Experiences with claiming

Hey all.  I am very interested to hear all your views and experiences relating to claiming ESA, PIP and AA. Sometimes it really helps to know you are not the only one going through the stress, panic attacks and desperation that result from face to face assessments.  I just had to switch from DLA (indefinite award) to PIP.  I was terrified.  My anxiety sky rocketed.  My depression worsened, My pain control went out the window because I was too stressed to sleep - and so, as many of you have probably experienced, my pain threshold dropped.  I am one of the fortunate ones to actually have my application succeed (higher rate mobility AND care) - but, by the time the assessor left, I was in tears having a MASSIVE panic attack.  I know that it is notoriously hard to "prove" that you need support - especially when you need to claim on grounds of mental health difficulties.  I know that it is an exercise in humiliation and very traumatic to have to explain your life away to a complete stranger who, essentially, is there to pass judgement on you.  Recently I have been reading about people who are turned down for PIP and end up suicidal, and sometimes ending their lives.  One commentator made the best observation I have yet seen about the debacle that is our current benefit system.  He described it as "genocide in slow motion" - delivered against disabled people by the people in power.  Genocide: "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group." Sounds familiar doesn't it - and I don't think it is simply scaremongering.  Too many people are dying in this PIP/ESA/AA system.  Let me know your experience.