I know what it’s like to have anxiety, Mr Sunak – it’s anything but the ‘ordinary difficulties of life’

I used to work for Mental Health First Aid – I’ve even organised training for No 10, writes Rosie Slater. That’s how I know we should distrust the government’s sick note war on vulnerable people claiming disability benefits

More than 10 million of us were signed off work last year due to illness – depression or anxiety was a factor in half of those cases (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In a week where the nation has been gripped by the welfare of a couple of runaway cavalry horses, it’s a shame the government hasn’t been so considerate in its response to the UK’s mental health crisis.

More than 10 million of us were signed off work last year due to illness, and as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed in his speech on “sick note culture” last week, depression or anxiety was a factor in half of those cases.

Given the effects of the pandemic and a cost of living crisis, it feels unsurprising to me that there’s been a rise in the number of people suffering with a mental illness.

But it’s been work and pensions secretary Mel Stride’s suggestion that those with “milder mental health conditions” won’t receive sick benefits payments that will feel like a kick in the teeth to the millions of people, like me, who know exactly what it feels like to be struggling with a mental health condition.

Stride said the system shouldn’t be paying people to deal with the “ordinary difficulties of life” and they’ll be offered improved access to treatment, but having waited a year to access stretched NHS mental health services myself – this seems like a laughably unrealistic solution.

I used to work for Mental Health First Aid and I’ve had lots of experience helping organisations to support people with mental illness at work – I’ve even organised training for No 10.

We absolutely should be supporting people with depression and anxiety to stay in employment if that’s their choice – work and volunteering can be a really important part of someone’s recovery. But workplaces need to be trained to support people with mental illness on an ongoing basis. How many managers can say they are doing that – beyond responding to a crisis?

Stride said that the welfare system needs to get better at “appropriately differentiating” those conditions that make work impossible and those that do not. But including depression – at any severity – on that list feels irresponsible, when symptoms can include the most serious: thoughts of suicide, death and self harm.

Even experiencing that some of the time should be enough to warrant someone needing a break from the stresses of their day job. There’s also a real danger, as plenty of research shows, that someone’s condition can worsen the longer they wait to receive treatment, leading to more time off and a greater cost to the economy.

Presenteeism – where people work despite feeling unwell – is a leading cause of burnout and long-term sickness, costing businesses millions every year because of the resulting sick leave that has to be taken.

I know all too well that it’s a vicious cycle. When my mum was diagnosed with cancer, last year, I threw myself into work for fear of letting others down. I reasoned that sleepless nights and heart palpitations were a normal reaction to a stressful situation. It was only when I went on holiday a few months later and had a week-long anxiety attack that I realised it had grown into something more serious.

As a result, I had to take more time off, when what I’d really needed was a few days away from work when it first happened to process everything.

The attempt to diminish mental illness as an “everyday” issue is concerning. Yes, lots of us will experience “difficult things” throughout our lives – but that doesn’t mean we’ll all react the same way, or that we should.

For me, Sunak and Stride’s comments play into a trope as old as the hills that people with mental illness aren’t really ill – and we should all just get on with it.

The irony is that many of us wouldn’t need to be on sick leave if we had quicker access to health services, and this, ultimately, should be the government’s focus, not taking away from the little support that’s available.