White Dee Depressed?, So Am I

[trt]

reading about her and seeing her on TV!

She dosent look depressed to me?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2563069/The-person-depressed-taxpayer-Questions-Benefits-Streets-White-Dee-appear-repeatedly-TV-deemed-ill-work.html

[dave50]

Because depression can't be proved 100%, there are some who jump on the depression bandwagon just to get long term benefits, a bit like those with a constant bad back.

[ummmm]

Benefits Street was filmed over 18 months. It's hugely edited. They didn't even know it was going to be called Benefits Street until two days before it aired.

Would it have made compelling viewing if they filmed her on days she couldn't drag herself out of bed? She was on This Morning yesterday and said the film crew were in her house on her bad days...they just chose not to use that footage. I wonder why??!!

[emmie]

dave50, no they don't.

[trt]

It seems shes OK then according to most posters, so lets all do the same.

[emmie]

and you and dave know this how, that half the people are wagging it,

[emmie]

bad back, notoriously difficult to find the source, can be anything, it takes time, doctors visits, scans, x rays and not even then, you think that anyone suffering from chronic pain would put it on just to get benefits, oh gawd.

[factor-fiction]

I don't think dave said it was half of them, emmie. There will be some but the figure could be anywhere I think between 1% and maybe 10%, but even in between there are degrees- so some may be capable of doing some limited tasks. it's just so difficult . Two doctors can disagree and ATOS can have another view.

[emmie]

some then, what percentage of the population would that be, seeing as you know that some do. and depression is not hard to diagnose, talk to the professionals who deal with this on a daily basis. People can get depressed in whatever time of life, whatever background, and whatever creed or colour, it's a matter of recognising it and dealing with it.

[emmie]

its the idea that you would jump on the bandwagon to get benefits, really....

[emmie]

here is some information,

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/

[emmie]

plenty more where that came from, from any mental health organisation that you care to think of, Mind, Sane, and so on.

[factor-fiction]

Yes 1 in 4 suffer mental health issues in a year. I think those figures seem on the low side for depression. But it's also a question of whether the depresses is genuinely so severe as to make someone incapable of doing any work.

[sandyRoe]

Chewn, do you have any qualifications which enable you to say with certainty that this woman isn't ill, that she's a malingerer?

[emmie]

that some make a point of saying they know about the subject but can't back it up with any data, facts, or have experience of it.
i have, and can safely say that most of the people i have come across didn't wag it, or claim because they could, you have to jump through hoops to get benefits, it's just not as easy as some seem to think to get.

[factor-fiction]

I can't answer for chewn sandy, but from what I've seen of her I'd need a lot of convincing that she isn't capable of doing some work some of the time.

[emmie]

from that link, others say pretty much the same thing,

1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year
Mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain
Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem than men
About 10% of children have a mental health problem at any one time Depression affects 1 in 5 older people

Suicides rates show that British men are three times as likely to de by suicide than British women
Self-harm statistics for the UK show one of the highest rates in Europe: 400 per 100,000 population
Only 1 in 10 prisoners has no mental disorder