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Severe Depression And Severe Anxiety

keira

Hello

I have been refused PIP (following a mandatory reconsideration) because the DWP and Atos have stated that there is no evidence of any cognitive impairment?
I am confused by their remark and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. Thank you.

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Comments

janice_in_wonderland

Many are going through this so it's not unusual @keira

Time to appeal with as much evidence as possible and make sure you get good support such as welfare advice/support worker/social worker/CAB etc that's if you haven't already

Hope you win

keira

Hi, thanks for the reply. But what on earth do they mean by this statement?

keira

Sorry, but what I meant to say is that, is it not enough to have a diagnosis? I thought they would know that mental health conditions and their associated symptoms include problems such as lack of concentration which have all been fully explained to them and the impact they have.

janice_in_wonderland

@keira
I find reading their feedback can fuel mixed feelings

I had a special coccyx cushion in a cotton tote bag - they knew yet said I had a shoulder bag - misconstrued lies and lying by omission is typical

The baffle everyone

Keep on keeping on until every avenue has been exhausted in an attempt to win what is entitled by law

poppy123456

keira said:

Sorry, but what I meant to say is that, is it not enough to have a diagnosis? I thought they would know that mental health conditions and their associated symptoms include problems such as lack of concentration which have all been fully explained to them and the impact they have.

Hi,
PIP isn't about a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect you daily. Conditions affect everyone differently and no 2 people are the same. You need evidence to support your claim. The evidence should be based on which descriptors apply to you, so if you have problems going out then your evidence should state the reasons why.

Only 20% of MR decisions are successful, so your chances were always slim at this stage. Your next step is the Tribunal and you have 1 month from the date of the decision to send the SSCS1 form. You must attach the MR decision letter to this otherwise the Tribunal will refuse your appeal. The best chance of success will be if you appear in person at your hearing, rather than ask for a paper base decision. 65% of those who appear have a decision in their favour. Good luck.

janice_in_wonderland

@poppy123456

65% success rate!

I hope I'm one of them at the end of this month bc I felt like it's slow manslaughter

@keira

i hope you can appeal in time

keira

So I will need to get my GP to to write a letter stating that my mental health conditions cause me to have no concentration when I go out and that this is unsafe when I cross roads etc? Is that what you meant?

Waylay

Some assessors and decision-makers seem to think that mental health conditions means that you have cognitive problems - i.e. that you are learning disabled. You need to emphasize that while you're of average/high/whatever intelligence, your mental health conditions make you: have low motivation, afraid to leave the house alone, incapable of taking care of yourself, whatever.

Waylay

At least, that seems to be the way that some of them use the word "cognitive". My last PIP assessor's report says, "Clearly no mental health problems, as has a Master's degree! Cognitive ability is high." Uh?

janice_in_wonderland

...what about Van Gogh Motzart and Nijinsky... all of which suffered mental health hurdles... they were all Avant Garde geniuses!

I might add this this when I attend my Tribunal

wildlife

"Cognitive Impairment" for a lot of assessors means they asked the claimant a few simple questions which bear no relationship to the day to day impact of mental health conditions and either the questions were answered correctly or they weren't but they write false results on your report and decide from this there is no cognitive impairment therefore no mental health problems exist. This is very wrong but just another way they have of conning people and denying them benefit. From my experience I have been recently diagnosed with Complex PTSD a much more severe case then simple PTSD which I have had for many years but I have no cognitive impairment. My MP mentioned this specifically as a failing in the current PIP process that mental health was not being assessed properly. For mobility I scored 0 for planning a journey. After my MR the DWP looked again at the evidence I had which was 46 years of appointments and treatment and reports from the IAPT service. I was then offered 4 points for needing encouragement to go out. This may help in deciding what evidence you need which you can get by asking your surgery admin to print anything relevant of your medical records. Or a complete summary of your medical history. My assessor kept repeating "although she has been diagnosed with Anxiety and Depression she does not have medication or Specialist input". Not true but it gives you an idea if you can show you have both of these than it will help. Lack of concentration will not be enough to prove you need help when out and about. Panic attacks are discounted which are far worse. This is only from my experience.

janice_in_wonderland

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4993480/amp/Intelligent-people-higher-risk-mental-illness.html

I come from a hyper-intelligent background - geniuses even but that's another story

I'm both proud of and yet sad to have inherited the symptoms causing silent suffering for the level of intelligence in my genes

thespiceman

Hello @keira I see reading what does cognitive impairment mean. A lot of people commented on this. Why not ask and find go to Doctors ask them. I had similar in assessment one time. How can you tell beats me. I have anxiety and depression. Far as I know it is how you respond to daily living and tasks. How difficult you find things. This is what I believe cause mental problems such as stress and anxiety. For example in one medical shows no signs of rocking back and forth. One of the signs of anxiety. I pointed out in a review with my doctor. When I failed assessment and had to appeal went down. Went through it stage by stage. Corrected all the nil points I had seen on the report. We both agreed a lot of lies. So that is an option chat with your doctor about report. In my case appeal successful that time. Also wish you the best in appeal. This is a message of support. I hope and pray be successful.

thespiceman

Hello I forgot to add I do not understand you had a man recon as they call it. Then refused. Still appeal though. Get evidence from any friends or family you have. You should be appealing that decision. Just have to fight do not give up. I am aware that this man recon can be appealed against. Keep appealing and I do think is it going on. Another obstacle DWP and ATOS are putting up for our community Take care

Waylay

>My assessor kept repeating >"although she has been >diagnosed with Anxiety and >Depression she does not have >medication or Specialist input".
ARGH!! The assessor's report for my recent PIP assessment, in which I got 0 points, said the same thing. Yeah. That's because he ignored my mention of the NHS outpatient MH program I've been in for 6 years, and didn't write down either of my anti-depressants. *Rolls eyes* Oh, and he ignored the fact that elsewhere he had written down my 22 year history of mental health problems. All of these things are in my PIP questionnaire, but clearly nobody bothered to look at that.

Agree with everything else you wrote.

Topkitten

I am sure that my move to PIP will be done as soon as I reach retirement age then, when I lose DLA, I won't be able to get it back. After that my life really will be over as I will never be able to leave my home again. What a nice retirement I have to look forward to.

TK

CockneyRebel

TK, you will not lose your DLA at retirement age, when you are invited to apply for PIP it does not matter how old you are if you are changing from DLA. The only thing when this happens is that the mobility component you accept can never be increased even if your needs change.
So you might not be asked to apply until you are 67, as long as you meet the criteria for a PIP award then you will continue to receive one. If you are awarded and accept standard mobility this will never be increased, so in this case if mobility is an issue theb you need to be prepared to challenge it all the way for enhanced.

CR

keira

It seems to me that a lack of/ level of medication or no "specialist input" is being used as an indicative and unfair measure of a person's mental health problems and a convenient way to refuse this benefit. As far as I'm aware, there is no prerequisite that a person has to be taking medication or receiving any type of treatment in order to qualify for PIP. Also, I think that the Equality Act states that the law has to look at how your conditions affect you without medication or treatment and in not doing so is clear discrimination.

keira

Form what I've read I don't think it's worth appealing for the mobility component of pip for mental health. People with anxiety or depression seem to get a maximum of 4 points for this which equates to no award. I do not have physical mobility problems so can't get any points for moving around therefore it seems I will just be putting myself under all this extra stress for nothing. Cheers for your advice everyone.

rachel1988

Hi I had a similar problem,you can ring PIP and ask for a copy of the assessors report which I found helpful,also if you look online for a pip handbook it gives you a lot of information all of which comes in handy when writing to them trying to fight your case