Relax, an extra £13,000,000.00

[Jaco45er]

Sitting here this morning tucking into a full english with the usual ceremony of the kids trading a sausage for 2 rashers of bacon (eyes bigger than bellies, kids) and struggling to liberate the remote off my youngest, because I am sick to death of Hanna freakin Montana, I win and turn on the news.

In between all the bad news I hear today that the goverment is putting aside 13 Million pounds to assist mental health proffesionals swell thier numbers to tackle the expected influx of anxiety and depression sufferers directly related to the credit crunch.

Ironic this, for in the past few days two people I know, one of them a good mate, have have been struggling lately with lack of work (self employed builders), financial stress and I suppose an upsetting impact in thier routine.

Now these are the kind of fellas that would not usually go around talking about how they felt, but in the past I was fairly open about anxiety and PA's and I imagine now they understand what I was going through.

I did have the nickname Pilot Light becuase I never went out due to anxiety but that's another story.

From what they have said to me, the feelings, lack of sleep, shaky feeling all the time etc etc I can kinda tell it's the onset of possibly a brush with the ole demon itself (hopefully short lived for thier sakes). To be fair, one of them is going through a split up as well, kids involved and all that so lack of work would just exaggerate it.

My point is though, although it's comforting that the goverment have actually recognised that there will be a direct link between the nations mental health and the economy (anxiety and depression being linked to social circumstance etc etc), is £13 million really enough?

I am no economist, but I have seen the goverment spend a lot more on computer systems that never worked.

[panelman]

£13,000,000.00......... with the knowledge that a single copy costs £117.00 and by just useing €1.99 calculator, i have worked out that your government would be able to hand out (free of charge) 111,111.11 copies of the linden method...:yesyes:

[PUGLETMUM]

:yesyes: you do have to remember though that not everyone who suffers a bout of stress realted anxiety will become someone with a disorder - negative thinking and other factors like lack of family support or a major trauma are more likely to mean that your friends will suffer more than just a passing reaction to a stressful situation - most ppl dont end up with a disorder - this is the problem the research psychologist have - they cannot say categorically why someone copes and why someone succumbs - but ppl go through alsorts of terrible things and they dont develop anxiety disorders.

[Nechtan]

I read someone that as many as 20 million people have an anxiety disorder in the UK so that's less than £1 per person before the credit crunch affected. Of course not everyone goes for help and not everyone that does gets its.

In my own opinion it would be worth using that extra cash to re-educate the community mental health people on the condition. Speaking only from my own experience I've found them of no help at all. On top of that it takes an eternity to get seen and they are much quicker to wash their hands of you. Just my own experience.

In fact getting a bit of literature together outlining what anxiety is, how it effects your body and just basically educating new sufferers would in my opinion be a better place to spend the money. Hand them out to GP surgeries. So many people get misdiagnosed or undiagnosed and those who eventually realise what their problem is are really left in the dark with given just a label to wear around your neck without really knowing what it means.

All the best

Nechtan

[Yvonne]

I heard about this on the radio this morning as well. I thought marvellous, the more it's talked about the less stigma attached to it. I didn't start calculating the financial side of it to be honest.

Jaco, hmmm someone close to me works in the construction industry......He has been telling me how the subbies are very worried men at the moment, not knowing if another job will be on the horizon etc. This person I know (lol) is also worried himself and he aint sleeping well at all. I find hitting him over the head with a heavy book helps!

Emmas, how right you are and I have made this point a few times, not everyone who suffers stress will end up with an anxiety disorder or recurring depression. Some people go through periods of stress and come through it.

Nechtan - misdiagnosed or undiagnosed - exactly. I would definitely say that the misdiagnosis is extremely common.

[PUGLETMUM]

:D in my opinion that figure of up to 20 million is misleading - that figure means all the ppl who may suffer any form of innapropriate anxiety which i feel can happen at various stages in life to loads of ppl , but theycome through it on their own i think by not beating themselves up or by having very loving supportive ppl around them - it doesnt mean there are 20 million agoraphobics - god the country would be really quiet if true and id be much happier coz they wouldnt all be in my way at weekends or on the roads.

to my mind stress is not a major concern of the nhs - it costs too much to deal with so many ppl - its better to just let us all muddle through, and if your lucky like i was you may come acros some good ppl - i also came across some who were rubbish - however that just reflects all of life some ppl are good some ppl are crap!

i would like to see this money spent on group mindfullness sessions - so they will have to get alot of ppl dedicated to practising mindfullness - that will cost a fortune to start with - but group sessions are cost effective - i hope the nhs are going to use this therapy - i know its effectiveness has been researched with nhs money so i keep my fingers crossed it will start to be introduced - and im proof it works - i have been driving for 8 years and have never been on a motorway -i drove 20 miles yesterday and was comp,letely chilled and happy to be on there, went over 80 and overtook and everything - my hubbie wasnt impressed as i dont like him going in the fast lane or going too fast- i attribute this improvement directly to practising mindfullness -:yahoo:

[CharlesLinden]

I understand that the statement made is "approximately 20 million people in the UK will, within a 12 month period, seek medical attention for an anxiety related condition"

It's alarming isn't it! So these are folks who go to the doctors, presumably receive a treatment and get sent away. My medical adviser tells me that anxiety, stress and depression form 80% of the conditions she sees in her surgeries!

Charles

[Nechtan]

And because so many people go to their GP practice not knowing they have an anxiety related problem and in turn so many don't get diagnosed I'd imagine that figure is actually alot higher. The GP is usually the first port of call for most things. For me this is where the education is needed. I know anxiety is hard to diagnose and they have to cover so much but still there is a requirement there. Too many people either get turned away in the begining or have to wait months to be referred to community health, etc. This period is crucial. Most are left in the dark confused and in this period the habit becomes set in stone as a result. So many suffer needlessly because of lack of infortmation which is very sad.

Nechtan

[lorac]

Hi

I have to agree with Nechtan on this one, I was one of those people who never got much help with my anxiety I didn't ever get any explanation of anxiety I have always just been sent away from my surgery with a label and some more pills to try. Not once did any doctor take time to explain what anxiety was and try to figure out what was causing it. I have had to do all the work myself and I also think it is very sad that there is not enough help out there for people like us. I think that if a doctor had taken time to sit and explain things to me I wouldn't have got as bad as I did.

Carol