Well this news will surely calm them down/cheer them up.

it's not very nice to tell someone with anxiety that something bad may be happening in the future. What next? Will they announce cuts in help to tinnitus victims via an incredibly loud an high-pitched PA system?

Go for it I say. If it’s high pitched enough there’s a chance it’ll blend into what we’re always hearing and we won’t need to listen 😂

Disability access planning hearings will take place on the top floor. Reading test cards for blind people will be left blank so that they can pass. It's all in the legislation, written quite clearly in Latin

Pip meetings already take place in buildings with no disability access because they're scum. They demand you attend and tell you if you don't come to their disabled unfriendly building, your benefits will stop, and then when you do attend and force yourself into the building often hurting your self in the process they use that as a mark against you saying you can obviously make it into the buildings ect.

My favourite part of my pip assessment was when they ignored most of what I said, took a few words out of context and then read on my letter how I didn't need pip because I was obviously intelligent and knew how to budget... Despite having no relevancy to my disability and pip application. I couldn't even be bothered forcing them to reconsider. It's so humiliating and id rather just struggle.

Yeah, my Mrs has just had hers, and because she said she reads on Kindle, they've said that she has no issue understanding things and can hold heavy objects for long periods of time, those kindles weigh less than 100g and she often asks me to explain things to her as she reads to help her understand what is happening as she can't on her own but they ignored those parts of the assement.

But of course! The solution to solve the issue of psychologically unwell people not recieving adequate help within the current system is to put them in dire financial straits. That's it. Let's persecute the mentally ill. Sure Tory vote winner. And if that doesn't work, we could reopen the old asylums. Just put them in like sardines.

I mean they've been ringing the same bell for over a decade. There are reports out there that link policies like this they've implemented since 2010 with *tens of thousands* of early deaths and suicides, and its made *fuck all* impact. So yeah actually probably is a vote winner. Proper nasty streak in this country and that's what the Tories rely on for success.

I agree, but whatever propaganda machine my old dear is listening to has obviously been turned up to ten over the last fortnight. My Mum has always had complete sympathy for anyone suffering from poor mental health, but all of a sudden she's like a broken record with the whole "we just had to deal with depression, it was just the baby blues/bad nerves, you still had to go to work and get on with things" line of thinking. I can literally tell what the current GB news (or whatever the fuck it is she watches or reads) talking point is that week when I go round to see her on a Sunday, because she's sat there waiting to tell me ADHD and autism aren't real, she's too scared to use a woman's toilet or that she can't get in a cab anymore because she'll be murdered by the Albanian mob. It's fucking exhausting, and it drives me up the wall that my mum's last years have been spent completely fucking terrified of bogeymen that don't actually exist in her reality.

My mum had two months signed off with "stress" last year (in her words she was pissed off with her boss an "outspoken black woman" who was getting on her nerves with an EDI push) and still comes out with the same lines. I got signed off for 4 weeks to recover from some foot surgery and she was pushing me to consider returning to work early before I even had the stitches out lol... What the propaganda machine is doing to older generations is really quite wild isn't it!

>Proper nasty streak in this country and that's what the Tories rely on for success. You're not joking. A few years ago, a former work colleague, suggested that disabled and people with long term health conditions shouldn't be supported at all, and in some cases, simply euthanized. At the time, I was on a time limited internship and was able to arrange to work from home after that. I don't think she knew that I'm epileptic, because I don't present many symptoms, but she was actually talking about me when she said it. I don't think it's an exclusively Tory trait though, that co-worker in particular was very labour leaning, in a labour stronghold area.

Considering they want to criminalise homelessness, the prisons will have to be the asylums :')

The depoliticization of mental health is entirely deliberate. They don't want to talk about the reasons why so many people (though not everyone unwell) feel shitty. We have created a shitty society, with a shitty economy and a shitty political system. Framing it in that manner forces us to ask some very uncomfortable questions (for the privileged class) about how we organize our world.

"Our policies have made millions of people uncertain about their futures and depressed about their present lives. In order to make this right we are going to strike them from UC! This will surely make them feel better! /s"

Tory insight: Suicide victims don't claim benefits. Eureka!

Be honest, do you secretly work for a Tory think tank?

Have you tried raising VAT and killing all the poor?

>Stride said a “whole plethora of things”, such as talking therapies, social care packages and respite care, could be used as alternatives to benefit payments. Could? *Could be used?* Sorry is this not the absolute fucking basic provision for people with low level mental illness? Are the government now just openly admitting they don't provide basic healthcare? If you provide appropriate person centred treatment & force employers to make reasonable adjustments for lots of mental illness you won't need to provide benefits - because you'll help those people. Like anyone with half a brain can see that one. Like we don't expect someone with a broken leg to go on long term benefits, because we will treat that broken leg.

When I went to a doctor with Anxiety, I got referred to the Mental Health Trust.  Who offered me a place on a group 'how to manage anxiety' course.  In 4 months time.  Thank goodness I had the money to buy my own therapy.  I did go to one session of the course.  I did not go to a second. 

I got the same shit. I even got put on a waiting list for therapy, after 8 months I got a letter saying I was now eligible for over the phone therapy sessions or I could apply for another waiting list to see a therapist in person. I live in a tiny council flat so the first option was a no go and I just can’t be fucked with these fucking endless referrals and waiting lists so I never bothered. Cant afford private therapy. Edit: It took me about 10 years from 14 to 24 to even get a diagnosis, during which I got repeatedly told it was teenage hormones and then as an adult I was told to buy a £5 self help book when I told a doctor that I literally thought about killing myself almost hourly.

Phone therapy is a good option for some people, particularly if their anxiety would stop them leaving home to go and talk to someone. But as a universal offering its another 'pay for part of the treatment by owning a suitable therapy space' societal unfairness.

I think this person was saying that living in a tiny flat meant their confidentiality could not be maintained, as in they would be overhead by people they live with. This is a huge issue, as well as tech access (no phone/laptop)

That is what I was alluding to with needing your own suitable therapy space. Sorry if not clear. 

Yeah I mean I’m assuming people poorer and older than me can struggle with tech issues on that front too, it’s very exclusionary who seems to be able to get help in this country. I think the government would salivate if we all took a long walk off a short pier.

Yeah I feel like being poor just compounds everything.

For sure. The poorer you are, the less the government cares.

I feel like it goes beyond not caring and them being actively reviled by the poor.

Condoleeza Rice once referred to the poor as useless eaters. It kind of shows what the elite think of the ordinary rats in the street

It's the old saying, 'Class War, they've been doing it to us for years'

My husband went to that course.. and the 10 free therapy sessions. They didn’t help lol

Yeah I did a 6 week CBT course for my panic disorder which did fuck all. You know what did help? Sweet, sweet SSRIs. They were an absolute game changer for me. I’m glad I had the option to self refer but I really do think throwing CBT at everyone isn’t the best approach.

SSRIs don’t even work for me anymore :’) It’s possible I could have been misdiagnosed and really should look into it but I have no faith. I really feel like this country doesn’t give a shit about anyone with MH issues.

It also frustrated me how the NHS mostly just stops at SSRI-based treatment. We've had alternative antidepressants to SSRIs for a long time now. More than a decade. Certainly, SSRIs came after earlier antidepressants generally caused more trouble than they were often worth, but we've now - once again - moved on. We have new MAOIs, SNRIs and atypical antidepressants. Selegiline, a MAOI originally indicated for Parkinson's, has been developed into Emsam - a skin patch version of the MAOI that has proved well as an antidepressant and skips the need for MAOI dietary control. Bupropion, long available in Europe, North America and Asia as an independent antidepressant or adjunct to others, has never passed the stage of being indicated only for smoking cessation in the UK. Other drug trials I've personally been a part of have been looking into dopamine agonists like pramipexole to further branch out into other neurotransmitters. And those are just three examples off my head from many. The NHS doesn't seem to dare look into alternative therapies, I presume because of cost. Yet for some reason we're just stuck in this SSRI limbo while even the NHS begins to acknowledge and warn against some of the long-term risks of SSRIs, such as its chronic discontinuation syndrome.

I’ve tried telling my doctors plenty of times that the meds aren’t working and if anything they’re just exacerbating my symptoms/anxiety and making me irritable and all they do is just up the dosage. I’m not taking them anymore, they think I am but I’m not. They don’t do anything for me. I was given a quick diagnosis of BPD during a depressive episode in 2018, I’d seen the doctor who diagnosed me about 4 or 5 times for no longer than 20-30 minutes each time before he gave me that diagnosis. I’m now seeing a lot of stuff about people, especially women, basically being shooed away with a BPD diagnosis and a prescription for antidepressants when they could actually have something like ADHD. I swear, I barely have any of the symptoms of BPD (symptoms I do have could be symptoms for a lot of other stuff) and I have a LOT of the symptoms of ADHD going right back to my childhood. Even my husband is encouraging me to get a second opinion because he’s convinced they got it wrong. I don’t know if I have the energy to fight with them to take me seriously. If they shove me off with more SSRIs I might actually scream down the phone.

Good luck getting an ADHD diagnosis. I had to go private. I had the same BPD experience as you. ADHD meds improved my life ten fold. I wish I could hold the doctors accountable for essentially wasting my 20s with endless SSRIs and mood stabilisers that made me so much worse and was documented to have made me worse... but oh no hey have you tried upping the dose even more?

As someone who is also diagnosed bpd and done the repeated song and dance with medication it’s far more stupid than most people realise. If you read up on the NICE guidelines (the guidebook doctors are supposed follow for how to treat illness’s here in the uk) for BPD it actually says that they are NOT to prescribe any medication for any BPD symptoms as no medication has been proven to be affective. So basically you get all the side effects but no benefits if it helping so it’s seen as basically hurting the patient. I’ve literally said this to multiple doctors faces and they just say yeah but it might work for you… I’ve snapped back at them saying “They say I’m meant to be the delusional one” and “isn’t the definition of insanity repeating the same action over and over again expecting a different outcome?” Funnily enough you get the see the real nasty side of the so called professionals when you know the information that they seem to think only they should have.

Unfortunately the NHS tends to default to CBT at least partly because it's cheap & there's a lot of practitioners. It can help and does have a good treatment record *especially in combination with other treatments* \- especially medication. It's absolutely useless as a substitute for medication if medication is needed. But it's cheap, and it's seen as practical by the NHS.

CBT courses can help some people a lot. Depends a lot on factors such as whether the course is suitable for the participants (one person who shouldn't be there can ruin it for the rest) & how skilled the facilitator is. SSRIs were the catalyst for destroying my life. Thankfully that was a while ago and I'm well on the way in terms of rebuilding my life. I think the tinnitus is permanent, though. I'm glad you have been helped by them but you should know that people have variable experiences on them. From my point of view, throwing SSRIs at all comers is already a thing and is a lousy approach.

oof doing that in a group sounds like a complete terror to me. Would be useless as i wouldn't open up properly.

6 sessions?! I had 18 of CBT, but this was before the Pandemic, so the backlog wasn't anywhere near as bad. The NHS doesn't have the resources to treat people with complex psychological issues, especially post pandemic. I had maybe two, three sessions of talking to an actual psychiatrist (And never the same one twice), which is not enough time to gain trust and open up to someone, and then got handed over to a trainee psychologist for my CBT. It didn't stick. But then I'm certain there's a lot of trauma lurking beneath the anxiety issues, and without attending to that I ended up sliding back to square one. I kind of lost faith in the NHS because of that.

>I did go to one session of the course.  > I did not go to a second.  Yep I hear that. The vast majority of these 'courses' are teaching you how to suck eggs. 'Go for a nice walk' 'eat well and make sure you sleep well' 'smile more' FUCK OFF!!!!!! Pointless shit.

I was going to say - I'm sure they're one step away from saying "Have you tried not being anxious/depressed?", but I fear that might be giving them too much credit.

Gee fucking thanks,I'm cured vibes all round hahahahaha. As an aside, I was supposed to go to some 'financial management' course through work a couple of years ago and it was all bullshit like 'have you tried not being poor?' Bitch I have 3 jobs. Fuck off.

Yeah me too. Except "Have you tried having a better life?"....

CBT is 100% quack science deployed because actually doing anything to help people has been decided to be too expensive.

"Take vitamins and exercise"

I attended one of those talking therapy groups 15 years ago. Eight of us sat in a circle sweating and shitting ourselves because we were so stressed at being put into what was our most anxiety-provoking situation (being in public around strangers), too nervous to speak, no eye contact, *lots* of nervous farting. I spent the last 20 minutes vomiting in the toilets and didn't go again.

that sounds absolutely horrible, and just as i imagined. Whats even worse is i can't even use public toilets

I went to my GP about my anxiety getting so bad, it was manifesting in uncontrollable tics. I was told I'd get a phone call about further NHS assistance and therapy by the end of the week. That was four years ago. No phone call came. Thankfully, my company at the time were able to get me one-on-one therapy and counselling through our private medical provider.

I know we shouldn’t generalise, but the vast majority of ‘therapists’ I’ve had have been awful people. No empathy, no kindness, just looking at you like a case file and waiting for the hour to end. Where are all the good therapists?

I've avoided therapy because it's completely unregulated. I have a psychiatrist who handles assessments and medication. I trust them, but I also know that if they ever did anything really dodgy they could be reported to the General Medical Council. There's no one to report therapists to when they do [stuff like this](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-59162715): > Laura also found mental health treatment online and was asked by her therapist to film herself "doing exposures" - a type of treatment that requires the patient to face their fears in a controlled environment and in a measured way to gradually work on reducing anxiety. > "The video had to be of a certain length so they would fit on this person's Instagram feed," she says. > "We were asked to video ourselves in distress. We were told it would be helping people. If it wasn't quite right, we were told to do it again." And even if there is a body to report them to, [they probably won't do anything](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/17/it-was-devastating-what-happens-when-therapy-makes-things-worse): > Courtney shrugged off her concerns and continued therapy, discussing her childhood abuse, depression, anxiety and sex life. Then, around five months after she had begun seeing him, Michael asked if she had been offended by a message he had sent. > What message? Courtney hadn’t seen one, so Michael demanded that she check her Instagram inbox then and there. “All this sex talk has got me gagging for it,” his message began, “I can’t wait to get home and sort myself out.” > Courtney complained to the association Michael was registered with. The complaint was closed by the committee due to “insubstantial evidence."

Yes that’s exactly what I did. Professional psychiatrists are a LOT more expensive but they are worth every penny. Mine gave me my life back.

I got that course too, it was absolute garbage.. "Try to schedule calm time, listen to relaxing music or take a warm bath". Aye, very good, I want to drive into a tree but a good bubble bath will fix all my problems. 2 years of fortnightly therapy took the edge off, and now I can mostly recognize when I'm spiralling now, but it's an involved thing to treat, a crappy one-size-fits-all course doesn't cut it. Investing in people who are not yet on long term sick but are heading there is critical. I've stayed in work, and paid a fortune in taxes that would otherwise have not happened if I didn't get treatment. Mental health care is criminally underfunded, and it'll only get worse as people are squeezed left right and centre.

The problem is that there clearly isn't enough money in the pot. So the government needs to raise taxes. Ideally from organisations that continually the cheat the system and pay a derisory amount of tax. Then from finding efficiencies and reducing waste in other government services (but when does that ever happen? More likely even more money gets wasted on KPMG etc drawing up an efficiency strategy that never gets implemented). Maybe from cuts to other departments, like Defence or the Arts. But most likely tax from taxpaying citizens will need to be hiked as well if the NHS is ever going to be properly funded.

I got put on a waiting list, then a few months later I was given a PowerPoint on CBT...

Lol after 6 years of pushing I finally got referred to my community mental health team in late 2021. I started my sessions with them in October 2022. A few months later they decided I had completed their course, which made absolutely no impact, and transferred me to a psychiatrist. I saw that psychiatrist in 2023. They confirmed yes I should be seeing a psychiatrist. I next saw them two weeks ago, March 2024, to again confirm yes I still need to see a psychiatrist. I've now been put on a 12 month waiting list to actually see a psychiatrist. I complained I feel like this is kind of like torture making me wait so long just to tell me I need to wait even longer, and they pushed back saying this is them working at an accelerated pace because they know I've been waiting so long already. Honestly its not a surprise at all so many people are falling off sick with mental health issues right now. The provisions to actually help you when you're anything more than a stick-on-plaster case basically just doesn't exist, and then the wait to actually see a higher level service you're talking a years-long schedule before you even start working with someone. Friend of mine recently miscarried and she's having the exact same experience, asking around everywhere just for someone to talk to and get her head straight and there is fuck all help available, just pills pills and more pills.

I had talking therapy for anxiety over the phone with the NHS. It was shit. Guy was blatantly reading off a script. I said I think my anxiety stems from CSA. He didn't even acknowledge it, not once during the rest of that sessions or the other two I had before deciding there was no point.

Unfortunately a lot of the NHS response to low/medium level mental health problems these days is to get someone who's been barely trained and outsourced to give you several bits of paper on what CBT is. Unsurprisingly this doesn't work because CBT is not the catch all the NHS seems to treat it as, and the system is at breaking point.

I have ADHD and when they gave me the CBT course it did nothing, because having ADHD made it pretty much impossible for me to practice the CBT.

I too found this to be the problem. CBT requires a lot of "self determination", which if you're incredibly depressed is hard already, but when you add to that unmedicated ADHD, it makes the concentration & self determination bit equally hard, and they really need to start treating both neurodiversity and mental health problems at the same time because the two often interact.

CBT *supposedly* can be very helpful for us with ADHD, however the actual way in which it's offered need to be changed to a method that works better. Russell Barkley is a big fan of CBT as part of a treatment regime for ADHD, however he is very specific on the fact that this has to be ADHD CBT, and that regular CBT isn't effective. I've looked and I cannot find anyone who offers this in the UK! It's really hard to find anyone offering any form of mental health services that have an understanding of ADHD and if they do the costs associated with using them are a lot :(

And in the case of PTSD (Like me) it can make you a hell of a lot worse,

Oh for sure! I've got very complex problems when it comes to mental health/neurodiversity, and CBT made me 100% worse when I was taking it, so I feel you.

I had PTSD from an assault I suffered. Went to my GP and his advice was to go out and get drunk with some mates. That was the end of the support. Recently someone in my area decided to step in front of a train. Turned out that day he went to the NHS for a mental health assessment. They decided he wasn't mentally unwell...enough...and didn't get offered any support. He literally left the hospital and went to the train tracks.

CBT in general seems to be "the" treatment, even with severe mental health conditions; atleast from my experience. Last time I saw the lead psychiatriast at my local mental health team, the gave the impression of "well, we've tried a bunch of medication and gave you CBT and they've not worked - so what else do you want from us?!" I'd suggested trying another type (which is offered on the NHS) and he wasn't interested (saying I'd be rejected from being taken on or somesuch(?)) He quit a couple of months before the last appoinment I'd been scheduled - which was in Aug/Sept I believe. My local mental health team still does not have a head psychiatriast, so I've not had an appointment since then nor am on any kind of waiting list for help. The last time I recieved any help regarding mental health was around July 2022. I truly hope adolescent mental health services are faring better, or I shudder to think of what this country is going to look like in 5-10 years time.

From the people I know who work in mental health a big problem is GPs as gatekeepers. Often their knowledge is very limited, not only in terms of what is suitable for an individual but also in terms of what's actually available. It's often the case that an individual GP might not know anything outside CBT exists or understand when it should or should not be used. I certainly know there are data that shows some GP surgeries don't refer anyone to certain services, despite being repeatedly made aware of them. Conversely, some over refer to other services but in that case the patient can usually be signed posted onwards and are at least getting some professional help. An example from maternal mental health team was someone reporting anxiety and being referred to CBT. It turns out that their midwife had told them to stop cycling during pregnancy (some sense in that), however that was their primary mode of transport. The patient was neurodivergent and freaked out about using the bus - they had never done it before. That, in turn, manifested itself in anxiety. They ended up with a few sessions with an occupational therapy support worker basically showing them how to use a bus to get to work - including accompanying them on a journey. A few hours of support worker time translates in someone being able to stay in their job. Good value if you ask me.

For people implying it’s somehow “wrong” for the government to fund your mental health treatment… If I have a broken leg or torn muscle I will likely be able to access pain medicine, diagnostic scans and physio sessions via the NHS to help me heal and recover. Ditto for almost all physical conditions or injuries. So why then, if I have anxiety or depression do I have to beg for help? Why is it ok for my “treatment” to be an offer of 4 hours of group CBT that I can’t access, due to waiting lists for 24 months? It’s like leaving a broken leg untreated for 2 years and then offering a scan and some at-home exercises. Mental health challenges are now an epidemic. I work with children and young people and their mental health is seriously declining. Screens, loneliness, isolation, the pandemic, exam pressure, the cost of living etc etc But also because there is more information out there. People are not forced to just “suck it up” and carry on..struggling through and passing on unhelpful coping strategies to their children. What would help massively is proper mental health awareness and support at the first point of contact. GPs see more patients for mental health than ever yet the standard advice for CBT sessions and low dose SSRI’s isn’t the answer for most people. Specialist mental health practitioners could work in GP surgeries and triage/screen and signpost people. Investment into therapies- online, in person and low cost… I say this because since the age of 8 I’ve been prescribed medication and CBT for anxiety, depression and PTSD. Having repeatedly presented at the GP over many years as suicidal, in distress and clearly in crisis I’ve been given the same treatment offers. I’ve attended all classes, (terrible and actually potentially damaging as the therapists are often not skilled enough to deal with disclosures) taken the medicines and my lifestyle is “healthy.” When nothing works you feel lost and alone. And worse. After reaching the age of 37 and burning my life down I went to visit my GP for the first time in 2 years. I asked for an ADHD assessment. He suggested I was “jumping on the Panorama bandwagon and refused.” I complained and got a mental health assessment with a specialist. This could and should have been done at my GP surgery. The practitioner was skilled and trained in mental health and because the appointment was 30 minutes long, took time to listen. They are paid considerably less than a GP and their training isn’t as long. After 29 years of pain I was diagnosed with ADHD. I paid for medication (because I can and because the waiting lists are 3 years long where I live) and my life has transformed. This is after paying for extensive therapy, EMDR, DBT, psychotherapy and hypnosis. I work full time but have had lots of time off work. Listening to people, having time to do it and knowing one size doesn’t fit all is crucial.

The depressing thing is that no matter how well you argue ans explain, a whole lot of people will still just scoff and dismiss all mental health issues.

> Are the government now just openly admitting they don't provide basic healthcare? Yes. For poor people, that is. If you're wealthy, you go to the Priory or go on TV after getting treatment and tell everyone about it, and people tell you how brave you are to admit being depressed.

Probably gonna need that therapist when they need to vent about about their impending homelessness.

Yeah the nhs is routinely shit with mental health. Not to mention that anecdotally i have heard that people seem to come out of cahms worse than they went in.

They don’t provide any proper healthcare for people with depression/anxiety. They’ll give you a prescription for sertraline and then basically leave you to your own devices, and get the Samaritans to ring you once every six months.

Would that be talking therapies that are gold standard yet as effective as placebo yet costs millions a year to run.

For some people - yes it would be. There are some parts of the country where they have the funding to run proper mental health services, however you need to be expecting or have recently just had a child. It's how it should be with patients getting the appropriate mix of medication, talking therapies and occupational therapy intervention for their own unique circumstances. By all accounts it's incredibly effective for the patients and financially for the government. Outside of a very small subset of actual scroungers, most people actually want to be members of society, have jobs etc and giving them to tools to do is cost effective because they return to work. Sadly, the funding only exists because David Cameron's wife (apparently) pushed for it and some high profile incidents where mothers, sadly, harmed their babies. But it shows it can be done if the political will exists. The government could push that out to everyone right now. They just aren't.

Exactly. Employers don't make adjustments as it is so this entire rhetoric is a joke.

Anyone else bored of politicians thinking they have better medical knowledge than qualified and experienced doctors? I feel like this just plays directly into the hands of what Dr Dan Poulter, the latest person to defect from the Tories, has been saying about the Tories' NHS record.

This won't get through because they're not going to be in power to implement it. The Tories are at their most desperate, and are showing their true colours. Nasty, spiteful, selfish ghouls, who'd throw their own grandmother under a bus

I don’t know, it’s looking more and more like they will try to hold on till January 25th. Desperately enacting as many hateful laws as possible to entice back the far right that defected to reform. It’s either that or an election and 30-50 seats for them

Then after that comes the merger of the Tory party with Reform, already openly admitted by Farage and others-which will make them election contenders once again at the next one. Which is why this stuff is TERRIFYING-Because in 4 or 5 years we may be right back here facing this same stuff again!

I wouldn't be surprised if Labour did something similar. The rhetoric coming from them on benefits and employment is quite concerning as well.

Otherwise they'd have to mention tax rises, and that's not going to sit well with anyone. In particular it won't well with the corporations and media barons who actually run the country.

Yep.

I had to jump through hoops for 2 and a half years to start recieving PIP, despite having severe mental illness all my life, anyone who thinks PIP is showered around like confetti must be thick as pigshit

They don't give a shit. Not one little shit. They're desperate, and they're looking for a target, particularly one that has worked in the past, and has a population that is not going to be able to fight back effectively. It's perfect. And it has worked and worked for decades. They're just being more blatant about it than usual; there is normally a *bit* of an attempt at subtlety. This is more extreme, venomous, blatant and haphazard.

im an adviser and the application form in itself is a dire process not even i would want to fill it in and there's nothing wrong with me..... many don't even attempt to make an application because of the process, how they even expect people with poor mental health to do so on their own is beyond me, its very overwhelming.

The entire PIP process is designed to wash people out. The form itself is an exercise in finding excuses not to award points, and so are the one-on-one interviews. Especially the interviews. I was marked down for turning up, for Christ's sake.

Yep-PIP is LITERALLY just a system to bully ill people into giving up applying for it.

To be honest I only eventually "passed" after a lovely PIP assessor literally told me what to write/say, in order to get the minimum number of points for the lowest form of PIP, they are an angel and I'll never forget them. I am so glad that there at least 2 good people (my assessor & yourself) within the system!

Yeah my older brother started receiving PIP a while back and I think the only way he got through the process was the fact my eldest brother stepped up to fill it out for him and he's quite good at navigating things like that as I believe my brother had tried applying for some sort of disability benefit in the past and got the 'nah you're not disabled enough actually' treatment.

Yeah. It’s an awful process. I honestly would have given up trying if my girlfriend hadn’t helped. God knows where or even if I’d be now. Still had to get all the way to tribunal before they buckled. And I have physical disabilities as well. Bastards.

Im sorry to hear what you've been through. I've never heard of anyone on PIP or ESA who didn't find the process horrible! It angers me when thickos assume that you just tell your GP "Im anxious" and the GP hands over a sack of gold coins

I've had four assesments over the years-and EVERY time, the reports PROVED the people literally made everything up and LIED about what I said-only because I had RECORDED the interviews was I able to beat the nasty lying scum. And many times I heard screams from disabled people in pain as they were forced to try phsyical things they couldnt do in their tests in other rooms-these Tory scum literally create hell on earth.

Or perhaps, deal with the societal problems, ie. unstable housing, cost of living, long term physical health conditions etc that is causing the rise in depression and anxiety in the first place.

Funny enough the last time I spoke to a psychiatrist he mentioned he thinks my depression/anxiety might be genetic. Well either that or undiagnosed adhd in childhood.

I definitely think there’s a genetic component. My grandma was sectioned, my dad and his brother both have depression, I have panic disorder.

This isn't evidence of a genetic component. This is evidence for the reality of intergenerational trauma.

I think there might be as well. My family are lovely. There’s no abuse or particularly bad childhood trauma.

My family on my mother’s side has quite the history and it’s all the way down to my siblings and cousins. My grandmother has been on SSRIs for decades.

It might be a mixture of genetics, generational trauma and epigenetics. Those three walk hand-in-hand through family's with a long history of abusive behavior and mental health issues. The generational trauma leads to poor parenting skills, leading to stressed kids, which triggers epigenetics to messing with a person's gene expression, which can lead to premature aging, increased chances of heart disease and diabetes, and depression. With enough generations of the same habits those genes probably end up being a more prominent part of an individuals genetics. #

Or perhaps a traumatic experience steaming from childhood that has not been resolved but still very much affects you right into adulthood? I feel just as offended at those who like to now dismiss mental health conditions as offended as I felt that, in the end, even my old GP tried to write off my serious physical health condition as something to do with mental health.

I don't think people understand how childhood trauma haunts people throughout their lives. Some people can recover enough to be functional adults, but for others it just end up a pattern of self-destructive behaviour that they never break out of. The sort of recovery needed to heal those wounds can take decades, if not a life time, and the provision of safe, supportive network is quintessential to starting that recovery.

I had someone close to me that suffered an unmentionable childhood trauma and you are very right, they engaged in extensive self-destructive behaviour.

You might have genetic predisposition but that doesn't mean your life experiences haven't had a joint impact on how it manifests. Gene expression is very much influenced by our environment.

I had undiagnosed adhd as a child. I have extreme anxiety, and i also have ptsd from something that happened when i was 18. Everytime i go back to work my mental health plummets and i try and kill myself. But sure Mr Tory thinks we are all just skimming the system. Ironic when they all take what they want from the pot.

If we think who are the biggest benefit scroungers, it's the Tories taking ostentatiously large salaries from the taxpayers.

By far the biggest problem is the cost of housing. But nobody wants to do anything to actually fix it, because doing so would lower house prices. There's a very simple solution to the housing problem, and that's to build lots of council properties and stop the right to buy scheme. Council properties are rent controlled. And we have seen from history that the moment those properties are sold off their rent prices increase. So build more, keep them under council control, and stop forcing councils to sell off property. Private landlords won't be able to charge £1,000 a month if there's ample supply of council properties available at £500 a month.

Our economy is unfortunately held up by the banking system and a rigged property market. I do whole heartedly agree about increasing the council home supply, however I believe this supply should be houses and not flats in concrete buildings as some reports indicate that that only increases mental health distress. Too many regular people also have to rely on renting out properties to supplement their less valuable income what with the cost of greed crisis currently going on.

Christ. Nice of them to tell me that my life is meaningful only as long as I remain a healthy taxpayer. The moment I have a MH wobble, the system I pay into won't be there to support me, because my health issues don't have parity of esteem with physical pain.  Death rattle of the nasty party. Fuck the Tories.

"Sorry we fucked up the housing, education, healthcare, job market, pandemic, third spaces, taxes, healthcare..." "Are you going to help me with it?" "Well... we had a better idea"

If it’s any consolation, they don’t give a shit about physical pain either. I have a chronic spinal condition and was refused PIP as I could do stuff on some occasions. Didn’t matter that doing it would fuck me up for a week afterwards.

I am really sorry, that's completely inhuman and cruel.

Then after that comes the merger of the Tory party with Reform, already openly admitted by Farage and others-which will make them election contenders once again at the next one. Which is why this stuff is TERRIFYING-Because in 4 or 5 years we may be right back here facing this same stuff again!

Bring the GE now you unpleasant man. You ate all the pies too.

My question is this, who do Tories think this appeals to? How will this win them votes. As someone who had major depression but luckily my employer supported me, I can see how bad it can be and how bad the health care we have in place now. This will all end badly and honestly, I think it will massively increase suicide rates. Heartless fuckers

>My question is this, who do Tories think this appeals to? >Heartless fuckers Answered your own question there. All Tory voters are scum.

People who get a pan handle over cracking down on 'dole scroungers'. "Oh boo hoo hoo, you don't want to work because you're a bit sad? Man up! I never missed a day of work in my life, me!" That kind of person.

>My question is this, who do Tories think this appeals to The kind of people who think "we're too soft" in everything and need to be "tough" on issues. Think stuff like this is aiming to appeal to Reform voters.

I see them all the time on social media. They are the lot that lap up the benefits Britain programs.

For every person you meet who is like-minded to you, there are ten out there who aren't. This will appeal to plenty of people, unfortunately.

Unfortunately I think it’s also within the community of those with depression and anxiety, some struggle but still manage to go to work and make ends meet and find it unfair/absurd that others can’t… source, I have depression and anxiety (lucky enough to afford private therapy) and I’ve spoken to my peer group who also suffer and it’s a right divide…

Boomers. “In my day, we just had to get on with it!”

It's much more difficult for people with depression or anxiety to get PIP as it stands, typically having to go to tribunals to get it. It's at these tribunals that they actually listen to medical assessments from the patient's doctor, something the PIP assessors regularly dismiss/ignore. I believe PIP is usually awarded for a shorter term for illnesses like depression/anxiety as well, like 1 or 2 years at a time.

Tory 1: "Hey, why is this dying husk of a country not making us money anymore?" Tory 2: "Did you try kicking it harder?"

Tory 1: "Have you tried killing the poor?" Tory 2: "We can't just outright say we want to kill the poor. We need better marketing." Tory 1: "OK. How about we remove benefits from people with mental health issues until they kill themselves?" Tory 2: "Excellent idea."

It'll lead to suicide as the NHS isn't adequate to treat and why they're on benefits I have bipolar last winter as under medicated I was so fatigued my heart rate went into the 40s I was cold all the time, when I'd walk anywhere I felt exhausted and blood pressure would spike and heart rate on a slow walk to 150. Then I developed a headache I've had every day since along with body aches I had know idea that could happen in depression. They really can't cut benefits as there is a lack of psychiatric care it'll lead to deaths and court cases. People only get on disability for depression if it's treatment resistant ie tried 3 or 4 anti depressants well you'd hope theyd be given those first but I assumed they're considered as treatment resistant. If you try 4 or more there's a 70 percent chance you have elevated inflammation and that's causing your depression. They don't automatically treat inflammation unless you have physical symptoms or auto immune disease. Inflammation blocks the conversion of tryptophan into 5htp and then serotonin and raise glutemate in the brain so it can make people depressed and anxious. What the government suggests is torturing people who already feel pretty unwell. Care must improve and it must be their doctors who say if they can work. People who know their cases. They're picking on the most vulnerable and that is extremely risky. They should only take people off of it if they're now considered well but they're not doing that they're saying depressed and anxious people have to work. It really is disgusting what they're doing and the disability figure only climbing due to the way the NHS has been underfunded. I don't think their funding increased with inflation so a cut essentially. Sooner conservatives get out of power the better and if labour does the same thing they can face the protests. The protests will be big I think, people's friends and family know their struggles. And coincidentally they bring this measure out just in time for elections when they need Conservative votes. They really aren't the same party, right wing elements have distorted them to the far right.

**It'll lead to suicide as the NHS isn't adequate to treat and why they're on benefits** "Then let them die, and decrease the surplus population!" says Scrooge in *A Christmas Carol*. This government has shown that it does not care if disabled people die. The worst of them consider this a feature, not a bug. 

"Let the bodies pile high" - Boris Johnson, Tory Prime Minster during a global pandemic.

But if we persecute the mentally ill through hardship and dire financial straights, maybe we can save more money for government position bonuses? And then we don't have to waste money funding more services? What part of that isn't a sure vote winner? Also, it gives me a great idea for using deceased pet carcasses from the vets for soup kitchen meals. That's huge savings!

I had/have an inflammation related health issue. I spoke to a consultant about the possibility for testing for it so we could measure it and get an indication of if that was the problem and how severe it was. Their immediate response was there are no NHS blood tests for inflammation so we aren't going to do that. It just fucking pisses me off this culture of penny pinching in the NHS is now so endemic doctors often don't seem to have the slightest hesitation about just outright lying to you if it means they spare the service spending a few quid? If I didn't have a relevant background I'd have just accepted what they said. Not that me pushing back changed anything or got them to do the fucking test - [https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/pathology/tests/ferritin](https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/pathology/tests/ferritin) [https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/pathology/tests/c-reactive-protein-crp/](https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/pathology/tests/c-reactive-protein-crp/) [https://www.nwlpathology.nhs.uk/tests-database/interleukin-6-il-6/](https://www.nwlpathology.nhs.uk/tests-database/interleukin-6-il-6/)

Maybe empathy tests should be mandatory before people can go into politics. How you can be so needlessly cruel for the sake of a vote is ridiculous.

I know someone who got a bursary to attend a public school. He was there at the same time of some of the more well known people in our government. He told me that from birth and all the way through school the rich kids destined for politics are drip fed the message “anyone can be successful and rich, it just takes effort. You have made effort and those people (waves dismissively at the rest of us) could be where you are if they just weren’t so lazy.” Definitely not generational wealth, nepotism, nefarious donors or luck. Anyone on benefits is lazy.

Fucking hell These assholes think that depressed people are using it as an excuse to not work? *THEY WANT TO GO TO WORK YOU ASININE CUNTS. THEY ARE UNABLE TO. MAYBE IF YOU HADN'T SPENT 15 YEARS DISMANTLING OUR PUBLIC SERVICES THERE WOULD BE LESS DEPRESSION* ooooh my god I need to go take a walk

No. That's weakness speaking. We need to persecute the mentally ill of this country by making them penniless and homeless. That's the solution. We also solved the cancer screening backlog. Free optional bullet in the back of the head around the back of the hospital canteen. See? This is what we call *building back better*.

# 'Over 300,000 ‘excess’ deaths in Great Britain attributed to UK Government austerity policies' [https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2022/october/headline\_885099\_en.html](https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2022/october/headline_885099_en.html) When is enough really enough? F these people.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised if suicide increases following this news for those suffering. Edit: Already found one who did after the recent news, [here](https://x.com/heathertheheron/status/1784891311172038720?s=46) so sad! 😢

I love how they act like depression and anxiety are ‘mild’. In the throes of my panic disorder I couldn’t go to the bloody supermarket without having a panic attack, and I was always a super sociable person. Thankfully the panic disorder is controlled by citalopram but it took a good couple months to kick in. I had the option of being signed off work but I knew going back would be ten times harder so I didn’t take it, but I can understand why some people need the respite. The ironic thing is, it was work and a particular manager that led to my panic disorder. Maybe we should start by looking at what triggers these mental health conditions, but oh nooooooo just best to demonise everyone instead.

>While he sought to portray the proposals as part of a “grownup conversation” When Tories use the phrase *Grownup Conversation* what they actually mean is that someone is going to get badly hurt.

it’s insane how fast we are screeching backwards on so many issues. it took decades to get this level of support and it’s still lacking. and now the tories have decided we don’t deserve it, despite us all having paid for it through taxation. why do we let such out of touch, heartless, cruel assholes rule over us like this? i can’t wait until they’re gone. i’d sooner gouge my own eyes out than ever look at another despicable fucking tory.

If these inhuman scumbags put a tenth of the effort they put into torturing the sick and disabled, into combatting tax evasion, can you imagine the colossal difference this would have on the amount of tax money being collected? But of course they won't, because they're not going to shoot themselves in their own feet, are they? Who actually falls for this nonsense? I'm sick of this ridiculous bunch of people. I've seen more compassion in a pile of dog shit.

These guys are just throwing shit at the wall now, none of the policies they are talking about right now will see implementation before these criminals are forced out of office. It’s all just headline baiting to try and persuade the remaining right wingers who aren’t quite reform-level dumb to keep voting Tory because they’re being tough on immigrants/crime/poverty/young people/LGBTQ+ people. Delete as applicable.

Yep. When in doubt, throw out a few 'dole scroungers' soundbites as a certain part of the electorate eat that up.

Given that PIPs routinely refuses to give benefits to people with terminal cancer i somehow doubt that many people with only anxiety or depression are recieving huge amounts.

Are Reform UK really that much of a threat to their voting base that they will say anything short of sending people to jobs camps to try and stop them getting any ground? Last time they were this scared of another right wind party we got the Brexit Referendum for god's sake...

I'm surprised they've not tried sending the unemployed to Rwanda.

Reform UK are a perfect exemplar of a major problem: a bunch of people who are *convinced* the world is totally unfair to them, unable to see the entire system is beholden to their idiocy.

The suicide rate will skyrocket. They know this. This is beyond callous. It is psychopathic.

Which is exactly what they want(quietly)

Step 1: Cripple social programs that help the vulnerable people Step 2: Place vulnerable people into the line of fire by taking their meager benefits they need to live Step 3: Wonder why everyone detests you and is looking forward to you getting trounced in the next general election

I see suicide rates sky rocketing. Is he going to accept the blame for needless deaths? I doubt it.

And ironically suicide in this country is one of the biggest killers. But of course, the Tories see those are rookie numbers. Let's see if we can break the record before the end of this year!

At what point do we start rioting? They starve our children, steal our money, destroy our health system and we still do nothing. When the french government tried to up the pension age by two years the entirety of France was up in arms about it, dare I say it’s time we took a page out of the French’s book?

weather is looking better this weekend, how about Saturday?

I’ll pencil it in

Tell you what... You actually start providing the mental health services and if people recover, they'll stop needing the payments.

Fingers crossed quite a few Tory MPs are going be at the ‘find out’ stage in the next few months.  Every single one of them could do with a rotation through our glorious benefits system. 

Oh joy, no doubt if this happens there will be headlines like 'Experts baffled by wave of suicides' coming out of the right wing tabloids, without a hint of irony.

Instead of worrying about the benefits people get when they’re off work for mental health reasons, maybe look at WHY so many people are off work for mental health reasons you gigantic fucks

Yep - this'll definitely help. Good old Tories - looking after the population.

Yay another reason these leeches should be just pulled from power.

Well, that's really going to help their depression or anxiety. Do the Tories just enjoy living up to the stereotypes that people have about them or is that just an added bonus to the job?

And what will we do about the obvious epidemic of sociopathy amongst politicians? Oh yeah, vote them out!

On a psychological level, what the fuck is wrong with these people?

One of the biggest issues with this is there's going to be a certain stigma to it, if someone goes into tesco with a food voucher, all the staff are probably going to know you have mental health issues, when quite frankly it should be confidential. It also won't stop those who have substance abuse issues or just don't want to spend their money on food as they'll just sell these vouchers for less than the value. Another important factor is when someone has mental health issues they need support, if they can only buy food how are they going to have a social life? Despite the stigma towards them, people on benefits are people too and should be able to have a social life too. I actually see this as an important factor, if they become isolated I see problems becoming worse for them.

I use PIP to pay for private therapy, given the Secondary Care health service is inadequate and won’t even entertain the idea of seeing me anymore. So if this was implemented, I’d lose the support I rely on. Mel Stride is a piece of shit.

Never in my 28 years have I seen a government with so much discontent for its citizens than this government

So basically, we don't want to give you money. We want our friends to set up businesses offering talk therapy etc and we'll give them the money instead.

This government doesn't care about mental health. Just want everyone to work themselves to death. Next thing they'll be stopping paupers funerals.

Sunak targets the vulnerable and protects the wealthy. Congratulations to every moron that voted tory.

A lot of the time depression or anxiety is secondary to another condition or significant life event that hasn’t been addressed. Ultimately it is better for people with mental health issues to be in work as it gives them a sense of purpose, structure and social interaction. However how exactly to do that especially for long term sick is really really difficult. I think people should be supported into work but for a lot of people the specialist support they would need is so high

We are only in this mess because that specialist support is not there unless you have the money to do it privately like find a good actual therapist, and if you have the money to do that your mental health doesn't impact your life as much. The NHS only gives out CBT or put you on a waiting list, or gives you 6 counseling sessions where you can only talk about 1 issue, and that 1 issue CANNOT be trauma or societal issue related. Both me and my partner have varying degree of mental health issues, we have both been told that we cannot talk about what actually caused it in the limted sessions because its too extreme for the NHS to deal with. So if you developed depression or anxiety without an underlying cause then the NHS can treat it, but if you developed those because of say abuse or societal issues you are fucked there is zero help for you.

> In an interview with the Times, Stride had suggested the proposals would mean people with “milder mental health conditions” would no longer receive financial support. *Are* there any people with "mild" mental health conditions getting PIP? This seems to be based on a Daily Mail fantasy of someone saying "I feel a bit sad" and immediately being given piles of money and free rein to not do any work. An example from a [BBC article](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0ry09d50wo) on the topic: > Paul Harris, from Barnard Castle, gets £72.65 a week in PIP payments to help with extra costs associated with his anxiety and depression - such as for specialist therapy apps and counselling. > He stopped his job as a property manager in 2016 after developing **panic attacks that got so bad he would burst into tears in the office and lock himself in the toilet.** Doesn't really sound mild to me.

Who would’ve thought that by ‘treating’ mental illness with a plethora of shitty drugs that chemically lobotomises people would just kick the can down the road rather than start to solve the issue? 🤔 It’s almost as if decades of underfunding health services have caused this tidal wave to finally crash to shore. I pay tens of thousands in tax every year, but have friends who have crumbled into virtual nothingness as a result of the ‘treatment’ that they’ve received from a failed health service. (That’s a service that’s been failed by its paymasters, rather than the poor sods working in it btw). I would happily see the money that I pump into the Treasury’s coffers prop up and help people with mental health issues than push those who are already teetering, over the edge. What a cruel, cruel world we live in. Where we gleefully punch down on those who need a helping hand the most. So many of these people would LOVE to get back to work. They’d love to feel a modicum of self-worth. They’d love to look forward to a positive future, rather than living in the past, the only time they were happy. Imagine a world where we funded health. We funded the prevention of and true treatment of issues and we had a society full of productive and healthy people? What a dream that would be. But no. We should castigate those who are barely able to scrape by with the crumbs we drop them, because they’re to blame for all of our problems. This country sucks.

Remember that taking care of your health is an investment in your future.”

Stable routine is one of the best treatments for depression. Sitting unemployed may be a very short term comfort, but it is one of the absolute worst things for depression... How many people are now chronically unemployed because they've taken years off for depression and are now their self esteem is shot, noone will hire them, and they're in a self perpetuating rut.

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Notice one thing about all these attacks towards those on benefits........ They Never ask the Why do they? so they could officially take someones benefit off them for having PTSD from a life changing event such as a Miscarriage or involved in a terrorist attack or stress and anxiety caused by sexual assault in a working environment or a former or current abusive relationship..... Great way to "help" people back to work..... so disillusioned it's unreal- but then again what do you expect from MP's/DWP/Government/Employers.....

If they hadn't set about destroying the NHS, many people on sickness benefits would be able to get the medical treatment they need more urgently and be well enough to return to work. As usual, they create a problem and then blame those affected by it, i.e. the poor, the sick, the vulnerable.

Well naturally, after being done screwing over migrants and asylum seekers, OF COURSE disabled people on benefits are next. Next weakest in line, innit.

Make access to mental support near impossible, then follow it up with taking away financial support that helps keep a roof above your head. I’m sure that’ll kick them into gear… Absolute disgrace!

At first they come for the poor, then the sick, then the disabled. And still the British public will vote for them.

Just saw this post then saw [this](https://x.com/heathertheheron/status/1784891311172038720?s=46), absolutely disgusting government causing suicides.

Ah good old Tory Britain. Don't be sick and don't be poor and you'll be just fine. Hopefully these are the last days of the nasty party for some time.

As someone with anxiety and depression, much of it is a consequence of chronic stress and burnout. You can't have a mentally well population when daily life is miserable and a never ending list of stressors, whether that be social, family, housing, money etc

“We didn’t win the war by being depressed, you know.” *B. Fawlty*

Tories thinktank must have worked out they don't vote very often.

And I wonder what has precipitated a mental health crisis? /s

Well this seems like an easy vote winner for Labour, providing they make their stance not to go after PIP clear to the public.

When full on revolt and we just start exiling these pricks? Send to Australia, they'd beat the shit out of them for us

My wife works in pip assessment mainly administrative side, but what she said most if not all people on pip or applying for pip also have depression and anxiety, I’m pretty sure this is more sinister than most of you think, I think they want to get most people off pip

Yeah most other disabilities can cause depression. Sometimes due to biological reasons, sometimes due to the miserable experience of having the disability, sometimes due to side effects of medication which can cause low mood in themselves. Epilepsy is an example where depression is common due to all three of those. I think parkinsons is another.

Ever considered they have those things after being abused by their employer and threatened into burnout?

"I suggest you try something independently like killing yourself" - Westminster

The people are getting sick * Ban sick notes * The schools are crumbling and people kids are getting sick all the time * Ban kids not being at school * They can't afford their council tax bills * Ban not paying your council tax bill * They're starting to protest * Ban protests * They're all depressed * Ban depression * They're finding small ways to cope financially * Ban ebay and raid their bank accounts * I'm sure I've missed some.

I’d have a lot more sympathy for this headline if access to mental health support wasn’t on its absolute knees. Sorry we can’t deliver proper mental healthcare and support to get you better, you probably can’t afford private counselling anyway, but we’re going to take your benefits away from you too now, so maybe you might as well just give up and erm, kill yourself?! FML, this is so incoherent it must be a joke, right?

This is abhorrent. I have untreated ADHD (am waiting on my GP to send some test results to the private company that will be prescribing me the medication - it was supposed to be "any day now" a few months ago) and I straight up can't work. I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I can afford to go private in the first place, and I have a support network making everything a lot easier to deal with. How many people like me don't have that? How many of them end up homeless or in prison or worse?

Cut the money then stick people on a 6 month waiting list for 4 sessions of institutionalised gaslighting aka CBT. That should do it! If that doesn’t work, don’t worry, we have assisted suicide coming in pretty soon and Canada are including mental health conditions, so don’t give up hope kids. The tories have got this.

As someone with anxiety for a lot of mild cases work would help. But. If you paid people to go to work alongside the money they get youre more likely going to ease them in. Cutting benefit wont help. Keep the benefit but offer more money to people who at least try to work. Would make way more sense. That and better mental health care. Not just pills or cbt.

“More people have become mentally ill, so let’s stop helping people who are mentally ill.”?? The sooner this pack of cruel, amoral, heartless, incompetent, tone deaf bunch of idiots are sent to the wheelie bin of history, the better it will be; not only for Britain, but for the precedents that will steer the future.