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ls it healthier to work and live while having depression , or is there a centerlink disability pension, and if so , which is healthier ?

Guest_1584
Community Member

Hey people .

l've met people on all kinds of Centerlink disability things over the yrs but can you get onto something due to depression ?

But then as in the title , maybe it's actually healthier for you to actually be out there in life and working and functioning ? - bloody hate that word but it's the only description l could think of . So what does everyone do , and which do they find is better ?

At one stage through a really bad patch l just didn't feel l could work or cope. So l asked Centerlink they told me l'd have to see the gp , get referrals ,go and get assessments and all kinds of other things can't remember exact details , but it was a nightmare l'd worry that l'd spend wks or mths putting myself through and then maybe get nothing anyway. But ok l'll just start with the gp and see where that goes first. And they told me it could get me 3mths , what, 3mths, but then l'd have to do it all again to get an extension or another 3mths and then again , and again , or some rubbish can't remember the exact details but it sounded far worse than the alternative and just struggling on to me.

Well, what a useless stressing , draining effort that was , here's a grown man in the mess l was in felt like l just couldn't even go on let alone cope or do real life , work , pressures buttt, saw a gp yet all he said was l'll give you a certificate for 2 days off . Two days, wt - to keep it polite here, 2 days l needed 2 wks just from the stress of dealing with him that once , without adding in my real problems. He wouldn't even give me a referral for the next step. Acted like there was nothin wrong with me meanwhile l'm wondering if l wanted to go on l mean that's the state l was in.

Centerlink also wanted me to enroll with a job agency and so here l was having to tell some 19yr old girl with a button and computer and the power to send me packing with no damn clue how  l was or living , threatening to stop any payment if l didn't jump through their hoops too in the meantime, it was insanity .And all that took about 2 wks of stress driving sitting round waiting and explaining myself over and over and what little money l had at the time on petrol , it was a nightmare and left me in worse shape than l started.

rx

 

 

103 Replies 103

Yeah right , thanks for the thoughts yeah you've basically said it lt right there you are in a better state working . l can well understand that. When l think about this l always remember back to when l left school many moons ago but l still remember being on the dole for long stints sleeping in and feeling disgusted with myself, ashamed and really feeling like crap. These days my daughter 19 is in that trap right now and it's effecting her in the same ways.

l have a property and plenty of other things to do these days so l could easily not work but couldn't afford too though unless l could get something centerlink but l couldn't cope with trying to get through all that either just to get it. How would you survive if you weren't working ?

My job over all is fairly easy in many , own business and very easy hours, lots of time off, but it also has it's hard slogs and bits and pieces and they're the parts l just feel over and past now and that l can't cope with for much longer. like yesterday l had to do an 11 hour slog down through melbourne to pick up the next job , nearly killed me so over it l do quite a few of those runs through a yr , all over vic.

Businesses can take yrs to start paying though so l'd love to move into the last bit of working life if l do that with something easier butttt, dunno if it'd be worth the hassle seems my job also does have very easy hours and time off and that l dunno, tossing everything around.

I am now on a DSP after running my own businesses for near 30 years. Each business closed due a severe decline in my health, often with a year or more in between being able to work. Self employed, I could work the days I felt possible. Working for someone else, I was never reliable enough.

After my last serious, ill call it an episode, I literally could not work. As a builder I lost all my skills. My body was no longer connected to my head as in no coordination, shakes, nerves, anxiety was paralysing to the point of sitting on the ground balling my eyes out unable to even pack up my things to drive. My ability to recall next steps totally gone, and where I had to methodically work out the night before each step I needed to take (and if anything went wrong, even flat tyre, that was end of coping for that day) I lost that ability to visualize in my mind.

I continued to shrink my business prior to this episode until one day, I broke. Something snapped in my mind. Since that day, I cannot hang a door, cannot confidently hang a picture. It is literally beyond me.

With bipolar Ive learned there is a huge difference between my capabilities and abilities.

Now on a DSP, I miss working. But realistically, that's nostalgia talking. What I truly miss is that feeling of self worth. The feeling of standing back and saying I built that, or I did that, great job, can do. I miss feeling a part of life. Now, I am for the most part a spectator. Accepting that is hard and something I fight, trying to contribute where I can. So where I built houses, now I once a week clean public toilets. Was I happier working, it came at a very high cost. The repercussions on my family were huge, having expended all energy at work. That's one example.

Am I happy now, no. Was I happy then, maybe. Did I have a purpose, yes. Having lost everything, including my family, do I have a purpose now, no. Maybe I will find that purpose. But I worked for as long as I could. Then, ultimately, that decision, to work or not work, my mind took that away from me.

Thanks for the post and l'm sorry of how things have gone .

Funny , l was thinking just a yr or two ago l'd always work to old age , l was enjoying it and l watch older folk fit as a fiddle but the thought lately is too much. My business would be ok but there's not enough in it to pay someone to do those harder parts but l am looking into that more. l could go into another area of it and on far better money but that involves lots of paperwork and stress which l find far harder .

At other times though lately , l don't feel like l can cope anymore with any of it. rx

Been reading about last few wks and there's a lot of studies about all stuff around this and retiring and all sorts of things , very interesting and in a ways really surprising but in others not at all really.

Do you know , from studies across the world , people that retire early mostly don't tend to be as happy as those that work through to retirement or even beyond. Not only , but their mental state and abilities , social skills , everything . deteriorate much faster and earlier but people that keep working not only tend to be happier but are also just healthier all round. So all that would obviously cross into a lot of mental health scenarios too and just supports a lot of what people have talked about here. And l think l've even mentioned somewhere myself, for me getting out to work and back on the job is often one of my best go to's that really helps clear the head and emotions.

Admittedly though , that's mainly just with that aspect of work , the other is the business side of it and long trips involved , they're the parts l don't know about lately.

rx

Hi Randomx,

Your findings are useful to us all.

I think this is very important info to know and hold onto.

I just finished work and do feel more accomplished than if I spent a day at home.

I think when I retire I'll make sure I keep doing things for example laps at the pools, aqua aerobics, bingo, grocery shopping, cooking for friends, as examples to keep the social and physical aspect of my life going.
I wouldn't want depression to creep up on me in my old age.

I'd like to hopefully get involved in things so even though I'm not working I'm still keeping my mind active.

If u don't use it you lose it, as they say.

Hi RX, I've probably answered this before, however, there are two ways to look at your question on this thread, yes it is possible to work if you have depression but there has to be a line where it becomes impossible and that's when you can't pretend any longer and this makes you unable to achieve anything at work, so the boss isn't too happy, that's when it's not healthier at all, plus everyone is asking you 'what's wrong', so generally I would say no.

I had one wall to paint when it struck me, I couldn't paint it and sat down crying for a whole day, that's when I had to stop, there was no strength left in me to continue.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

Guest_1584
Community Member

Yeah see that's it Monkey and what they're saying and there's even been ads on tv here yrs now saying the same sort of stay active stuff. None of it mentions from a mental health issues though and that's where it gets tricky,

l suppose though as in your case back then Geoff that would've been a no brainer then at that point . My situation l dunno , only just earlier last yr l was grateful for a job like mine and as l was saying mostly work was a really big help and a nice go to l was actually enjoying it.

last yr , on top of corona though, l also had very very stressful yr on a personal level that really knocked some wind out things and it's still going. But on top of all that something else happened which has also had a major psychological effect.For 4yrs l've expected some money this yr , right now , this very mth well , so for 4yrs l've thought l won't even have to work anyway from here on , well hardly, if l don't want too, 4yrs butttt, guess what . Due to events that money will be another 4yrs yet now damn it. l didn't know, l thought l'd have a choice from 2021 on butttt, l don't , not for another 4yrs now.

l suppose l should remind myself of how so many times through things going on it was such a relief to get out pick up tools and go to work.

PS , incidentally one more big thing the studies found and again it was all over not just in this country or that.

Do you know they also found renters to be happier and far less stressed that people owning a home. The renters had all this free time and didn't really have to worry about much just paying their rent. Home owners on the other hand were working harder , more stressed , often had money worries and nowhere near the free time.

How's that . rx

Last wk l was bringing a job back and it had problems so l had to park it outside a farm as l was between towns. I met the farmer and l must admit it was the perfect example of why l question this very subject right now.

Helluva nice old bloke but it turned out he was 85 and still working his farm.l know l'm mentioned a few farmers bc we have a few out of town around here l meet now and then or l'll just pass them in coming and going to different areas or whatever sooo, here was one more. Anyway explained what happened and checked it was ok l park the job outside and we got to talking. Yep 85 and still working , pretty amazing isn't it, he said it keeps him going , l've heard that one a few times and l've gotta admit anyone as fit as him at 85 would be very pleased.

Got me thinking l wonder if there was say a younger farmers stress still involved though which l reckon makes all the difference. lt was a big beautiful farm he'd owned since his 20s so everything would be well paid off and he's probably loaded most of these type are . But so it's probably been more routine type work for yrs and yrs now and he'd know his farm and seasons like the back of his hand and wouldn't need the money. So it wouldn't make or break if one yr didn't pay much and l'd say it'd probably be more a routine he's been doing 60yrs or whatever and so no stress or to him hard , l suppose he probably just doesn't farm as much as he use too , smaller scale maybe.

But it's fascinating meeting people like this.

rx

Hello RX, absolutely, meeting people that age have always fascinated me even at a young age, but back then we never respected the hard work these people have not only done but what they have been through, nothing that we could ever anticipate happening to us and certainly never wish for it to.

We never believed that one day we'd ever reach that age, and I'm still 20 years away, but when you look at their capability and ability on what they can do, physically especially and compare it to what we can actually do ourselves, you have to applaud them.

Some of these old fellows don't know what depression is, unless their doctor has diagnosed them with it, because when I asked an elderly chap if he ever had depression through the years of war, the depression, he said no and didn't understand what it meant, not until he was placed into a nursing home.

I felt deeply sorry for him and now I'm physically incapable of being able to do what people can now do at the ripe age of 85.

Best wishes.

Geoff.