Last week I received a call from Mind asking if I would write this blog forEating Disorders Awareness Week and to help promote their new report on men and mental health. At the age of 27 I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.
At 6 ft 4 ins, my weight had dropped to just 10 stone, but it still took four visits to my GP before they finally acknowledged the severity of my state and started to look for a diagnosis. I ended up receiving treatment in hospital and spent four months off work and many more In therapy.
Anorexia dominated my life for months. I barely ate or slept and would avoid family and friends so that they couldn’t question me about my weight. Looking back I wonder how I managed. I used to put on a show at work, and while people were concerned they rarely said anything to me. At home I became increasingly short tempered and my fiancee went through hell with me — I really tested the strength of our relationship. The few pictures we have from this time are put to one side as they are very upsetting for us to view.
I struggled to talk to any of my male friends about what I was going through, because its not really what blokes do! Even after my diagnosis one friend in particular still has very little concept of what I am talking about and others find it difficult to broach the subject. I’ve heard numerous people tell me that they thoughtaAnorexia was just a girls disease.
That’s why I am helping Mind to promote their new mental health guidelines for men and boys. It will hopefully help show that mental health problems are not abnormal for men and there is help available in many forms. I also think it’s important to acknowledge that men face mental health difficulties which differ to those of women and that mental health guidelines and strategies should reflect this.
I was lucky that after my diagnosis someone pointed me in the direction of the Mindinfoline. I was at rock bottom when I called them, struggling to open up and talk about the things I was doing to myself. The person I spoke to on the helpline was exactly the voice I needed to hear and they were able to give me and my fiancée information on the help available to me and where I could go to access it. My family also used the information that Mind provide to gain an understanding of what I was going through and how they could help.
I am not ‘cured’ of my condition – the thoughts and feelings are often still there – but thanks to the help and support I have received I have developed coping mechanisms to deal with my feelings and continue my life. I now feel like a stronger person and that I have my life back.
As a way of thanking Mind for their support and raising awareness about the stigma surrounding male mental health problems, last year I completed the London to Paris cycle challenge. As I hope the picture shows, reaching the finishing line in Paris was a truly memorable moment and one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
I am now in training for this year's Virgin London Marathon. The training is going well now that the winter snow and rain have eased and I’m hoping to raise £2,000 to help other people who, like me, have experienced mental distress.
Mark Gould
If you can, please support Mark in his fundraising efforts for Mind, or follow him on Twitter
Posted: Tuesday 30 March 2010
People with mental health problems who are frequently unable to complete more than two tasks in a row could be assessed as fit for work, under new revisions to the sickness benefit test outlined by the government last night (1).
Mind already has grave concerns that the Work Capability Assessment, the current test for sickness benefit Employment and Support Allowance, is not sophisticated enough to accurately measure when someone’s mental health affects their ability to work. However, in a radical tightening of the criteria, revisions to the test proposed today will simplify the test further by slashing the sections relevant to mental health in half (3), prompting fears that tens of thousands of people with serious mental health issues could be stripped of their benefits and forced to look for work they are unable to do.
Mind’s Chief Executive Paul Farmer said:
Most people with mental health problems want to work, but need time and support to be able to do so. However we have seen some truly shocking examples of people who cannot be reasonably expected to enter any workplace being assessed as fit for work, including one person who was sent an assessment form while in psychiatric hospital, and another who cannot manage even simple tasks including getting up in the morning without one to one support.
It is clear that the current assessments are failing to pick up on people with major barriers to work, yet the government has responded by simplifying the tests even further, radically reducing the likelihood of spotting serious and enduring mental health problems. People who really cannot work because of serious illnesses who are found fit for work will have their benefits taken away and will be forced to look for work, some without hope of an employer ever taking them on.
Tightening the test may be a move to reduce the sickness benefits bill, but the knock on effects will be felt further down the line. The legacy of these errors would be another generation of people parked on a different benefit, unable to find a job and having to live on reduced incomes, in poverty.
The government proposals are hard on the heals of a Citizen’s Advice Bureau report released just last week finding widespread failings in the whole assessment system, ranging from problems with the test, problems with the guidelines for those carrying out the test, and problems with their knowledge about mental health and disability (4).
Examples
Jenny* has worked in the past but when she developed depression and anxiety she applied for Employment and Support Allowance. Despite two GPs, a psychiatrist and a senior nurse stating that she is not able to work or seek work, a 54 minute assessment and report written in the remaining 6 minutes disagreed and she was refused. The report included comments that she ‘did not appear to be trembling…sweating…or make rocking movements”. Jenny feels that her condition has been made light of and the refusal of ESA has caused her very significant distress which is severely impeding her recovery.
Michelle* has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, severe anxiety and depression. She has very poor short-term memory, relying on a task list to get through daily routines, and avoids social contact and going to new places due to severe anxiety and panic attacks when she is particularly unwell. Michelle had to fight on appeal to qualify for Employment Support Allowance, but under new proposals, would likely be assessed as fit to work.
(1) Department of Work and Pensions: Building bridges to work: new approaches to tackling long term worklessness and Work Capability Assessment Internal Review www.dwp.gov.uk/building-bridges-to-work
(2) DWP, January 2010
(3) The assessment is based on a number of descriptors that measure what people can do in different areas of functioning. The current version contains 40 descriptors that are relevant to mental health, whereas the revised test will contain just 21.
(4) Citizens Advice Bureau: Not Working: CAB evidence on the ESA work capability Assessment
* names changed
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