Anxiety and Welfare

Dave1804

Hello, I graduated from school 6 months ago and I haven’t worked at all because of really bad social anxiety. I still don’t want to work. I was wondering if I could go on social welfare but I heard in order to get social welfare payment you must be searching for work. I have extreme social anxiety and I have no intention of wanting to start work right now and my parents told me I must do something by 2018. Help would be appreciated thanks.

Rubberchikken

You could try applying for disability benefit but have you spoken to your doctor

Peregrinus

You can't get jobseeker's allowance unless you are available for full-time work and genuinely seeking work - there's a bit of a clue in the name of the benefit.

In your circumstances, I think the benefit you would seek to claim is disability allowance. To qualify, you need to have "an injury, disease or physical or mental disability that has continued, or may be expected to continue, for at least one year" and, as a result of that, to be "substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable for a person of your age, experience and qualifications". If that looks like it describes you, then this is the way to go. You'll need a medical report from your own doctor, and you don't say in your OP whether you have sought any advice or treatment for your anxiety disorder. If you haven't, you may be some way off being able to make a credible application for this benefit.

Have a look at the application form. It will give you some idea of what's involved. Then go to your doctor and (assuming you have already discussed diagnosis of your condition, and treatment for it) talk to him about whether he thinks you can qualify on medical grounds for this benefit.

Financial issues aside, the quality of your life will improve immeasurably if your anxiety disorder can be treated with even a moderate degree of success. I know it's challenging, but you should definitely be pursuing this as hard as you can.

endacl

What have you done to address your social anxiety?

GoneHome

Dave1804 wrote: »

I still don’t want to work.
I have no intention of wanting to start work right now

Rolls eyes. Have you ever thought that getting a job or going to college or contributing in some way to society might actually help your "social anxiety" ?

njs030

DA is paid for people who have a disability or illness that means they are unable to work because of this.
Not wanting to work doesn't mean youre physically unable to work though perhaps you mean that the anxiety stops you?

Your doctor will need to fill in the form, if you haven't gone for treatment for your anxiety he/she won't be able to do that so it's going to be hard for them to help you.

First things first go and get treatment for your anxiety and start there.

GoneHome

OP you're sense of entitlement to Social Welfare at 18 years of age while dismissing the notion of getting a job or going to college is quite astounding and one which your parents obviously don't agree with either as you say -

Dave1804 wrote: »

I have no intention of wanting to start work right now and my parents told me I must do something by 2018.

It is widely known that work/study which involves social interaction is one of the best ways to overcome "social anxiety", I think you need to reconsider your decision to give up on your working life before you've even started!

Kurtosis

Mod note

Please keep discussion civil. I'd remind people to have a read of the LTI forum charter if unfamiliar with it before posting in particular:

Charter wrote: »

• Please keep in mind that there are vulnerable users on this forum, who may not actively post, but instead read a lot of posts.
• No personal abuse, flaming, baiting, or trolling. Please be courteous, civil and post in a constructive way.

Any queries on this, please PM myself or one of the other mods, thanks.

splinter65

OP don’t apply for Jobseekers as you must be available for work and actively looking for work and they will pursue you to these ends. You can get help for your social anxiety but the first stop is your GP and take a deep breath and let it all out.

GoneHome

OP I was thinking about your circumstances again over the last few days, I wish you all the best in the new year and I really hope you will change your outlook on life and rid yourself of the social welfare entitlement that you seem to have got yourself into, it's a bad road to go down, think of 2018 as a fresh start.

njs030

GoneHome wrote: »

OP I was thinking about your circumstances again over the last few days, I wish you all the best in the new year and I really hope you will change your outlook on life and rid yourself of the social welfare entitlement that you seem to have got yourself into, it's a bad road to go down, think of 2018 as a fresh start.

You have no idea of the level of the ops illness or what treatment they need but have now posted 3 times implying they need nothing more than "a fresh start" to be fine.
Op has an illness and needs health care.

Op I hope you manage to see a doctor and get the care you need this year and start to feel more positive about life.

GoneHome

I'm only going by what the OP has told us, he is 17/18 years of age, left school and decided that due to "social anxiety" he wasn't going to to anything with his life, his parents are obviously highly worried/annoyed by this and have told him he needs to do something in 2018. Wallowing at home without getting a job/going to college is only going to make things worse.

Gremlinertia

We'll leave the theories at that please

I spent years on jobseekers because I had severe social anxiety and depression issues. I went for Jobseekers payment because I knew that to get a disability payment, I would have to go to my GP and such, and I didn't want to. I was on the dole from 18. I eventually got around to spilling the beans to my GP when I was about 22-23.

I also didn't want a disability payment as I felt like I was doing myself out of a future. I know people who were claiming it, milking the system, and i seen the lives they lead and they clearly had no futures, and I didn't want that, even though I was afraid to chase anything else anyway.

I think sitting down and actually saying it to someone certainly helped me. I hated the thoughts of it, and it was no quick fix. I didn't want to be drugged up and relying on the Xanax family to get me through life, but at the same time I hated the thoughts of dealing with the anxiety issues any more.

I took up a hobby of photography. I used to go out at 3-4am and do landscape stuff. I eventually got offered a job from a photographer that seen my work, doing photos of people in pubs/clubs for the local papers.


I vividly remember standing outside the room of functions (birthdays etc.) in pubs, on my own, absolutely sweating, heart pounding, at the thoughts of going in. But slowly and surely it gets easier every time.


Nowadays I am a sole trader and working for myself. However, even though i haven't had severe anxiety issues for many years, I do still get hits of it here and there. I still get that sudden sense of worry, dread and 'run and hide' every now and again. Enough that I can see it crippling me at a time when it'll cause me to lose a lot of work, and I too could end up looking for a disability payment (which, after being self employed, certainly won't be easy, I don't think, which only causes more worry..!).


So OP, my advice is to do what you feel you need to. Don't be worrying about what people on the internet say. I know first hand, there's no amount of fresh starts, advice about 'facing your fear', opinions or suggestions that will make you suddenly feel better.


What I will say, though, is you can beat it. It may take time, but it is definitely do-able. And although you'll likely ignore my advice and think 'it's easy to say that, but not easy to do it', I strongly advise a meeting with your GP. Just to be honest and upfront with someone. Just having a person to talk to, who knows you and your medical history, who can give a professional opinion, makes a huge difference.