title: Only Making Things Worse: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Wrongly Removing Disability Benefits from People with Mental Illness.
abstract: Many countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have seen a considerable increase in the number of disability benefits recipients (DBRs), in addition to an increase in the proportion of people with mental illness. As in other countries, changes to the welfare benefits system in England were made in order to reduce the number of DBRs. Many people lost their benefit payments, although a considerable number had them reinstated after appeal. Our aim was to investigate the impact of the process on DBRs whose disability was related to mental health and who won their appeal. Seventeen DBRs were interviewed. The participants reported three main types of impact. Beyond the practical reduction of income and the related anxiety, interviewees reported considerable stress when coping with the 'never-ending' cycle of bureaucracy. They also expressed anger, frustration and demoralisation at mistrust on the part of the authorities partly due to the 'invisibility' of their disability.
authors.affiliation: Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK. guy.shefer@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shefer
authors.affiliation: Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: Mind in Croydon, 26 Pampisford Road, Purley, Surrey, CR8 2NE, UK.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frost-Gaskin
authors.affiliation: Mind in Croydon, 26 Pampisford Road, Purley, Surrey, CR8 2NE, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacitti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D036301:Qualitative Research; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Benefits; Disability; Disempowerment; Mental health; Welfare policy; Wellbeing