Gordon Calls Up The Mentally Ill

[copydude]

My sister is a Mental Healthcare professional.

It has not escaped her attention that anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

This is a new Guv initiative. All loonies nationwide are suddenly in automatic receipt of letters inviting them to apply for the '500,000 jobs available in our burgeoning economy'. (See Directgov for more information.)

In my sister's case, it's a geriatric ward and the majority suffer from Alzheimers. But the few who can remember getting the letter from Gordon were quite distressed by it.

What's wrong with these 70 year old scroungers. Don't they know we have banks to pay for?

[Guest sillybear2]

My sister is a Mental Healthcare professional.

It has not escaped her attention that anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

Maybe Brown has run out of suitable cabinet ministers?

[interestrateripoff]

I wonder how much money all of this needless paperwork wastes?

I wonder which manager is responsible for this brainwave, how many meetings did it take to come up with this plan?

[Shao Kahn]

My sister is a Mental Healthcare professional.

It has not escaped her attention that anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

This is a new Guv initiative. All loonies nationwide are suddenly in automatic receipt of letters inviting them to apply for the '500,000 jobs available in our burgeoning economy'. (See Directgov for more information.)

In my sister's case, it's a geriatric ward and the majority suffer from Alzheimers. But the few who can remember getting the letter from Gordon were quite distressed by it.

What's wrong with these 70 year old scroungers. Don't they know we have banks to pay for?

Not a very kind attitude, Copydude! Most of us will become mentally ill at some point - though I do take the point that it is pointless asking Alzheimer's sufferers to go to job centres.

Although one could say that the truly dangerously mentally ill have been in charge of this country and its banks for the last ten years or so - which would explain the extreme level of narcissism and psychopathy seen in these sectors during this time.

There is a book called "Snakes In Suits" which is quite good and explains why these positios of power attract such people.

[heather5]

Thank you for the book recommendation - I'll be getting that.

"Although one could say that the truly dangerously mentally ill have been in charge of this country and its banks for the last ten years or so - which would explain the extreme level of narcissism and psychopathy seen in these sectors during this time."

I've no experience of mental health other than pop-psychology books - Men are from Venus, Women from Mars - or was it the other way around ...hmm .....

Having worked in so many different work environments - for ages - I've felt that some people - often those who succeded - had some kind of issue or other - and now you say narcissism - that hits the nail on the head.

And saying psychopathy - having just looked up the term - having always thought from TV crime movies it was only people who murdered others - that fits too.

Gosh - wonder how many of us are working with these people in a day-to-day environment.

So the idea that the govt is now encouraging people with mental illnesses to go to work asap - kinda fits - although I find it quite horrifying if you're a solider from Iraq or Afganistan suffering Post-traumatic stress will also fit under this category.

Kinda fits because if they - running the country and banks and investments houses have the same pathology - then of course they'd want more of them in the workforce.

Did have a discussion at work today about the BBC2 prog on newbies becoming Investment bods alla the Apprentice - about what it takes to do the job - as none of those on the prog seem to have the "killer" instinct - and we all concluded you'd have to be a narcissist or similar disposition just to do the job!

[pilchardthecat]

Brown is quite plainly what used to be called an idiot savant, so i think we as a nation have had sufficient experience to know this is a bad idea

[Shrink Proof]

Brown is quite plainly what used to be called an idiot savant, so i think we as a nation have had sufficient experience to know this is a bad idea

Oh, if only.

He's FAR more devious & dangerous than an idiot savant....

[happy_renting]

If this shabby treatment of vulnerable people is really occuring, it should be reported to Her Majesty's Press without delay.

[Shao Kahn]

Thank you for the book recommendation - I'll be getting that.

"Although one could say that the truly dangerously mentally ill have been in charge of this country and its banks for the last ten years or so - which would explain the extreme level of narcissism and psychopathy seen in these sectors during this time."

I've no experience of mental health other than pop-psychology books - Men are from Venus, Women from Mars - or was it the other way around ...hmm .....

Having worked in so many different work environments - for ages - I've felt that some people - often those who succeded - had some kind of issue or other - and now you say narcissism - that hits the nail on the head.

And saying psychopathy - having just looked up the term - having always thought from TV crime movies it was only people who murdered others - that fits too.

Gosh - wonder how many of us are working with these people in a day-to-day environment.

So the idea that the govt is now encouraging people with mental illnesses to go to work asap - kinda fits - although I find it quite horrifying if you're a solider from Iraq or Afganistan suffering Post-traumatic stress will also fit under this category.

Kinda fits because if they - running the country and banks and investments houses have the same pathology - then of course they'd want more of them in the workforce.

Did have a discussion at work today about the BBC2 prog on newbies becoming Investment bods alla the Apprentice - about what it takes to do the job - as none of those on the prog seem to have the "killer" instinct - and we all concluded you'd have to be a narcissist or similar disposition just to do the job!

As I said before on here last week, if you all really want to have a good look at the dark underbelly of the human condition in the late twentieth-century onwards, you should read the complete back catalogue of J.G Ballard - it is psychiatric, speculative fiction. Many of what he prophesied has actually come true.

"High Rise" in particular seems appropriately eerie in this current environment of new-build "apartment" blocks which could descend into mayhem!

[Shao Kahn]

And re. the above, it seems mainly to be "managers" who are affected by these problems. The book implies this and it certainly rings true in my experience.

[Guest sillybear2]

Did have a discussion at work today about the BBC2 prog on newbies becoming Investment bods alla the Apprentice - about what it takes to do the job - as none of those on the prog seem to have the "killer" instinct - and we all concluded you'd have to be a narcissist or similar disposition just to do the job!

A key element of being a trader is knowing when you're wrong and cutting your losses, that probably doesn't fit well with narcissistic individuals, they would probably take the failure personally. It's probably a matter of degree, no doubt an element of fearlessness is needed to pull the trigger. However, the best trader so far was that quiet lady, she seemed very methodical and professional, so quiet she was basically invisible in the first programme as she was too busy doing her reasearch to be shouting "fuk, fuk, fuk" across the trading room.

Edited January 20, 2009 by sillybear2

[copydude]

Not a very kind attitude, Copydude! Most of us will become mentally ill at some point

On the contrary. I'm very sympathetic. I see the rate at which patients have been thrown out of our local hospitals - usually to make way for some property killing.

Currently the Labour no-smoking ban in mental hospitals is being enforced viciously - like nowhere in the hospital grounds - so that non-sectioned mental patients will either discharge themselves or walk so far they get lost, fall under a bus or what have you.

Interestrateripoff wrote:

I wonder how much money all of this needless paperwork wastes?

I wonder which manager is responsible for this brainwave, how many meetings did it take to come up with this plan?

It is all part of the great plan to kick people off benefits. Starting with the weakest and neediest. They've done the disabled. Now they are moving on the mentally ill.

[Guest skullingtonjoe]

My sister is a Mental Healthcare professional.

It has not escaped her attention that anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

This is a new Guv initiative. All loonies nationwide are suddenly in automatic receipt of letters inviting them to apply for the '500,000 jobs available in our burgeoning economy'. (See Directgov for more information.)

In my sister's case, it's a geriatric ward and the majority suffer from Alzheimers. But the few who can remember getting the letter from Gordon were quite distressed by it.

What's wrong with these 70 year old scroungers. Don't they know we have banks to pay for?

Copydude, have you got any links for this? I`ve done a bit of Googling with no luck. Can you give a linky maybe

[BXLONDONMAN]

I wonder how much money all of this needless paperwork wastes?

I wonder which manager is responsible for this brainwave, how many meetings did it take to come up with this plan?

we have money to burn now we have to get back to 2007 lending, print and burn you couldent make it up what the government is up to with QE now !!!

[Little Professor]

anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

AWOOGA!!!

In other words, you're talking sh!te.

[copydude]

Copydude, have you got any links for this? I`ve done a bit of Googling with no luck. Can you give a linky maybe

It isn't reported. I 'phoned a local journo to see if he was interested. Of course not.

The local NHS 'Trust; is a history of unreported stories. The hospital I was born in was once an A&E, local pharmacy, you name it. Nowadays, in the event of an accident, I'd have to travel twice as far to get treatment if something unforeseen happened.

Half of the building where my sister works was boarded up even as the patients slept for a property sell off.

You think even the local rag will print these stories?

Oh, and local MP is Mark Francois who has just been invited to join the Shadow Cabinet. Try (fruitlessly) writing to him. I have.

[Shao Kahn]

It isn't reported. I 'phoned a local journo to see if he was interested. Of course not.

The local NHS 'Trust; is a history of unreported stories. The hospital I was born in was once an A&E, local pharmacy, you name it. Nowadays, in the event of an accident, I'd have to travel twice as far to get treatment if something unforeseen happened.

Half of the building where my sister works was boarded up even as the patients slept for a property sell off.

You think even the local rag will print these stories?

Oh, and local MP is Mark Francois who has just been invited to join the Shadow Cabinet. Try (fruitlessly) writing to him. I have.

Glad that you are concerned for them, copydude, I didn't think that you were trying to be controversial!

Sadly, the local, and even a lot of the national (e.g middle-tabloid) press, would kick these vulnerable people when they are down with relish - they are, after all, "scroungers" whom "Middle England" should not be spending their "hard-earned money" on.

"Hard-earned" money my @rse, "Middle England" seems mostly to compose of various tiers of "managers" who are the most workshy, devious, truculent and unreliable hypocrites on this earth. :angry:

[TeddyBear]

I had similar told to me recently by someone who teaches craft classes to adults with severe learning difficulties. These people too are receiving some sort of letter. I suppose thei DWP are trying to weed out the cheats by just writing to everyone. Of course, what will almost definitely happen is that clever, devious cheats keep their benefits while some poor person with a mental age of a kid will get totally confused and lose their full benefit entitlement.

[Guest skullingtonjoe]

It isn't reported. I 'phoned a local journo to see if he was interested. Of course not.

The local NHS 'Trust; is a history of unreported stories. The hospital I was born in was once an A&E, local pharmacy, you name it. Nowadays, in the event of an accident, I'd have to travel twice as far to get treatment if something unforeseen happened.

Half of the building where my sister works was boarded up even as the patients slept for a property sell off.

You think even the local rag will print these stories?

Oh, and local MP is Mark Francois who has just been invited to join the Shadow Cabinet. Try (fruitlessly) writing to him. I have.

Yep, sounds about right Every time the mental health services suggest some new treatment (which is usually CBT which does not work for me), the waiting list is around 18 months. It`s the same for everyone though: one guy at the bus stop was in considerable pain; he`d been waiting nearly three years for a double knee replacement! Poor bugger.

[Shao Kahn]

Yep, sounds about right Every time the mental health services suggest some new treatment (which is usually CBT which does not work for me), the waiting list is around 18 months. It`s the same for everyone though: one guy at the bus stop was in considerable pain; he`d been waiting nearly three years for a double knee replacement! Poor bugger.

CBT did work for me for a bit - I did a course called "Beating The Blues" - but, because I have such a poor memory, after about six months I forgot all I learnt!

Psychotherapy is by far the best way of treating mental illness, i.m.o...

And it seems strange that you were forced to wait eighteen months, because the doctor said to me it might be useful, and I was going to my first appointment the following week. Another example of "postcode lotteries"?

Edited January 20, 2009 by Shao Kahn

[doh]

Brown is quite plainly what used to be called an idiot savant, so i think we as a nation have had sufficient experience to know this is a bad idea

So what's his 'savant' skill? Farting the French national anthem? It's the idiot part(s) that's fkd the rest of us...

[shindigger]

My sister is a Mental Healthcare professional.

It has not escaped her attention that anyone being discharged now from a mental health centre gets a computer generated letter 'inviting them for a chat' at the Job Centre. Within a week of discharge.

This is a new Guv initiative. All loonies nationwide are suddenly in automatic receipt of letters inviting them to apply for the '500,000 jobs available in our burgeoning economy'. (See Directgov for more information.)

In my sister's case, it's a geriatric ward and the majority suffer from Alzheimers. But the few who can remember getting the letter from Gordon were quite distressed by it.

What's wrong with these 70 year old scroungers. Don't they know we have banks to pay for?

One of my best friends works for the Shaw Trust.

I can confirm this is happening.

Also the terminally ill are being hoiked in too.

Utter utter shytehawk stalinist traitor scum.

[tegan]

Shame there's no jobs for them. Although that's no reason not to get all those unproductive lazy toddlers off their arses and into work.

[copydude]

Psychotherapy is by far the best way of treating mental illness, i.m.o...

But it costs money.

And it works better for some people, sure. But the underfunded Trusts are told to pump patients with happy pills and send them on their way. Locally, drugs have completely overtaken the presence of psycho analysts or consultants.

Labour targets, doncha know.

Y'know it makes sense

[Shao Kahn]

But it costs money.

And it works better for some people, sure. But the underfunded Trusts are told to pump patients with happy pills and send them on their way. Locally, drugs have completely overtaken the presence of psycho analysts or consultants.

Labour targets, doncha know.

Y'know it makes sense

It does - and that is why you really have to be working in order to be able to pay for it.

You can get decent psychotherapy for probably a mimimum of £25 per session if you negotiate - call it £100 per month.

I have this myself. I can afford it - just - due to having a relatively low rent thru Guinness Trust housing association. But, if I was renting a comparible place privately, I could not afford it. Which is wrong. But most counselling organisationsar charities. I pay the full amount of £35 a time to hopefully keep them afloat.

My doctor said to me last week that psychoanalysts, therapists etc are urgently required no and in the future.

Eventually, I would like to go into this profession myself.

My main concern is that, because mental healthcare is so looked down on in this country, they will not take on new staff in the future, even though it would be needed...