Mental health: the DSP or unemployment benefits?

So for many people on the margins of DSP eligibility, there is considerable incentive to remain sick. This lack of incentive to take a more active role in society can strip them of meaning in their lives and perpetuate what may have started as mild mental illness.

A feedback loop of disability, welfare and worsening mental health is created. This is a hidden factor straining both Australia’s mental health and welfare systems. They are operating in a kind of pathological symbiosis.

Two thirds of Australia’s tax revenue is spent fulfilling welfare requirements. The disability pension is the fastest rising arm of this huge burden. Disability and mental health are inextricably linked and the rise in DSP has occurred at the same time as the growth in mental illness.

Without creating greater awareness on the part of the treating doctors about the implications of starting a DSP and a better system of transferring patients to unemployment benefits, the current system is harming those it seeks to help.