WHILE Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones has blamed stress for a deterioration in her bipolar disorder, campaigners in Scotland warn that drastic welfare changes risk the health of sufferers in this country by causing stress.
A recent report by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) highlights concerns over the impact of reforms to vital benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, on thousands of people with ongoing mental health issues.
Carolyn Roberts, spokeswoman for the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), said: “People with mental health problems in general are finding it massively stressful.
“About 46% of incapacity benefit claims in Scotland are made on the basis of a mental health problem, so you can imagine the stress and anxiety that is being caused to people by the changes to the benefits system, which are quite substantial.
“Anything like depression or bipolar can be exacerbated by a stressful situation and that is why it is so worrying with regards to welfare reforms. Some of it we agree with, some of the overall aims, but it is being done in a very fast way so people are finding it worrying.
“With Employment and Support Allowance you are assessed by going for a work capability assessment. That is set up for clinical conditions and is much less able to judge mental health conditions.”
About 1.3% of the Scottish population suffers from the disorder, which is treated by medication and talking therapies.
Alison Cairns, chief executive of Bipolar Scotland, said: “People are being assessed as fit for work and later having these decisions overturned on appeal.
“The process itself has caused anxiety, stress and a worsening of their conditions for many.”
Last week Catherine Zeta-Jones checked into rehab to be treated for bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression.
The Welsh actress, who is married to actor Michael Douglas, was treated after helping her husband battle cancer.
Her publicist Cece Yorke said: “After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check into a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her bipolar II disorder.”
Zeta-Jones, 41, was treated at the Silver Hill psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, where she checked in last Wednesday and spent five days.
The Oscar winner attended the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Los Angeles alongside her husband in January this year.
Douglas, 66, announced in the same month he had beaten throat cancer, which had been diagnosed last August.
Zeta-Jones, originally from Swansea, has been supporting Douglas and their two children, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta, throughout the ordeal.
Mark Davies, from the charity Rethink Mental Illness, said: “She deserves great credit for revealing her illness in this way. There is still a lot of stigma around mental health which often means that people stay silent and try to fight the illness on their own.
“When people such as Catherine Zeta-Jones speak out it makes a big difference to the millions of people facing mental illness.”
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