PS I think there are already cases of people committing suicide after being rejected by DWP/Atos. Before long, the families of the deceased will be getting together to take class actions, in particular against Atos Deathcare.

I'm waiting for an appeal date and am already experiencing a worsening of my anxiety and depression - loss of appetite, tearfulness etc. What will happen if I should lose the appeal? I know I can't go on JSA - I've been suffering with A & D since 1997, and told the Atos assessor (a nurse of about 30) that if I were forced to look for work my mental health would soon deteriorate. To prove the point that he completely ignored, I'm in that position ALREADY! I feel like I'm going crazy. I wonder if the Atos nurse will come and visit me if I have to go into a psychiatric unit again. A friend of mine is worrying about the same thing - and he hasn't even had to be switched from IB / IS to ESA yet. The second decision maker simply accepted what the Atos guy had written. (He wrote, for example, that I take an anti-depressant 'infrequently' AND 'once a day'!) What's the point of spending hours filling out the ESA450 , trying to be honest and not exaggerating, but describing bad days as well as good days, if no one's going to believe a word you write anyway. I suggested to my GP that he might write a letter, but he told me to wait until I went to appeal, because 'if it hasn't gone to appeal no-one will look at it anyway.' I tend to believe him. Ditto my CPN's advice about the Atos assessment: 'Don't send them a doctor's letter - no one will read it.' You can reapply for ESA after your appeal fails - especially if your condition has worsened (as I mentioned, this 'worsening' in mental health cases can be caused directly by... DWP and Atos!) If I were to lose my appeal and then turn up at Jobcentre to claim JSA, I think I'd be crawling back to bed in tears in next to no time. The people I really feel sorry for (or rather angry about) are the mentally ill people who can't cope with form-filling and complex bureaucratic systems. I can't wait for my schizophrenic friend to be declared 'fit for work' just because he can clean his teeth, watch TV, and read a book! I think the Atos 'nurse' looked at me: 51 years of age, reasonably well-kempt, able to express myself, and sober (although I do have an alcohol problem) - and decided I could 'work.' His understanding of depression (or mental illness in general) was about nil. I felt like a slave on an auction block in Pompeii - or a horse at an auction. I'm surprised he didn't look at my teeth to gauge my level of depression. FINAL REMINDER TO ALL CLAIMANTS: You are ENTITLED to be looked after BY RIGHT AND UNDER LAW. You obey the rules, tell the truth, and IN THEORY you should get what you deserve. You are not a beggar or a scrounger - you should get what LAW says you should.