physical or mental illness but to suggest that a "significant part of the working population" can't do so just beggars belief. Many jobs are tough, many jobs are unpleasant but they need doing and people need to work to support themselves.

The creators of the welfare state must be turning in their graves to see what has happened to their creation and to see how a country who knew what real hardship and stress were about have become (by your reckoning) such a bunch of limp lettuce!

Heffi1

girl_in_need wrote: »

for your information I'm now sign off and I have apply for ESA . thank you very much .

For your information, I'm now signed off and I have applied for ESA . thank you very much

Changed it for you, makes things a bit easier to read...

dktreesea

FBaby wrote: »

The ability to make efforts is not something you have or you don't have. You LEARN to make efforts, and the more efforts you make, the easier everything becomes. The problem is there are too many people nowadays who are not prepared to even start making proper efforts. They want everyone to do support them with as little effort as possible and then justify their situation by 'well it's not for me, I can't give all the efforts required'.

........

Panic attacks are disabling. I have suffered from them, but especially if they have just started occurring (as it seems to be the case for the OP), they can be worked on. Again, it demands efforts because the best way to deal with them successfully is to face them rather than avoid them. the more you avoid the situations that can bring them on, the worse it will get. OP doesn't seem to be prepared to make the efforts to learn to deal with them, instead wants to use the fact that she started experiencing them to be assisted so not to have to make the effort to confront them...and she's only in her 20s....

Not everyone who tries to get there on their own, making the efforts to learn the coping mechanisms they need to manage full time work, gets there.

People who need to swim for work don't get there by jumping in the water and trying to learn on their own. someone else teaches them how. have you never been taught anything in your work by another person? Did you just arrive at work and magically know how to do everything, how to manage all the stresses, without having a hand from anyone else? I doubt it!

Some people have mental health issues. Why is it you expect them to learn how to cope all on their own, without any help? What makes you think the OP isn't making any effort? Maybe she just can't manage. She wouldn't be alone in not being able to cope with stress. Thousands of people drop out of the workforce every year for mental health related reasons.

dktreesea

Dunroamin wrote: »

I see that FBaby has given you an intelligent, reasoned response but, in my normal brash way, I have to say that this is absolute rubbish!

There are obviously a small number of people who are unable to work because of either physical or mental illness but to suggest that a "significant part of the working population" can't do so just beggars belief. Many jobs are tough, many jobs are unpleasant but they need doing and people need to work to support themselves.

The creators of the welfare state must be turning in their graves to see what has happened to their creation and to see how a country who knew what real hardship and stress were about have become (by your reckoning) such a bunch of limp lettuce!

A small number? Really?

In 2012, 13 million work days were lost as a result of work-related stress, depression & anxiety (source: CIPD Annual Survey report 2012).

According to the Telegraph in an article posted late last year, 1.1 million people can't work because of mentla health problems. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/neilobrien1/100186974/the-remarkable-rise-of-mental-illness-in-britain/
I wouldn't call 1.1 million people of working age a small number.