Please Help!

Hi,

I am currently under the WCA for Universal Credit for the second time in the space of a year. Last year I was placed in LCWRA (ESA- support group equivalent) on the paper application alone.

I received a letter this morning telling me I have to go for a face to face assessment, despite providing more evidence than last year and the conditions having worsened.

I applied under the ESA reg regarding the claiments safety if they where taken out of the LCWRA.

I have PTSD, Recurrent depressive disorder, and anxiety disorder along with a few physical conditions such as IBS and Fibromyalgia. I am also faecally incontinent at least twice a week.

I started self harming again when I got the letter to say I was back under WCA and have today cut myself again on receiving the appointment letter.

I have suicidal tendencies when having to attend things like this, I can’t even see my GP alone becuase of the anxiety and self harming thoughts and at time actions. My medication is managed by my mum or my partner due to past suicide attempts.

I was forced to attend regular JC appointments with a work coach when i first started sending sick notes and I self harmed before and after each appointment becuase I couldn’t cope with it. She has also rang me once a month since being placed in the LCWRA which has not helped matters.

It has been written my both my GP and psychiatrist that attending appointments puts me at risk.

Due to my PTSD I physically lash out when somebody tries to touch me (even my partner cant touch me) and im scared that if I actually make it to the assessment, which i highly doubt judging by the thoughts going through my mind at the moment, that they will want to do a physical examination and I will hit the assessor.

Please help! Im climbing the walls

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your reply.

My partner called the assessment centre for their advice and they said that it may be possible to complete the WCA in paper form if the psychiatrist specifically wrote a letter and fax it to them direcly

My partner today went to see my psychiatrist because I have got significantly worse symptom wise since finding out about the face2face assessment and am now finding it impossible to communicate verbally with anyone other than my 'protective' people. So the psychiatrist wrote a letter there and then (after getting my consent to allow my partner to deal with it)

the letter gives a brief history as to why the symptoms have become this bad and that it would be detrimental and inappropriate to my overall recovery to discuss these things outside of a therapeutic setting due to the complexity and the need to 'seal things off' to avoid further distress between sessions.

The most important part reads
"His carer is also concerned that the process of the interview could trigger some very difficult emotional responses and as such his risk to himself and to others may escalate, an opinion of which I do not disagree"

He has also offered to assist DWP with any further paper-based evidence they may need.

I'm hoping that this is enough with the background and highlighting my past suicide attempts and self-harm.

I assume now he has sent it, I should just wait for a reply from them. I feel slightly less anxious knowing that my psychiatrist has my back. I'm having to take a lot of diazepam just to stop getting one panic attack after another. I've had 12 panic attacks today but im hoping that i will be more relaxed tomorrow, because I highly doubt that they will write to me before tomorrow. so hopfully I will be able to relax a bit tomorrow.

Hi again,

I thought I would leave a quick update.
My partner called the health assessment advisory service today and thankfully they have decided that with the additional evidence in the letter from my psychiatrist that they no longer want to see me for a face to face assessment and have sent my file back to DWP.

I am so relieved right now, its hard to find words. This has probably been the longest 2 weeks of my life and My health deteriorated so quickly becuase of the stress, but fingeres crossed that is it for a while now. A chance to heal.

Thank you for your support Gordon!