
raccoon
Member
Gosh, this is such an old and long story, so I'll try hard to keep it short. I'm 43, female, and have had clinical depression since my 20's. This also encompasses agoraphobia, social phobia, anxiety and insomnia. So I tend to group it all under the heading of 'depression' because that's how it all started. Basically, I'm a bit of a mess, but have found ways to arrange my life and cope with my illness. So I'm not here exactly for advice, I've had all manner of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and self -help. To make things worse, I find it extremely hard to show my emotions. I can very rarely cry. It all gets pushed down inside.
Part of being able to manage my life is the fact that I'm on Incapacity Benefit. I also receive Disability Living Allowance at the lower rate. I am not a scrounger. In fact my income is extremely low, and this week, myself and my husband (who is waiting for a back operation and is only temporarily on sick pay) actually spent three days without food in the house, no bread, milk, butter or sugar. Really. I don't claim benefits because it is the easy option, it's a damned hard option.
I was prompted to find a mental health forum after the UK headlines of yesterday. Incapacity Benefit is to be scrapped, people will be literally 'forced' back to work.
I'm so frightened that I don't know who to turn to.
Is there anyone else like me? Who is so ill that this news has terrified them into a really bad low? I don't know the implications for people with mental health problems, because there's no news about how they will assess mental health; but the Governments opinion, and so called 'popular' opinion seems to be that people like me/us are happily living the life of Riley, and should be packed off to the workplace regardless.
Being practically housebound due to my illness/agoraphobia, having a series of medical appointments and being re-assessed by a less than understanding government just raises my anxiety levels so hard that I still haven't slept.
Part of being able to manage my life is the fact that I'm on Incapacity Benefit. I also receive Disability Living Allowance at the lower rate. I am not a scrounger. In fact my income is extremely low, and this week, myself and my husband (who is waiting for a back operation and is only temporarily on sick pay) actually spent three days without food in the house, no bread, milk, butter or sugar. Really. I don't claim benefits because it is the easy option, it's a damned hard option.
I was prompted to find a mental health forum after the UK headlines of yesterday. Incapacity Benefit is to be scrapped, people will be literally 'forced' back to work.
I'm so frightened that I don't know who to turn to.
Is there anyone else like me? Who is so ill that this news has terrified them into a really bad low? I don't know the implications for people with mental health problems, because there's no news about how they will assess mental health; but the Governments opinion, and so called 'popular' opinion seems to be that people like me/us are happily living the life of Riley, and should be packed off to the workplace regardless.
Being practically housebound due to my illness/agoraphobia, having a series of medical appointments and being re-assessed by a less than understanding government just raises my anxiety levels so hard that I still haven't slept.