Pip review assessments. Mental health.

sam198333

Hi guys I'm sam.

I was thinking I could offer assistance. I've heard people saying it's hard for mental health.

My brother luke got complex paranoid schizophrenia at 17 he's 33 now. They put him on higher for both with dla.

When he swapped over to pip, he still got higher everything.

He's Been sick 16 years and had dla/pip the whole time. Also he's never had an assessment.

I have my own issues with brain hemmorage and lots of brain surgeries. But I always put my baby first and my heart breaks for him. He would easily drop his pip for a decent life, he really would.

Also pip may get it wrong sometimes. But they obviously didn't with my brother. He had a review 6month ago and was awarded enhanced in both and they awarded him for 10years.

So I'm here to say that yes you can get awarded for mental health absolutely, it just depends how bad your mental health is and how it affects your descriptors.

I'm really good with pip forms (experience) and reviews. Obviously my brother has never filled his own. My mum is his appointee.

Any questions or advice guys feel free to message me. I.may be able to help

Sending ❤️ to everyone in here.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @sam198333, welcome to the community!

Thanks for sharing your experience, it sounds like you've been a great support for your brother and you've been through a lot yourself too. Feel free to join in with the discussions wherever you like. I'm sure our members will find your advice very helpful 😊

rita444

Hello my son as also got paranoid schizophrenia,he was diagnosed when he was 15 , he's now 34 I'm his mum ,he also got a ten year award for pip ,and rightly so as he can't cope with the normality of life .his pip review is coming up soon . So I'm worried a little in case he dosnt get it again ,it's such a worry because he can't cope with people or anything he was scctioned a couple of years ago for a short time.

My daughter also has autism she's in her late 20s and she also gets pip

It's a very worrying time x

W348

Oh damn it. I just made a comment here which took me a long time to put together, but it's not showing. :(

Kizzie58

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/872990#Comment_872990

See if its gone into your drafts.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/872990#Comment_872990

This happens sometimes as it gets caught up in the spam. When admin start work later this morning they will post it and it will appear in this thread.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/873007#Comment_873007

PIP isnt awarded based on any diagnosis. Whether there’s any entitlement to the mobility part will depend on how your conditions affect you. You can’t compare someone else to yourself.

Award lengths vary from person to person. When it’s time for your review ask for a longer award length. Very often, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

W348

Can someone please tell me if it's OK to type my answers to the form question s and print these and include it with fhe form, or is it best that I write on the form and fill the boxes in?

I started typing out my answers on the computer as I didn't want to mess the form upwith mistakes and crossing things out. With typing I can go back multiple times and edit over many days to get it worded right. I generally write too much and usually go back and try and shorten it - my worry is ifnit's too long they won't bother to read my explanations and just refuse my claim.

If writing on the form is beneficial then I will do so and copy across what I have typed out, I just didn't want to unnecessarily waste additional time.

A few of you above mention claiming PIP and mental health. Do you think I would have much of a fight to try and get this for myself? My main issue is I have difficulty communicating with people and socialising. I've pushed myself to talk at times and ask for a lottery ticket in a shop for example, that's more of just saying a statement - but even that I have humiliated myself and just made a strange noise or been unable.tomspeak, and look like an idiot. It's incredibly frustrsting. As I look over the form and type out my answers it's hit me suddenly that I haven't actually had a conversation with anyone outside of my own family (now late 30s). The closest I've come to chatting with someone else is my GP, but I mostly email him and have what I want to say on notes to pass to him, but inbetween I can get some words out but these are often muddled up.

I get panic attacks around trying to speak and socialising, in particular attending appointments like reviews are extremely difficult and soul crushing. So much so that CAB had attended ESA reviews for me many years ago. I kind of regret not applying for PIP back then, but the ESA reviews were incredibly stressful when I had to attend, that I was terrified of just have a second benefit thing, and the thought of being pulled in for two separate reviews just makes me feel sick. Tbh I've only considered it now all these years later because the hospital wants me to go back to my dentist and pay for treatment, but my dentist is now private (not NHS anymore) so I have to pay for Xrayd and dental treatment out of solely ESA income. This is the main thing that'a prompted me to try for PIP now, but I do hope it might help me also get my own place in the near future - if they even allow me to get it.

I'm worried about the form too, is it best to be completely open about all of my issues? Or do I just focus on the day to day struggles, rather than 'what I think' are the reasons why I function in such a broken way.

I am mostly reluctant to include details about my body image concerns and suicidal feelings, and many email exchanges with Samaritans and my GP.

Do PIP need to know these details iltonincrease my claim chances, or do they just need to know the symptoms only and my struggles - rather than what I think is fhe root cause?

Mmm sorry, I made a long post, this is kind of what I am worried about with the form, but I think I can trim that down.

rita444

Hi has I have said above in a previous post my son has paranoid schizophrenia he got enhanced care and middle rate mobility for pip ,he has a ten year award ,that is coming up for review soon.

He had a lot of written evidence from the the mental health team and psychiatrist as well as a formal written diagnosis so this dose help with there desision. He's

rita444

Sorry I didn't finish my post from above clicked on it to early . Has I was saying .He's on both care and mobility for pip . But he had a lot of written evidence. He's also on 2 lots of antiphycotics medication . He got the mobility part of pip for his paranoid scitsophrenia because he can be very agitated and sometimes verbally abusive to people on publick transport ,so I or a family member have to accompany him .

And also I take him shopping when he gets his weekly food .

He was also sectioned a couple of years ago but is now fairly stable .he lives on his own in a council flat

He really hasn't got much insight into things he dosnt wash his flat is a mess . If I prepare food for him he sometimes thinks it's contaminated so he throws it all in the bin .

I honestly don't know how he'd survive if is pip were to stop as he uses this for taxis to get to his appointments and extra clothing ,as he will only ware certain fabrics.

He dosnt even open his letters he thinks people are spying on him I'm his Appointee ,so I'm the one who fills in the forms .

Meg24

I don't have a diagnosis of a severe mental illness, yet am still eligible for PIP based on how I struggle with daily life due to effects of severe trauma. I know it might seem ridiculous that some people with officially diagnosed illnesses might get less money than me, but of course we are not all stereotypical in how things affect us. The recent proposal by the Tories to make PIP payable only by diagnosis would be a big step back for many people and make help inaccessible for many. Severe trauma is not just "the ups and downs of everyday life" as Stride so witheringly described it, I am sick of them dismissing trauma as something people should be able to endure without affect. It smacks of an upper class public school attitude that is designed to shape an unempathetic ruling class, it shouldn't be foisted on the rest of us.

When applying for PIP, always give plenty of examples of how your difficulties affect your daily life, don't assume that a label is going to be enough to get you an award by itself.

rita444

Thanks Meg24 . Trauma must be awful to live with it's in itself a mental health condition. I feel for you . And I know you can still get pip without a diagnosis. I hope you got your pip . Hang in there and take care of yourself .

Meg24

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/873012#Comment_873012

I don't know about online PIP forms but when I send my paper forms in, I always put all my answers to the descriptor questions on seperate typed sheets because I basically bombard them with all of the information they could possibly need, this includes lots of examples of daily living/mobility difficulties but also a background of the origin of my MH difficulties and what I've come to understand as the sources of the difficulties related to my personal history. I also frequently outline any risks to my MH of attempting to carry out the activities. I then include a letter from my Psychotherapist which we draft together, in which she describes in her own words but with my consent, a HP version of what I have stated (much more consice tho). I usually write between 15 and 20 A4 sides of information in my own words (adding my name and NI number to each page). I have always had my assessments on the papers, I have had only one occassion where the assessor requested further information from my GP.

It's very difficult to be open about severe symptoms, I've had a lot of therapy and I still feel a lot of shame about some of my problems. However it's important to remember that the assessor is only going to assess your ability to carry out the activities, they are not there to judge you in any other way. The more information you feel able to give, the assessor will get a better picture of your situation and will be less likely to underestimate your difficulties.

sam198333

@rita444

You understand rita. There is paranoid schizophrenia and then there is very sick paranoid schizophrenia. My brother was in hospital 2 years and your situation sounds the same.. even similar ages. I'm his sister.

Riita don't be worried about his review, it's easy to say right? My mums the same, she worries about it. I don't never with my brother. Like you, he has mountains of evidence. I'm very sorry rita for your son. My brother breaks my heart, especially when one min he's laughing and talking to himself and next thing we knows he's shouting out telling "them" to get off him. He says they do horrible things to him. It's a terrible illness rita and I hope you have someone to lean on like my mum does with me. When my mum passes (she's 68) I will look after my brother for the rest of mine or his life. I refuse to let him go in supported accommodation as he is extremely shy and vulnerable. We put him in one for two weeks around 2 years ago, as a tester in case me or my mum wasnt here, He was robbed, headbutted and humiliated. He may be 6ft2in but he's a teddy bear. Im getting upset writing this forgive me for going on..

Anyway rita lots of love to you and your son. And don't worry rita, I'm quite sure he will get it. The dwp definitely know when their looking at a severe case. Xx