This Week in Mentalists (6)

Once again it’s time for us to give our digest of all things Psychologically Non-Aligned in the blogosphere.

To nominate a blog for This Week in Mentalists, e-mail zarathustra at mentalnurse dot org dot uk

Seaneen is dealing with depression.

I couldn’t sleep last night because I kept having flashes of horrible images. Bodies in coffins decaying, worms, people’s faces being crushed by hands. I thought being awake and alert like today would kill these images but they haven’t, they keep flashing into my head in rapid succession and it is scary but also making me feel like my body is draining from white to black. I just feel really fucking depressed but also really agitated. My thoughts are fast but hideous. I feel horrible; feel like a person infected by evil and strength.

Also from Seaneen, the Department of Work and Pensions are still a bunch of incompetent muppets.

What set me off was the arrival of a letter from the DWP. It was from Income Support saying that they had never received my claim. This was the claim I bought by hand to the Jobcentre at the beginning of October.

It means that I have to start over again. I don’t have a receipt or anything.

I’m bringing the stuff for Housing Benefit to the housing office today but either way, I’m pretty screwed. I am living off money people have leant to me. Loans; either from the Jobcentre or otherwise; are out of the question because I am in absolutely no position to pay anything back. It will take a while to get any sort of money from Housing Benefit, and, due to the laughable under 25 rule, it’s still not enough to cover my rent. I had been counting on the backdated Income Support to make up the difference.

What a way to treat people with a debilitating illness.

The father of a schizophrenic has been having painful conversations with his son.

Suddenly he wanted to talk about issues just before he became ill.

“Why did you hate me then … ?”

The fact that such a conversation could take place seemed progress currently.

The Wife of a Schizophrenic is encouraging us to buy a calendar depicting artwork from outsider artist Phillippa King with proceeds going to Mind.

Neurologica has spotted an example of bad science and quackery on the subject of autism. There’s probably a longer post one could do about bad science and autism. I think I may write that in a day or two when I’m less busy.