'Mental Health Culture Has Gone Too Far'

[mhrow]

For statistics you mean the four quotes right at the beginning?  Or the reference from 2008, which says that "protective factors" include "being a girl", "higher intelligence", "easy temperament", and "positive attitude".

 

This stuff is crammed with ridiculous statements and it's a case of Brandolini's law.

[Ridgewalk]

Big questions these.  What is mental illness, how much is it a reaction to living circumstances ? Does psychiatry have any value beyond serving the needs of professionals working in the profession.  A cynic would say the drug companies with the  psychiatric profession are in cahoots. Everything seems to be given a label of some sort or other.

Anxiety and depression can be crippling but the mental health services can be instrumental in disabling people.

[Anna B]

IMO mental health is as important and as debilitating (and deadly) when lost as physical health, but comes a poor second when it comes to understanding and funding.

 

We are in the infancy of research into the brain, yet it affects everything about us. There's no doubt in my mind that building mental resiliance and fortitude are just as important to mental health as building strength amd muscle is to physical health. But how to attain it is still a matter of debate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NicolaJayne]

On 02/04/2024 at 13:54, pfifes said:

Well I do agree that there is too much medicalisation of certain issues.  I don’t want to offend and belittle anyone with genuinely debilitating medical issues but there are certainly instances of medicalisation doing far more harm than good.

Punishing people for not working isn’t the answer though. 

'medicalisation of certain issues' ? 

should we go  back to beating    neurodivergent people  into  submission ?  or just lock them up in institutions ? 

[NicolaJayne]

On 07/04/2024 at 06:08, Ridgewalk said:

For me it’s just the framing of people’s normal reaction to difficult circumstances and hard lives as being ‘ill ‘

Tell people they’re ‘ill ‘ and they’ll look for a solution in tablets or some sort of therapy. 

guess what   for some types of anixety and depression   talking therapies are  exactly what is needed  

in some cases   Antidepressants  do have role in  enabling people to  start addressing their  anxiety and depression and making the relevant changes 

 

[NicolaJayne]

On 01/05/2024 at 23:43, mhrow said:

I've just got to reading some of that pdf.  Here it does look like the council have "gone too far" with mental health.  Almost 100 pages of dogma and no facts  to back it.  Maybe it keeps the "professionals" busy working, but it can't be any good for kids.

 

Abundantly  clear that you have  not  read the document or clicked through any of the links to  to the relevant evidence bases 

[SheffieldForum]

Come on all — the personal bickering is getting a bit tiresome now.

 

Stick to debating the topic and not having a go at each other. 👍

[Ridgewalk]

On 02/04/2024 at 19:07, pfifes said:

Well, I don’t.  Genuinely disabled people have to jump through (metaphorical) hoops to get paltry benefits.  If anyone thinks it’s a top idea to try it on to get these benefits because they are too lazy to work, I’d argue they must have a delusional mental illness it’s so bonkers!

I’m not sure people with anxiety would come into the category of genuinely disabled. You’re right about having to jump through metaphorical hoops. My mother in law is 91 and in a bad way, without our help she wouldn’t have a clue how to get through the benefits system it’s horrendous.

[Anna B]

On 04/05/2024 at 13:11, Ridgewalk said:

Big questions these.  What is mental illness, how much is it a reaction to living circumstances ? Does psychiatry have any value beyond serving the needs of professionals working in the profession.  A cynic would say the drug companies with the  psychiatric profession are in cahoots. Everything seems to be given a label of some sort or other.

Anxiety and depression can be crippling but the mental health services can be instrumental in disabling people.

As far as I know there is no official definition of 'Normal' and no rigid criteria for 'not Normal' or anywhere in between. Therein lies its strength and weakness when it comes to mental health and ill health. I think you have to trust the Clinicians to know their stuff and use it wisely. 

Unfortunately there are not nearly enough mental health practioners, hospital places,  nurses etc especially considering this current 'epidemic' of mental illness. so a lot of it has to be done by family, friends and self help. There's also lots of stuff online. 

 

IMO Feeling safe and secure is fundamental to well being, and sadly an awful lot of people do not have that privilege at the moment. We are living through difficult times, when much of the old ways of life are being demolished and new ways not yet established, so it's hardly surprising that anxiety and worry is top of the list. Even the fundamentals of living life are screwed up; finding and keeping a good job, enough to pay the bills and eat, having a secure place to call home, marriage and children, etc etc. 

 

These issues need addressing at a political level, but politicians and the powers-that-be seem incapable of solving even the most basic issues, let alone anything creative, long term or complex. Yet we have never had more people in power deciding the rules, and we are now paying more taxes than ever just to see it wasted on a variety of vanity projects and failures. The needs of ordinary people seem to be way down the list of priorities. I can't see this changing any time soon without a fundamental political shift in focus. 

[Mister M]

The fact that the Government are cutting a programme which helps those with mental health difficulties, and the wider disabled community into work, at a time when they are toughening up the rhetoric against those with mental health difficulties who are unemployed. Tells you all you need to know about this Government.

 

They will have work-shopped it, finessed it and honed it. Not about how successful it is in getting those with mental health difficulties into work, but in how much it appeals to their core voters. Which is the whole point.

 

You might remember that about 9 months ago  the Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride floated the idea of those aged 50+ and who left the workforce after the pandemic, becoming take away riders. He said that it was part of his job to give people ideas which they hadn't thought of.

So very much in that spirit, readers of the Daily Mail who are in Stride's target demographic, told him a few things he may not have thought of:

 

Are you over 50 and short of cash? Try delivering takeaways if you want to keep living in comfort, Work Secretary Mel Stride tells older workers | Daily Mail Online