At long last! A medical writer who is prepared to admit and face up to the real situation! So called 'mental illness' is possibily the very best of the many social security gravy trains.

As a mental health nurse, I too see many clients who, apart from having stepped into the "culture" of "mental illness" could easily become active and productive members of working society, however I'm at a loss to supply any answers as to how we might encourage them away from welfare and into gainful employment because there are other factors working against them.

Is welfare too generous?
I now work part time and one client, who does a few hours of "volunteer" work to obtain the mobility allowance on top of the pension, actually makes a greater income some weeks, than do I in a paid position, yet this person wastes their money and their lives by sitting around a TV most days with a can in one hand and a smoke in the other. Perpetually broke, but happy in the knowledge that they cannot be thrown off the pension. Also, this person does not appear to be severely mentally ill.

Client 2. A person of middle age who openly admits faking an mental illness many years ago in order to get on the pension, getting a 'script for "meds" then flushing them down the toilet. However, as time has progressed, that same person has become ill and now relies on a continuous supply of prescribed medication for depression and sleep deprivation.

Client 3. A legally blind person who has worked in various occupations, is very talented in IT and continues to work from home in this field, but has become depressed because of social isolation. The self employment is simply a top-up to the blind pension which can never be taken away by our generous Government. This persons unit is equipped with the very latest of white goods and electrical appliances that would make the average working person swoon.

Perhaps all the above people would be better off in health and happiness should the Government remove the disability pension for all except the most profoundly disabled and return them to an active working environment

.....continued.
Perhaps Newstart may be the catalyst to shake them from their secure world of taxpayer funded "early retirement" and actually give back the dignity and balance their lives require, however there's a problem and that's society itself!
Society is not prepared to work with those conceived as being "different." Bosses are not prepared to employ these people. As my 1st client (above) often says...."We may as well have 'mad' tattooed across out foreheads." These people, having been once been introduced to the mental health system, become stuck in a rut with a stigma attached whereby society considers them second rate citizens and refuses to afford them a chance to get off the pension and rise above their lowly status.

That's the issue that's never mentioned and always thrown in the "too hard basket" by successive Governments. Governments, potential employers and society in general, are too busy in their attempts to rise to the top themselves. They wouldn't think to reach down and give the lesser person a helping hand. If you can find a way around society’s attitudes Dr. Ahmed, then you'll be halfway there to really helping these people.

No doubt one of the underlying reasons for depression comes from lack of purpose and destiny which of course is a fruit of the hopelessly flawed evolution theory. How schools can continue to teach this rubbish is astounding. Why not drug yourselves to the eyeballs and sleep with every other willing participant when all we are is an accident that happened by chance? The humanist will generally tell you this is harmless but the fruits speak for themselves!

Great article. Thanks

I have recently had my 2nd child and my GP couldn't get me onto anti-dpressants fast enough - regardless of my lack of sleep, 2 children under the age of 2, a messy house, little help, my mother having passed away... I was told it doesn't matter what the cause is, you have depression and you need these drugs. When I finally got some sleep ALL was better. All I really needed was a little in-home help. I have changed GPs now.

Thanks for highlighting this desire to remove effects from causes. It makes me feel better about deciding against being medicated and avoiding the debilitating side effects.

Runner,

More evil has been committed by true believers than any other group in history.

Paedophile priests, Cults, The Inquisition, The crusades, innumerable other wars over religion, persecution of non believers etc.

How about the pope telling Africans dying of aids not to wear condoms. Hows that for divorcing yourself from the consequences of your actions?

I have succumbed to the lure of the troll!

>>lack of purpose<<
>>hopelessly flawed evolution theory<<
>>sleep with every other willing participant<<
>>all we are is an accident that happened by chance<<

This, runner, is a hopelessly flawed misunderstanding of the process of evolution.

Evolution doesn't happen by chance, it happens because any change that improves the reproductive opportunity of a hereditary replicator will be adopted, and anything that harms its ability to reproduce will die out. Evolution is a simple process which actively seeks organisation. It is the only known natural process that actively reverses entropy. There is nothing random about its outcomes.

It's worth mentioning that reproductive success cannot sensibly be measured by counting offspring. Longevity of a genetic legacy over many generations is far more significant than number of direct offspring. This is particularly true for complex, long-lived organisms such as ourselves, who are helpless in infancy.

Understanding the process of evolution does not provide us with a moral purpose, but it provides us with a very good explanation of how we came to be, and some idea of how to *continue* to be.

Evolutionary biology has provided us with the best understanding we have of biological health. As the science of the mind develops, I have no doubt that evolutionary biology will contribute to an ever-improving understanding of the human mind and the proper meaning of mental health.

I understand that a sudden loss of confidence in a religious "truth" which incorporated an axomatic moral imperative can impart a sense of purposelessness. That is a consequence of losing the psychological crutch of faith and has nothing to do with scientific knowledge. One can be a purposeful religious practitioner and believer whilst accepting and pursuing scientific knowledge, or one can live a cheerful if ignorant life with neither faith nor science.

As an atheist myself I do not believe *purpose* is something that can be imposed on a human being from without; purposefulness is something one obtains in an existential fashion, by setting goals and aiming for them.

SHARING SERVICE PROVISIONS (Alma Ata) is a Local, National and Global call to invest in Community HEALTH Development.

Pivotal is creating a culture of citizenship and belonging, safety, openness, participation, citizenship, and empowerment is the level of support of peer services and peer staff, both independent of and integrated into existing service delivery systems.

Too many people are becoming caught in Social Drift caused by 'risk transfer' - household debt, work stress, bullying being among the growing disturbances.

Recovery involves a social dimension, a core of active,interdependent social relationships being connected through families, friends,peers, neighbours, and colleagues in mutually supportive and beneficial ways.
 
This helps to overcome social and personal isolation, poverty, emotional withdrawal, controlling relationships, poor social skills, immigrant status, disabling health and mental health conditions, past trauma, and social stigma which impede the recovery journey.

Through language we must address the unintentional systemic consequences hindering Recovery.
 
·       People have basic subsistence needs that 'the safety net' does not meet.
 
·       Social welfare and mental health programs are fragmented and difficult to access.
 
·       People do not want to have to deteriorate in order to receive help, nor do they want to lose vital supports when they make progress toward recovery.
 
·       Psychiatric services can be experienced as a means of social control, countering individual efforts of recovery.
 
The health service system more often overlooks trauma (itself) is a central experience of psychiatric disorder and thus the system fails to incorporate trauma knowledge in existing explanations of, and responses to, mental health issues.
 
The experience of trauma and abuse reported by consumers is well documented throughout all studies mentioned above.
 
The impact reported by consumers includes;
 
* internalised stigma,
* the repeated or re-traumatisations by the system, and;
* the historical trauma of past abuse.

Consumer programmes and efforts in Peer-to-Peer support involve a need to return to the basic core of helping.

It promotes a 'therapeutic alliance' that highlights the need for positive helping relationships based on partnership.

http://www.miacat.com
.

"Depression" appears to be the latest IN thing to have. No one will admit to being miserable,sad,unhappy not even woebegone anymore. They are all victims of Depression.It sounds far more glamorous.
The real depression is a monster, it is the 'black dog' .
Too many who have grown up in our pampered society lack the rigour,the strength of will and purpose that made our country great. They want instant happiness ,instant fulfillment-without having to put any effort into it.
Trouble is 'instant happiness' like 'instant food' lacks in flavour and taste.Depressing ain't it?

Its a complex issue. On one hand you risk having people labelled and treated as depressed when its really life's circumstances that has them down. On the other if you take things too narrowly you risk missing some who are truly depressed and in need of assistance. I completely sympathise with the author's viewpoint and agree that we can be too flippant with diagnosis now. Or is it that there are different levels of depression, with those that truly suffer from the "black dog" at the worst level, and those that suffer continual anxiety and insomnia at a somewhat milder level? I can only comment from a layman's viewpoint, but do live in a family where there are a number of people who have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness or disorder - some I feel are genuine, whilst others I put down to little childhood discipline or parents that failed to teach their kids that bad things do happen and its best to get on with things as best you can. These diagnosed conditions range from anxiety disorder (1), ADHD (1), bi-polar (2), depression (2). There is also another family member who I would bet my last dollar is truly bi-polar (taking into account manic episodes and suicide attempts), but hasnt been diagnosed. This sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that I am referring to large extended family on both my and my husbands sides.

xoddam, I agree with every word you say. But you have yet to learn the futility of reasoned argument when it comes to runner. Give up! I did.

Country Gal and M.Whitehouse,

Inappropriate prescriptions for the grey areas of mental health are the bane of the field. It is very, very common for psychoactive drugs and antidepressants to be prescribed for people who have simple stress symptoms who would best be served by readjusting their schedules to include roughly 8 hours decent work (with decent pay), 8 hours decent sleep and 8 hours play in each day. And yes I mean 8 hours play! Play is something seriously neglected by adults in this day & age.

On the other hand, the overprescription of drugs has led a lot of people to a virulent opposition to any use of psychoactive drugs, which in a *few* situations are the only reliable way of getting predictable, half-sane behaviour from people with real psychological or psychiatric problems. This is not to imply that the problems are properly understood, merely that some treatments have empirically proven effective.

Reynard,

I confess I wrote my previous post to entertain myself more than with the intention of convinving runner of anything. But if one less person blames the tree of knowledge for the ills of the world as a result of reading what I've written, I'll be happy (even if that person isn't runner).

miacat,

Thanks for your regular contributions. You seem to have a broad awareness of global justice issues. What you have to say is usually interesting, I think. But unfortunately I've never quite been able to understand it, so I can't be sure.

A very interesting and thought provoking article. One axiom about human behaviour is that you can trust self interest. Gladly accepting the sick victim role, or in sliding into it, or in being seduced into it - with the ultimate effect of limiting or hurting one's self seems to contradict the axiom. How might we help people distinguish between on the one hand, denial of a real mental health problem which condemns them to unnecessary suffering, and on the other hand grasping a more optional role that offers some immediate benefit but if institutionalised condemns the person to less than what might be? I suspect the lure of a disability pension has potential to cause a lot of damage - but I wouldn't want to deny a disabled person some help in genuine need.

I remember reading somewhere that 1 in a hundred people suffer from schizophrenia that seems like a very high number and I dont know if it was accurate or not. Thats an awful lot of mental illness.

I believe that real depression is not like ordinary sadness. It is like a sadness of the soul like the spiritual flame at the core of the person is flickering at a low ebb and in danger of going out.
Sometimes if you listen to the recent events in their lives it would be strange if they werent sad. Of course our society doesnt deal well with someone they cant give a pill to and cure quickly. Its too inconvenient and time consuming in our busy selfish lives. Hence overwhelming sadness becomes an illness to be treated quickly for the sake of society as much as the victim.

Dont judge people for their human frailities too harshly. Barriers of the mind can be just as debilitating as physical illness. But then the brain is a physical part of the body too and does not always think and function the way it should.

(I usually try not to go all personal, but,) This is a very interesting article, which I found quite relevant to myself and a number of people I know. I have known a number of people who have mental illnesses: some got help, took responsibility for their own actions, and have gone on to live productive lives, (although the black dog can still lurk in the shadows); some have sought help but refuse to take responsibility for their own actions, and now base their whole identity around being mentally ill; another, who needed help more than anyone, refused to get any, due to irrational suspicions of the psychological and psychiatric professions, and tipped over the edge.

I have received counseling over the past 2 years, to help me deal with a number of unhappy events in my past. However, (not attempting to appear smug,) despite regularly admitting to feeling "miserable," I have resisted to urge to call it "depression." When you take a look at some of the awful things that happen to people, it's no wonder they feel miserable. It did occur to me a couple of times that it would be far easier to deal with Centrelink if I just took the plunge and accepted the label.

Also,sorting out one's priorities is much better than medication- for nearly a decade i was puzzled why I couldn't hold on to a job for more than a couple of years, and why I always seemed to leave in tears. Then I figured out that I hadn't been doing what I really wanted to do. Although it's harder work and it means irregular pay, being a musician is far more satisfying than working in call-centres, warehouses, retail or hospitality.

PS

runner's a moron.

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family, which taught that the earth was 6000 years old and that evolution was wrong. I recently had to tell my father, who, ironically, has studied and worked in the fields of maths, physics, engineering and IT, that it was useless for him to use scientific method to discuss with me why evolution is wrong, because I had failed to take anything in during school science classes: I was too busy taking a skeptical attitude towards everything I was taught, because evolution touches on every branch of science. It's only been the last few years that I have become open to the wonder that is evolution.

In a country where employment is a mere privilege of well-connected on a biological ground predominantly, making idiots from biologically-inferior fellow human beings is a very goal, task and responsibility of any responsible ruling-this-Anglo-colonial-appendix government.

And a Howard era legacy is definitely IT.

MichaelK; whats that your saying?

Palimset, if you had really not understood my previous post,your message has been a perfect illustration to what I was saying.

MiaCat - are you a scientologist?

I have major depression and bpd.
The reason I am not on the pension is perhaps that I am alone in the world.
No-one cares about me to help me.
I suffer in silence and you can't see it because I'd look too healthy to you. I don't drink or take drugs.
I live permanently on the dole and only go outside to shop.
I knew it was becoming harder to go on the pension but I didn't want to live with the label.
Doctors only seem interested in making money and I leave more paranoid than when I came in.
The longest I went to one doctor was four months with no diagnosis. I feel angry all the time.
Now private psychiatrists are impossible to see. My doctor told me not to go to the free clinic.
I just did out of absolute desperation and so far they don't seem too bad.
Anyway, one thing that really annoys me is people who never listen.
If they already know everything we may as well not have bothered.
Also, it's genetic my father and grandmother had it and my childhood was a horrendous nightmare.

Geez Isabella, are you ok? That's really sad.

Feeling like nobody listens is something which has always irked me. This site has been useful in that regard, given that if you want, you can make a reasoned argument and provide evidence, and no moron can interrupt you until you're finished. However, it can become a little all-consuming- actually being acknowledged can be a little addictive- it did for me around the end of last year, and I had to move away from it to focus on what I could achieve in the real world.

Unfortunately, this isn't exactly a help forum for people with mental illness. I found a site which helps people with my problems, and I've found it very cathartic, and it feels like I've connected with a few people, and people listen. I'm sure there are groups which help people with BPD.

And hang in there. You're not the only one who feels alone in the world.

Bulldozer.