No, Wes, my stress wasn't a simple case of ‘overdiagnosis’

Health secretary Wes Streeting has put his foot in his mouth again, this time, claiming there’s “definitely an overdiagnosis” of mental illness in the UK. Apparently, those of us struggling with poor mental health are a burden to the public’s finances because we need time off work to recover.

- H A N N A H S H E W A N S T E V E N S

Once again, a politician dismisses the country’s mental health crisis to justify cuts to the benefits system. Excuse me while I pretend to be shocked. Roundly dismissing millions struggling with their mental health as “overdiagnosed” oversimplifies a complex landscape. I wish mental health were that simple, Wes, but it’s not.

When working full-time in London, I was signed off work twice due to mental illness. The NHS couldn’t offer me any therapy unless I was able to wait for six to 12 months, during which time my depression and complex PTSD symptoms would’ve spiralled out of control.

To prevent that, I went into debt for private therapy. Fortunately, my workplace focused on a smooth transition back to work rather than pushing me out, unlike the aggressive approach the government is promising with more brutal benefit cuts.

Both instances occurred pre-pandemic — 2017 and 2018 respectively — when the NHS was still limping along. Now, it’s crawling and those supposedly “overdiagnosed” people are paying the price of its underfunding, unable to work under the weight of their ever-worsening mental health.