Mental Health issues or Challenges of Life?

It sounds as if TB is moving further to the right and giving up on workers rights.

Workers' rights are not best served by giving people the ability to take time off work because of stress, and passing their workload to colleagues.

There is no question that some jobs are more stressful than others, and looking after workers' rights would be to ensure that those doing them are protected (eg with better holiday time, breaks etc). Suggesting that it is ok to dump your workload onto other workers without considering their rights, OTOH is a retrograde step, in my opinion.

If someone's MH is such that they can't take the strain of a stressful job, they should 'downsize' and get an easier one, even if that means a lower salary. Yes, it's not fair that life can work out like that; but just as a bus driver who goes blind can no longer drive a bus, however much he or she would like to do so, if someone can't cope with the demands of the job they are being paid for they should leave. Before anyone jumps on me, I am not minimising the impact of something like depression or anxiety - I know they are real and far-reaching in their impact on sufferers, and I don't see anyone on this thread saying otherwise (I missed the deleted post). But why should colleagues risk their own mental health by covering for people who are regularly absent as a result of MH issues?

As mentioned on another thread last week myself (and rather more than I expected) experienced awful childhood. I've had counselling and lots of help from mental health services in 3 different health authorities. Looking back I'm not sure any of it was much help.

When I was in my 40s my first husband died of pancreatic cancer, 2 weeks later I returned to work in childcare. I often joked the best therapy for bereavement was a smiling 2 year old

3 years ago I had another episode of depression and was seriously ill. I was off work, on medication, seeing my GP and mental health team regularly.
After 6 months I decided non of the above were helping so with the GPs help I came off medication, set up my own small business and I still have bad days but on the whole feel so much better

My grandmother was sectioned in the 1940s and spent most of her life in a victorian mental institution. I'm not so sure we're really any better at dealing with mental health issues now than we were then. Thankfully people aren't locked up for years but treatment/therapy I received didn't really help either

It concerns me that so many young people are diagnosed with mental health illnesses, claim benefits and retreat from the world. A sad life

I may be wrong, as I was living abroad at the time, but I sort of remember Blair's own daughter attempting to commit suicide? Possibly 2005ish? So maybe he does have some understanding.
My own father drowned himself. I understand, but I still think self-diagnosing and instant labelling is far too easy.

Doodledog - you’re being very straight forward and I for one appreciate that. Like you and others, I’ve had to step in and do work left by someone who is known to maximise any sickness absence.
I remember during a discussion on how best we could manage yet another re-organisation, I suggested we make our points then do the best we could with the results. The staff member turned on me, very cross “well, we’ll never find you crying in the toilets”.

I do think many teenagers are being influenced by what they can access online and that is extremely worrying.

Like you and others, I’ve had to step in and do work left by someone who is known to maximise any sickness absence.

Yes, I was in that position for a while too.
It was exasperating.

Same here- again and again.

escaped

I may be wrong, as I was living abroad at the time, but I sort of remember Blair's own daughter attempting to commit suicide? Possibly 2005ish? So maybe he does have some understanding.
My own father drowned himself. I understand, but I still think self-diagnosing and instant labelling is far too easy.

How wrong it is that that information was in the public domain. The children of people in the public eye seem to have no right to a private life.
I do wonder if young people really understand that once something is posted online about their feelings, and their mental health struggles, which can be just normal teenage angst, it is there for ever, and will follow them into adulthood.

Caleo

Yes, I think that it ought to be made known to the general public what the difference is between unhappiness on the one hand and clinical depression on the other.

"Clinical depression, also known as major depressive disorder (MDD), is a mental health condition that causes a persistently low or depressed mood and a loss of interest in activities that once brought joy. Clinical depression can also affect how you sleep, your appetite and your ability to think clearly. "

Caleo You are absolutely right. Someone very dear to me was severely depressed all her life and it broke my heart as I could do little to help. It can spoil a life and impact on others around that person. In this particular case the person's mother had died when the person was a toddler. Losing, or not knowing, one's mother is a major cause of severe depression. Depression is not the same as anxiety. Stress is something that can be overcome. Depression, such as I have described, is always there and is very real.

Sky dancer, you’re absolutely right about the impact on children of the death of their mother. I do not seek to derail this thread but as I read your post, the image in my mind was that of Harry and William walking behind their mother’s coffin,

Yes Blair is right. Iam64 used to talk about this quite a lot, and I used to disagree, possibly just in my head ) but she was right. I have a close friend who has complex mental health issues which have impacted her whole life, I think my experience of that made it difficult for me not to think people were minimising very serious health conditions.
But I now think we have medicalised normal emotions in some weird quest of always being 'happy'.

Again, I don't see anything on this thread that suggests people are unsympathetic to those with mental illness.

The thread is about people attributing life's ups and downs to MH issues, which is a very different thing.

Sometimes is is very difficult to discuss things like this, as people jump to the conclusion that commenting on those who use MH as an excuse is the same as saying that we don't understand the seriousness of actual mental illness. It isn't.

Tony Blair, billionaire works a few days a week but doesn’t need to, multiple luxury homes to live in, gifted homes to his kids, never known hardship, loss, never experienced racism, poverty, fleeing war, never lived through war, - yes he’s the perfect man to wade into a debate on a global downturn in good mental health!!

No that is probably why I have changed my perspective on it. I am also becoming increasingly worried about the SEMH 'diagnosis' of children.
Whole teams of professionals are springing up in this area. I think that this is quite a lot of blurring of lines with regard to diagnosis, so conditions such assutudm can present as SEMH in young children and vice versa.

Such as autism that should say.

I think life has changed so much, primarily when it comes to technology. We have no idea what the real effects of technology are on kids growing brains. We also are able to compare experiences with others, which helps people reflect on their own experiences better.

Don't conflate "mental health" with "mental illness". I think that's what many of you are doing. Suicidal ideation is not a "challenge of life". Neither is self-harm, or panic attacks. Becoming a shut in due to anxiety is not a normal issue. Obsessive thought patterns are not normal.

All these things exist and have existed for a long time. We just have better access to learn and compare with others like us.

I think that some people benefitted from the norm of ignoring or shoving down issues, and that infected the culture. So many people don't care about the actual wellbeing of others if they don't think they experience those problems themselves. I don't want younger generations to suffer the way older generations have. I'm glad that people are taking care of themselves now.

To downplay real mental health disorders that have research behind them and proven methods of treatment is ignorant at best, and selfish at worst. Some people use the terms incorrectly and that is utilized to invalidate people with real serious issues.

I was the only person who cared how I felt most of my life. I don't want that anymore and I won't conform to outdated normal just to please the people who benefitted from them for generations.

User138562 I don’t see a theme of conflating mental health with mental illness here. On the contrary, many have made comparisons with feeling fed up with- v - clinical depression for example

Yes Blair is privileged, his work in law and then in politics will have ensured he’s aware of mh and its links to abuse/poverty/ and more.

Beeches, you have no idea what might have occurred in TBs life, just because it hasn't been published, he may have suffered lots of metal stresses, being rich doesn't stop these things happening.

Some people use the terms incorrectly and that is utilised to invalidate people with real serious issues and that is being addressed in this discussion.

As Doodledog has posted, this thread is about attributing life's ups and downs to MH issues which is what Tony Blair was talking about and we are discussing here.

I have no recollection of this, but if escaped is right and TB's daughter attempted suicide then it shows what we all should know, that personal wealth is no barrier to mental health issues Beeches.

I had never heard that TB’s 16 year old daughter attempted to take her life. After reading here, Google confirmed this to be true and that TB did all he could to minimise publicity, as any good parent would have done.

As smiles says, wealth and privilege don’t provide protection, in fact it can add to pressures. It also suggests the Blair’s have direct experience of mental health issues.
I remember the discussions on here criticising Starmer for attempting to protect his son during gcse periods

Thank you for the confirmation Iam and as you say, wealth and privilege can exacerbate any issues.

I might not be right, because foreign news can get things wrong, but for some reason I remember while I was abroad hearing about his son getting intoxicated and the daughter taking an overdose?
I agree wealth is certainly no barrier to mental health issues, as I witnessed listening to rich parents whose children were in private education.

Living in the public eye as the children of Royalty, politicians, celebrity must add to the pressures all adolescents face
Children in “ordinary families” like ours make mistakes, get things wrong but it isn’t all over the press the following day

Doodledog

Comparing the experience of work-related stress to someone going blind oversimplifies the complexities involved in both situations. Instead, it would be beneficial to advocate for creating an environment that addresses all health issues and treatment.

Your stereotyping of "stress" as an illness that is 'less than" a physical one may lead to stigma which heaps additional negativity on sufferers. This in turn can lead to the sort of discrimination you seem to favour. It would also results in social marginalisation and systemic inequalities.

Attitudes that prioritise physical health over mental health, lead to a lack of understanding and support for individuals with mental health issues and quite possibly a much sicker country that you cannot wish away simply by devaluing those suffering.