Barton Hill Advice Service - www.bhas.org.uk in Bristol.

This site gives advice on DLA, Attendance Allowance, Incapacity Benefit etc.  There is a large doc available to download that gives advice on how to fill out a DLA for for people with mental health problems and/or physical problems.

This post has been edited by firelizardee: Nov 9 2005, 02:50 PM

This link is broken

fixed now, there was a g instead of a b in the URL.

sorry

Thankyou for those links

Will come in useful for me as I am in process of doing forms for DLA for physical and mental health grounds

This post has been edited by Cloudedbrains: Jan 18 2006, 04:25 PM

Cloudedbrains



Always answer the questions as though it was your worst day.

fill in as much as you can. You can fill in almost all of the questions relating to Mental Health issues.

For instance the question about 'Needing someone with you when you go out" you can answer. If you ever feel anxious and panicky about going to unfamiliar places or a great distance away from your home. Or if you ever get anxious and panicky in shops, buses crowded places etc. Ask youself the questions "If you had to go to an interview 100 miles away, how would you feel?" Could you do it?

In the other questions
Talk about the lack of motivation because of the depression if that is what you have, to get up in the morning or go to bed at night. The lack of motivation to get dressed in the morning, the lactk of motivation to wash, do you go for days without washing or only wash if you have to go out. The same iwth changing clothes.

Of course if you have another form of mental illness like Schizophrenia then you can concentrate on things such as hearing voices or having intrusive thoughts and hallucinations (auditory, visual, olfactory etc).

If you are depressed then it can be difficiult to settle at night in bed, because of the intrusive, negative, self critical thoughts and worries that go through your mind. Do you wake often throughout the night and take ages to get back to sleep or not get back to sleep at all, which makes it difficult to get up.

For the question about cooking a prepared meal for yourself, concentrate on what you are like when you are at your worst. Have you the concentration and motivation to plan and prepare a cooked meal from scratch. I know that I don't, I rely on ready made cooked meals that are microwaveable or eat toast or don't eat much.

Where it gives examples use them if they fit you. If you live alone but could do things with being reminded or encouraged to do so.

For instance in mine, I said that I need encouragement to eat properly, to get up in the morning, to keep taking my medication and treatment.

Also in the question about help with medical treatment, put down if you have problems remembering to take your meds. Do you remain compliant when you are feeling better or do you think I'm ok I don't need this tablets anymore? I also put down that I am in intensive psychotherapy and that I am seen regularly by my GP and psychiatrist.


I also help out at an advice centre in Aberdeen , so I help people fill out DLA forms. I'd have to have a blank form here to go through all the questions.

Just remember fill it in as though it were your worst day. Keep thinking that.

Intrusive thoughts of suicide and dying, do you self harm or have thoughts of self harming? Have you acted on your t houghts of suicide/self harm? Any overdoses, have you been inpatient for your illness? Do you know when you are getting worse?

sorry about the length of this post. Hope this helps in some small way.

Eileen

here's what I can remember from the forms (without having them in front of me). Remember that you have to fill them in as though it were your worst day.


1) Medication and Treatment
Are you on meds? Do you see a GP regularly? Do you have a CPN? Do you see a psychiatrist? Just because you only see a GP doesn't mean that you won't get DLA.

2. Needing Someone with you when you are out and about.
If you need someone with you in case you get very anxious when out in strange places or even in placees you know very well, ie do you get panic attacks when out or do you get very anxious? Could you go to a place you've never been before say for a medical? Think about what you are like when you are very ill. I'd bet that you couldn't go to some places by yourself. You need someone with you 7 days a week when you are at your worst. What is your road sense like when you are out and about? Do you cross roads without looking? How is your concentration if you go out. What are you like on buses or in crowded places? Can you handle being in shops or do you have panic attacks.

3. Help with getting up

Are you motivated to get up each day or do you need encouragement? Does your depression mean that you don't have the motivation to get up, but would lie in bed all day. Don't say anythign about having to get up for your kids if you have any. What do you do when you are at your worst. You need encouragement 7 days a week.

4. Help with getting dressed/undressed
Would you wear the same clothes to sleep in as you would through the day without being encouraged to change them. Some people are so depressed they don't bother changing their clothes for days or weeks. You need encouragement 7 days a week.

5. Help with bathing and looking after your appearance.
Do you need encouragement to look after your appearance. If you are like me, then you probably go for days or weeks without washing and so you neglect your appearance. So you would need encouragement to look after your appearance. 7 days a week.

6. Cooking a meal for your self:
If you were looking after yourself, do you have the motivation and/or concentration to plan, prepare and cook a meal for yourself. Would you rely on convenience micorwave food or just not eat. Do you have accidents when cooking or would it be dangerous for you to cook, ie forget that things are in the oven, pans boiling dry, do you burn yourself, or have little accidents. Do you self harm, would using knives be too much for you. All this is when you are at your worst.

7. Help with eating
Do you need to be reminded to eat properly or does the depression make you just not want to eat.
7 days a week.

8. Having someone to look after you.

Are you a danger to yourself, do you self harm? are you suicidal? Have you tried to comitt suicide? What are you like when out in crowds (I used to get very angry and scream at people and bash on their car windows etc), are you a danger to others? do you get very angry when depressed? . Do you need someone with you 24 hours a day or the majority of the time. When do the suicidal thoughts get worse? Have you ended up in hospital through self harm or taking overdoses. Have you every smashed things in your house because of the anger/frustration? Have you hit anyone?
7 days a week and constantly need someone with you.

9 How do you feel because of your mental health
I have very low self esteem, I negelct my personal hygiene and can go for days/weeks without washing or changing my clothes. Would you sleep in your day clothes or just not get dressed in the morning? I get very anxious when out and about especially in places I do not know very well. I need someone with me when I am out. Do you get panic attacks. I get very isolated because of the depression. I can not work because of the depression, I can not socialise with people. Can you deal with changes to your daily routine? I need someone with me constantly because of the depression and my suicidal thoughts/self harming behaviour (even if you don't get this do you need it). Have you been hospitalised because of your depresssion? (Have you told your dr everything about how you feel? If not I suggest you do so).

10. Communication
Can you speak to stranges when depressed? can you speak to people? Can you deal with official documents or letters? How are you at answering the telephone (when depressed I don't answer the phone at all). Do you have problems in understanding what people are saying or do they have problems understanding you? Can you deal with changes to your daily routine.

11. Anything else
I have lost friends through my depression, lost jobs. I feel helpless and desparate and have an awful feelilng of emptiness, frustration, despair etc whatever you feel.

These are just some of the things you would need to put in your DLA application form. They may not be in order, but remember that when they ask for numbers and no of days that it affects you, its always 7 days and frequent and repeated.

After comments by several people, including a psychiatric nurse who is a friend of my mum, i have reapplied with lots of details missing when someone filled in the original claim for me...

I would advise NEVER filling out those forms alone, even with written advice.
Seek help through someone like the CAB who can put you in contact with a professional or indeed, help you themselves.
Sadly the government is making it even harder now to get the benefits we need.

I'll be trying to fight for DLA yet again as of this June (6 months after my case was taken to tribunal and still turned down).
I'm getting every scrap of help that I can claw out of these people.

Just in case it is useful. I used the web site listed above to get a lot of help in getting DLA which is a very complicated benefit to apply for. It doesn't seem to be paid to solve any problems just because you have problems, very strange indeed! It is important to ensure you state the exact nature of the problem and how it affects you.. in stupidly close detail. In my case my inability to get out of bed, or properly look after myself on many days qualified me for a payment of £45 a week on top if my other benefits. As mental health issues are one of the biggest causes of poverty in the UK a DLA payment can make a huge difference.

Mart.

Hello.....
Ive been refused twice for DLA chronic spinal arthritis.... some days I walk some I dont.... life if difficult..... and with agorophobia and clinical depression..... Id like to just fade out in my sleep.
The appointed doctor that came home to me was so rude,,,,,,,, totally dismissive and we got a good telling off from him that we didnt have a table and chair for him to sit at.......
Unbeliveable behaviour........
Not sure I want to go through it all again......... and I cant travel for any appeal....... unless I was tranquilised and put in a straght jacket......... just can not travel.
With government changes and a dismissive attitude now creeping in all round.... Its going to get even tougher.

Leo

Leo - why can't you get DLA for your situation - that is madness!!!!!!!

Can anyone tell me how much benefit you get for long term disability through mental illness? I'm unable to work but have never claimed benefit. Now, I think I may.

This post has been edited by Chloe24: Sep 4 2008, 07:51 AM