Having a job boosts so much more than just your income

A JOB is fundamental to our wellbeing. of course there are the financial rewards, but work should be about so much more than our wages. It gives us purpose, structure and routine and can boost our self- esteem and mental health.

Yet I am constantly surprised that so many fail to appreciate the importance and value of working. only last week Mel Stride, the work and Pensions Secretary, said that britons must get back to what he termed the ‘old fashioned belief’ that work is good for us.

Stride was addressing the rising numbers — especially among the young — who are unemployed due to mental health issues. That satisfaction from working is considered ‘old fashioned’ is both troubling and disheartening.

The irony is that while many people don’t work (or are on long-term sick leave) due to mental health issues, there is good evidence that the best treatment for mild to moderate depression and anxiety is . . . work!

waking up knowing you have work ahead of you is often the best antidote to dealing with the other challenges of life. not only does it not cost anything, it brings you into contact with other people and it actually pays!

I see many patients struggling with their mental health and I despair that they have spent years — sometimes all their life — out of work. For many of them a job would be far more beneficial than any pill I could prescribe. but what I often encounter is an attitude that work is for other people, and that mental health difficulties automatically make employment impossible.

when I was at medical school, I lived with a group of friends in a flat on a council estate. It was well planned, with low- rise blocks, plenty of green space and trees. our neighbours were lovely, but it gradually dawned on me that nobody in the household worked. The mother had a bad back, the father suffered with ‘stress’ and the two sons in their early 20s had depression. All claimed benefits.

As a doctor I see people battling the most debilitating and life- changing illnesses who simply cannot work because their daily existence is blighted by their condition. They deserve every piece of help the state has to offer. but that wasn’t the case with my neighbours, whose daily lives weren’t hindered in any way. I’d watch every day as the sons and their friends played a game of football in front of the flats. And it isn’t the case with many others either. one patient I saw recently had been told she was not eligible for Disability Living Allowance because she was capable of working. She called me a ‘sucker’ because I had a job and then added that if I didn’t write a supportive letter for her appeal, she’d harm herself and I would be to blame. believe me, I am the last person to belittle the impact of mental illness and the way it can devastates lives. but it’s rare to see people who are so incapacitated by depression that they can’t actually work at all.

WE KNOW that unemployment and depression are intrinsically linked, with the unemployed far more likely to suffer depression than those in work. And those suffering longterm depression will often be moved from unemployment benefit to sickness benefits, where they languish. Lifting people out of this spiral of hopelessness, and instilling the idea that work will help them, is a tough challenge. Yes, jobs can sometimes be dull and tiring, but I firmly believe it’s better than the alternative.

That’s why we must continue to emphasise the value and importance of work to health and wellbeing. In the long term, doing so will not just reduce the numbers of people claiming benefits, it will also be therapeutic — a sensible and compassionate way of improving people’s mental wellbeing.

Tough love? Yes. but sometimes it’s needed.

A MOTHER wants ketamine to be upgraded to Class A after her son died. Clare Rogers is right to say it is more dangerous than many think. When not deadly it can still cause severe bladder problems — sometimes the bladder has to be removed.