Does depression really validate not working?
That_Guy
Posts: 1,421 Forum Member
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I have a friend who's been claiming benefits for the last year or so as she feels 'too depressed' to work. I was just wondering what peoples' views are on this, or if you've been in that situation yourself?
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If you have ever suffered from real depression, ie not just "feeling low", but the actually debilitating illness, you'd know the answer to that.
I need to keep busy or I just dwell on things.
I know everyone is different but sometimes I think some people are off work that long, that they are not doing themselves and favours and can contribute to making their depression worse.
Quoted for truth! Many people seem to think 'feeling down' and 'depression' can be used interchangeably. It's frightening.
I think that depression *can* be very debilitating and can cause some real problems for people. So I can see how some people cannot work with depression.
But I also think that many people medicalize themselves or use "depression" as a term when they mean "dose of the glums". Mental health is a really big deal and I think that some people do a disservice to people actually suffering with depression by using it as an excuse not to do something about their situation.
yes, thank you! There is a really big difference and if you have experienced it you know what that is!
You can also recognise it in others I think.
I think the problem is every one knows someone or says they do thats swinging the lead claiming to be depressed but out every weekend and basically living the life of riley (yes i know we dont know what goes on behind closed doors).
Unfortunately those few who are doing this make it so much harder for the genuine claimants who end up mocked and accused of faking it.
The problem lies with the term being generalised and overdiagnosed. There is a huge difference between depression and someone just being stuck in a rut.
Countless thousands of people suffer from depression and carry on working. I would argue that in 9/10 cases it is better for a person to get a job than be signed off on sickness benefits. George Bernard Shaw said "The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not." Most people do not benefit from sitting around doing nothing all day.
Very few people should be on sickness benefit for depression, and if they are it should only be short term until it is under control and in the very worst cases. There is no excuse whatsoever for being signed off for more than a year or so. Anyone pulling that one I suspect would be in the first category of person I mentioned in this post.
In general, doctors are smarter than non-doctors, and know a hell of a lot more about illness. Give them some credit.
(Also, anyone saying "depressed people just need to make themselves do things" knows less than nothing about depression, obviously, since not being able to make yourself do things is one of the primary symptoms.)
I have been in that situation, yes.
I was signed off work for a long time with a severe anxiety disorder. I developed severe depression too, which was really from grief for the life I had lost and wished I could live.
I took steps to work, started volunteering in a charity shop one afternoon a week and, 4 years later, I work 30 hours in a job that has changed my life.
In my case, being able to get back into work helped me enormously. I am the type of person who will sit and wallow in my own misfortune given half a chance and having days on end of doing nothing could not have been worse for me but, at the time of not being able to leave the house without having a panic attack, it was all I could do.
Everyone is different though. There are plenty of people I think, whos situation is reversed and work would actually make them a lot worse.
I think it probably saved my life, I am not sure I would still be here right now after 4 more years of being a prisoner in my own home. Still have my incredibly difficult days though. I do get signed off occasionally when things get impossible to deal with for a bit, but only for a week or two,
Also employers do not take kindly to people taking days off ill. if I phoned in unwell they would badger me and complain making me feel worse!
If I did voulntary while on sick they would tell me they were going to take my benefits as I was clearly better. I lived alone so part-time work wasn't really feasible.
You should pay a visit to places like Glasgow. There are experts at conning GPs.
Armed with a bit of knowledge many a crafty bugger can fool a GP into diagnosing depression. Depwession has become the new "bad back".
Depression is life altering. The halls of despair that some people can descend into.The pain and the anguish. The inability to be able to do basic things. Not wanting to wash, shave get out of bed, eat or sleep. The feelings of uselessness,ugliness and poor self worth. Intelligence is often questioned by sufferers. It makes you think horrible things about yourself.
It can be managed with drugs and counselling but it takes some people a long time and never fully disappears.
Agreed. People are good at hamming it up.
I'd love to have a job but no-one would employ me.
This is exactly what benefits are for - people like you who suffered from depression and needed treatment and then got back into work once better. Many people find it better to keep on working to stay busy but I realise some people need a short break to sort themselves out.
It's a shame so many genuine cases are tarnished by the wasters who "feel" they can't get off their arses and get back to work. Ever.