Britain dubbed ‘sick man of the G7’ as disability claims for anxiety hit record high
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/disability-claims-anxiety-record-high-5HjdDTQ_2/
by tylerthe-theatre
Britain dubbed ‘sick man of the G7’ as disability claims for anxiety hit record high
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/disability-claims-anxiety-record-high-5HjdDTQ_2/
by tylerthe-theatre
31 comments
Have employers, and politicians, tried making us all less anxious?
It’s impossible to disprove someone has anxiety or depression, so chancers are going to chance.
Anxiety benefits need to be strictly time-limited.
I know so many young people who genuinely consider themselves unable to to ever work due to anxiety, and I feel sympathetic because as a teenager and young adult I had horrendous anxiety and I know how it feels when even the most straightforward of interactions or social demands can trigger huge panic attacks. But I was forced to step out of my comfort zone by simply needing to work and wanting a good life for myself. And now (after a lot of tears and meltdowns) I’m like a different person and I’m so massively glad I had to do it.
Whilst in the pit of anxiety, I know how genuinely it feels like you will never be able to work but it’s actually a disservice to young people to let them accept that and consign them to a life on benefits so early. It’s not even about the economic imperative of “people should work”, “people should be productive” etc. It’s about allowing somebody’s world to get smaller and closing off their options and prospects so early in life.
Given the shitshow that was 14 years of Tory rule, I’m surprised it isn’t worse.
The problem is that when the generation coming through say they are anxious, people try to remove it completely as you should never feel negative ever. But anxiety is part of life.
Parents are doing their children a disservice by saying ‘this policy makes me child anxious therefore they shouldn’t have to comply’ as it doesn’t teach problem solving / self negotiation skills they can transfer to the work place.
So they have no skills to take with them so they naturally flounder when they try to enter employment and then their anxieties of working become worse.
They can work though.
Disability should be only for those who genuinely are incapable of working.
All problems in the uk are government / rich people / immigrants / boomers / someone else’s fault, and it’s not my fault
Since when was anxiety considered a disability? Genuinely asking.
Controversial but taking mental health seriously has been one of the best and worst things weve done in the modern world.
What these things always forget to mention is the comorbidities. It’s pretty rare for someone to be on any sort of benefit for a single condition, especially if it’s a mental health condition. They’re getting it because they have anxiety? Or they’re getting it because they have cancer and anxiety? Because they will tick all the boxes for all the conditions (and you do have to tell them all your conditions, even the minor ones), and then the media picks one and goes “this many people!” without actually knowing if that’s those people’s main problem.
Who’d have thought that if you defund all the mental health support for both kids and adults, put people through austerity measures, experience a global pandemic, and allow the wealthy to profiteer off it so badly that they create a cost of living crisis, it would lead to a rise in mental illnesses and a lack of the resources required to treat them to keep people in the workforce? 🤷♀️
And, let me guess, the “solution” to making people ill through stress and financial instability is to make everybody’s lives more stressful and poorer?
Wild how none of these journalists know what the sick man of Europe actually refers to
My mental health is utter shite, but if I stop working or do nothing it will absolutely crash and burn. Doing nothing would end me.
Tell you what I’m sick of: the bullshit that this is Britain and Britain alone.
Here’s the stats for the USA. Look at the disability rates over the last 5 years. It’s the same everywhere.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01074597
As long as we stick our heads in the sand, people like the CSJ will keep hammering this line. And they’re not just proposing to cut PIP from people. They’re proposing to cut *all* benefits.
Some of these claims will be from people who have other conditions in addition to anxiety/mood disorders surely? Article doesn’t seem to mention anything about that
Not working can make anxiety so much worse. Isolation has a massive impact on mental health.
I did my postgraduate degree about university student resilience and ability to engage in peer-to-peer feedback. What’s fascinating is how yhe increase in isolated play in youth has lead to very poor conflict resolution skills in young adulthood. The student support offices in my university have stated that they see roughly 20% year-on-year increases in engagement, which is in concert with general increases in mental health-seeking behavior. And a lot of what they do is conflict resolution over quite minor things. And as a lecturer I am shocked at how quickly very small disagreements can get blown up into full-blown conflicts. All.my students say they want lots of feedback and constructive criticism, but some of them get very defensive when ive offered even the mildest suggestions on how they might improve their work.
This is not a dunk on young people. Im heavily invested in their success. I want them to do well. But the social media landscape, lack of in-person conflict resolution and a softly-softly approach during education means I fear that we arent preparing them well enough for a world that can be cruel, unjust and imperfect.
I’ve had anxiety for a long time and didn’t even know you could claim sick because of it. Glad I haven’t though as not working would just make it so much worse being cooped up all day.
When I lost my baby 2 years ago I had to quit. I seriously could not function. I think I had 4 months where I spent time with my friends and family instead, then I started applying for jobs and I got one! I started in the October, and it was HELL. but I went.
I took a LOT of time off for it. I worked in a hospital so you can imagine… walking into the same place I lost my first baby was the worst. But I stayed for two years. They were amazing and helped me through it all. I had 45 days off in a year due to the physical and mental symptoms of severe anxiety and depression.
I left and now I’m not grieving as such anymore, I got a new job. A new start.
I had rent to pay! I had no choice. I had to do it, I was lucky to have 4 months that I *could* take off because of savings and help. I wouldn’t have gone back so soon if I didn’t have to. I didn’t take medication, I had to force myself out of bed. The anxiety and crying at my desk daily was horrific. But you HAVE to do it. For your mental health to get better you NEED to get the fuck out of your depression hole and DO THINGS.
It’s easier now but I still get panic attacks, I still cry at work sometimes. It’s debilitating some days. I now have pain all over my body due to being constantly on edge, I’m always poorly or whatever. But just… do it. Life really isn’t that scary, even if you feel like it is. You must train your brain back to health again and it is possible. I don’t think I wanted to be here anymore after that loss but I got up off my arse and did something about it despite constant pain in my head and body. Without medication. Without therapy. I went outside and I connected with others and it worked wonders. It’s doable if you WANT to do it. If you don’t want help, don’t want to help yourself, then there you go, you won’t do it.
it’s amazing how many of those supposedly with anxiety so bad they can’t work but can still go out partying or on holidays. in days gone by it was bad backs now it’s anxiety.
I don’t think you should be able to claim it as a disability making you unable to work unless you are diagnosed by psychiatrist and are cooperating with whatever treatment they prescribe. My MIL had manic depression her entire adult life and she’s managed to work full time and then part time once she reached 50. She retired last year and she said it’s more depressing being at home than working.
But at the same time, social media does not help, you get onto an algorithm sequence that tells you how shit everything is and how there’s no hope or doomer porn you’re going to end up depressed.
I spiralled on holiday abroad once because I watched a bit of BBC world news in the hotel room while my kids had a nap.. fuck me if I didn’t think the world was ending that day I’d be lying to you all.
I’m sure thats likely a reductive way of looking it. Some who suffer from debilitating anxiety also tend to have high levels of depression and a mix of MH issues.
I have MS but I work full time. I’m exhausted all the time and would love to be able to just claim but I doubt I’d get anything. I once looked at the forms and they made me feel like crap just reading the questions. So I don’t know how people with “just anxiety” would be able to claim benefits.
Wanna know what’ll motivate people anxious enough to motivate them to go to work? Not being able to afford to eat
Social media and smartphones should be highly restricted for kids and young teens. The research is insanely strong on how damaging it is for developing brains. As a teacher we see the connection daily. As a mom my kids friends are even admiring how happy he is and hoe they know they would also be happier without social media, but they can’t stop it. One friend fell into a tiktok hole and got depressed and anxious, the school made the accomodation for his anxiety that he wouldn’t have to write tests anymore, which helps noone in the long run.. Luckily they could afford good therapy and banned social media from his phone and he was back to being ok a year later. But not everyone can afford it.
And “safety” act is blocking any discussions about self harm or suicide.
Internet is changing words to “unalive” to make suicide more appealing.
Suicide is awful and so the word shouldn’t be touched.
Government isn’t helping, it’s making things worse.
Get off social media. It’s a place where they encourage anxiety. Go and volunteer somewhere.
Look I’ve got anxiety and i get where people are coming from but I think all this will do is encourage young people to not work on it and theyre just going to go through life living on these claims
too many people (this comment section included) don’t know the difference between being anxious and having an anxiety disorder. everyone feels anxiety, but some people have to deal with anxiety disorders for their entire life.
Everybody is arguing in the comments over how seriously anxiety as a mental disorder should be viewed, but part of me wonders if there is a general rise in mental illness. We can already see and prove that there is growing obesity as the years pass, and with microplastics everywhere, I wouldn’t be surprised if our brains are getting less healthy as well.
You can’t get PIP just for anxiety, this must be claims that *include* anxiety
Literally just got medicated for my anxiety that’s been raging for 11 years, unmedicated. And while it never stopped me, knowing how I feel now, life is far far easier with those thoughts and feelings under control. I think if I was raised different, or less willing to push myself, it would have been debilitating because life isn’t easy as is, never mind with anxiety as bad as I had it.
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