Blogging about mental health issues
Each week we publish blog posts on a whole range of topics, relating in some way to mental health — written by Mind staff, service users and health and policy professionals. Some blog posts may not reflect official Mind policy.
We welcome comments and questions on our posts, but have a few ground rules to keep the site welcoming and interesting to every body. The first rule is the most important: be respectful of other commenters and bloggers.
UK Government:
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3 May 2012
Depression and anxiety on the parliamentary estateSadie blogs about managing depression and anxiety at work, and the strain that a life in politics can place on your mental health.
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2 April 2012
Why the WCA isn't workingFollowing his resignation from the Government's review panel for the Work Capability Assessment, our Chief Executive Paul Farmer blogs about the damage the process is doing to the lives of people with mental health problems.
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28 March 2011
Giving people a voiceToday, Mind joins with many disability charities, disabled people’s organisations and disabled people to announce the calling of a major march and lobby of Parliament on Wednesday May 11 to give us the chance to express concerns about the impact of the Government's welfare reform changes and of the public spending cuts on disabled people.
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2 February 2011
No longer a second class citizenOn a visit to a local Mind a couple of weeks ago, I met Helen (not her real name) who told me about some of her mental health experiences. She started having problems when she was at school, but nobody thought about mental health, so she was put down as the “class oddball”.
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22 October 2010
Spending Review, police and mental healthWednesday’s Spending Review announcement was a blow for Mind’s Another assault campaign to achieve equal access to justice for victims and witnesses with experience of mental distress. Deep cuts to the policing budget mean fewer frontline officers, little or no money for training, and a drive to “protect key priorities” – which, as history shows, is hardly likely to include so-called “diversity” issues like mental health.
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21 October 2010
What does the Spending Review mean?While pundits pour over the details of what has been announced in yesterday's Comprehensive Spending Review and what it might mean for people, we've started to see how these public service cuts might impact on people experiencing mental distress.
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20 October 2010
Comprehensive Spending ReviewUpdated below.
Today the Government will announce its Comprehensive Spending Review. I know many of our supporters – and people across the country – are braced for bad news. After the announcement, there may still be many areas where plans have not been finalised, which means there is still time to continue to fight for benefits, services and opportunities for people with experience of mental health problems.
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18 October 2010
We've only just begunThe party conference season is now over, ending three weeks of intense discussions and debates. The third conference is traditionally the Conservatives. As one of the parties of power, it was the biggest of the three, and the big message over all the conference was "together in the national interest". We met ministers and MPs who were interested in mental health and understood our concerns.
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1 October 2010
Benefits, employment and the future of the NHS at the Labour Party ConferenceAfter the Lib Dem's conference, the team headed off to Manchester for the Labour event. As Decca Aitkenhead analysed in The Guardian, the early days felt extremely quiet and flat. But Ed Milliband's speech brought the Conference to its feet, and suddenly it felt like the Opposition were ready to get stuck in.
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24 September 2010
Local people, local power, local change - can the Lib Dems deliver?Traditionally, the Liberal Democrat conference has been an excellent place to start the Party Conference season. Security was low key, delegates warm and friendly with a hint of the hippy tradition. Media coverage was relatively light and it could easily fall off the agenda if something more exciting happened.
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17 September 2010
A summer of love, an autumn of gloom?So the Party Conference season is upon us again. For the last eleven years, I’ve been to the Party Conferences of the main parties to meet Ministers, MPs, local Councillors, Party Members and other campaigners, usually at an array of seaside locations beginning with “B”.
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25 June 2010
The cost to mental healthI don’t envy George Osborne. I’ve just worked out the division of bills in my flat and there was no positive element to that task at all – it will remain two painstaking hours of my life that I can never get back. And so I imagine the Treasury’s last month of sums was no picnic. But the troubles of developing this budget count for nothing against the troubles it could potentially cause.
Clearly, the country’s spending is no longer sustainable. However, modern politics should have come far enough that every party ensures the most vulnerable in society are supported, and definitely not the hardest hit. And that’s exactly what Mind fears most: that the consequences of this budget will be most acutely felt by those who most need support.
Although NHS funding has been protected, it would be a false assumption to think that this will ensure mental health service users do not have to worry about cuts. Mental health should to be seen as an issue that involves all aspects of life and all parts of society. Taking this perspective, it becomes evident that the cuts proposed to other areas of the public sector will have a deep and enduring impact on the mental wellbeing of this country.
Around half of all people claiming benefits because of illness have mental health problems. We are opposed to any assumption that the welfare system is riddled with undeserving people who somehow need to be ‘found out’. The announcement that all Disability Living Allowance claimants will be subject to a medical assessment from 2013/14 onwards accentuates this assumption.
Furthermore, with the current Work Capability Assessment for employment and support allowance being unfit to assess how people’s mental health affects their ability to work, we are not confident that this new assessment will be any more adequate. Instead, it could end up compelling people into positions that may compromise their mental health and wellbeing if it does not learn from the failures of our other benefit tests.
However, the most immediate and disturbing change to the benefits system will be the linkage of benefits to the Consumer Prices Index (currently at 3.4 per cent) as opposed to the Retail Prices Index (currently at 5.1 per cent). This means that the amount of benefit paid will not increase as much as is needed to keep up with rising prices. This will lead to a significant cut in living standards for households that are dependent on benefits – which are among the poorest in our society.
Aside from benefits, the effect of cuts to other areas, such as job losses and changes to our communities, may impact on our wellbeing, resulting in an increased need for mental health care the government can’t afford.
For example, reductions in police funding could end the good work started as part of our Another Assault campaign and public sector redundancies and the consequent rise in people’s debt levels will undoubtedly lead to increased rates of mental distress.
This budget could cost the mental health of this country dearly – is it a price our society can afford to pay?
If you’re concerned about the impact of the budget on your local services, write to your MP and ask them how they will fight for the needs of mental health service users.
Mariam Kemple, Policy and Campaigns Officer
Update: please note that some of the comments below may be triggering for some readers.
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16 April 2010
What do the party manifestos mean for mental health?
This week, the election campaign is fully under way as we see the parties launch their manifestos. It's probably the best indication of where mental health sits as a priority for a new Government.
The signs are encouraging, with some recurring themes. The Labour manifesto promises to increase the number of therapists (although makes no promises on reducing waiting times), and makes a clear commitment to tackle stigma.
There's also commitment to the mental health of ex-servicemen, and support for people looking for work. Labour Election Co-Ordinator Douglas Alexander defended his party's commitment to increasing the number of therapists on the Radio 4 PM programme on 12 April (this is available to listen to until Monday 19 April. You can hear the discussion 17 minutes in to the broadcast).
The Conservatives too support an increase in talking treatments, and plan to improve services for veterans. Their manifesto also addresses work issues for people who are long-term unemployed.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats, as well as sharing support for more therapists, outline an increase in mental health funding which in turn generates a long term saving to the economy under Vince Cable's stewardship.
So far so good. But all make reference to tough times ahead, and we are already hearing of some mental health services threatened with cutbacks, particularly in London
So what does this all mean?
First of all, this election appears to be extremely close. There's a chance for all of us to influence the outcome, and to quiz candidates on their views on mental health, so I'd encourage as many people as possible to engage with candidates, and vote.Politics doesn't exactly have a great reputation at the moment, but we can all influence that. Just ten years ago, Mind lobbied hard to change the law to give psychiatric inpatients the right to vote in a general election. It's vital that this right is upheld – so as a first step, make sure you register to vote by 20 April.
Secondly, it's a credit to our We Need to Talk partners that there's widespread recognition of the need for further development of access to talking treatments, and much needed at a time when funding cuts could threaten this.
It is clear that mental health is now recognised by all three parties as an important issue, and one which could emerge as a touchstone in a new Government. The way society treats this issue should be a litmus test for good government.
Let the campaign continue!Paul Farmer, Chief Executive
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4 March 2010
Do you Mind?Right, well this is my first venture into the blogosphere so be gentle with me, fellow bloggers.
Get involved: Do you know what to say if a candidate knocks on your door?After what seems like a lifetime of talk about elections, we are now only 10 weeks away from the general election, expected on Thursday 6 May 2010. To mark the final countdown Mind has launched our Do you Mind? general election campaign.
If opinion polls are to be believed, this election will be the tightest in recent memory. Last week polls put the Conservatives at a nine point advantage over Labour, but a recent poll over the weekend closed that gap to a mere two-point lead.
Over the past year, I’ve been in meetings with representatives from the three main political parties who have all agreed with Mind that mental health is on a tipping point which could see a permanent and lasting break through into mainstream public policy and politics. We’ve also had lots of nods of agreement about the need to make sure the lessons of the past recession are not repeated and we don’t see another generation consigned to the wasteland of long-term unemployment.
While these developments and nods of support are to be welcomed, now is the time for us to see the meat on the bone and for politicians and the plethora of candidates pounding the doorsteps up and down the country to essentially put their money where their mouths are.
With so many MPs standing down and marginal seats likely to change hands, this expected intake of new MPs will be huge. Rather like us campaigners, most people enter politics to change the world for the better – we simply choose different routes. We don't always agree, and it can take years and millions of people like you speaking up and making yourself heard. But when we do come to see eye to eye, those agreements can bring about real and lasting change to society and for individuals.
So when those candidates come knocking at your door, take the time to really press them about their own attitudes and views on mental health and what they will do to make a positive difference. Let’s make sure we elect a group of MPs who will lead the way in challenging stigmatising and discriminatory attitudes and behaviours to mental health, not add to them. It’s not much to ask for is it?Novice blogger Vicki Nash is Mind's Head of Policy and Campaigns
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19 January 2010
Will pre-employment health checks be a thing of the past?According to psychologist Cliff Arnall, yesterday was the most depressing day of the year. Well may be so, but there was at least one reason to be cheerful: the government tabled an amendment to its Equality Bill which will ban pre-employment health questionnaires.
PEQs are routinely sent out with job application forms, and ask applicants to disclose information about current and previous health conditions, medications they are taking, and so on. Ostensibly employers need this information simply to ensure that the candidate is fit for the role in question, and a quick Google search will tell you that PEQs are a “vital”, “useful” or even “fundamental” part of the recruitment process.
Frankly, I’m not convinced. PEQs give employers an opportunity to ‘weed out’ the applicants that they don’t like the look of, because they have a mental health problem (or indeed any other health condition). And because it’s done at the application stage, this type of discrimination is virtually undetectable – you may strongly suspect that the reason you didn’t get invited to interview is because of your mental health history, but how on earth will you prove it?
Not all discrimination is quite so deliberate of course. Some employers might assume a person with mental health problems is unsuitable not out of malice, but out of ignorance, or misunderstanding. But the consequence for the applicant is the same – soul destroying, confidence-shattering rejection.
PEQs also deter many applicants from applying for jobs in the first place, because they predict that stigma towards mental health will mean their application form is automatically stuck on the ‘no’ pile. No wonder, given fewer than four in ten employers say they would employ anyone with a mental health problem.
There is simply no reason to include a health questionnaire at this stage of the recruitment process. Applicants should be judged on their ability to do the job, not on their medical diagnosis, and the inclusion of a PEQ detracts from this. If an applicant’s health condition means he or she will need extra in-work support to do the job, then so be it – but let’s ask those questions after the interview, not before. After all, employers have a statutory duty to provide reasonable adjustments for employees with mental health problems, to help them fulfill the role, but PEQs enable many to quietly shirk this duty.
The USA and several European countries already have legislation preventing employers from asking about health until after a conditional job offer has been made.
Thankfully, after many meetings and intense pressure, letters, and briefings from Mind and other health charities, the government has decided to address this loophole. The amendment tabled yesterday (69A* if you’re interested) prevents employers from asking questions about health prior to interview (except in very limited circumstances), and gives the Equality and Human Rights Commission powers of enforcement, to ensure employers comply.
We can’t crack open the champagne just yet; the Bill isn’t an Act and there are some who believe it never will be, due to lack of parliamentary time. But if it does go through, it will be a real victory for untold numbers of people with mental health problems who are trying to return to work.
Louise Kirsh, Parliamentary Officer
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