Son has anxiety after losing job and panics when the Jobcentre phone him
DEAR DEIDRE: MY son has been suffering with anxiety and panic attacks since he lost his job a few weeks ago.
He has had to go on Universal Credit.
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He is 28 and I am his 50-year-old dad.
The problem is the Jobcentre has to ring him every three weeks and when he talks to them he breaks out in a sweat all over his face.
He says he can hear his heart beating faster too.
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My son wants to go back to work soon but he feels he’s not quite ready yet and feels he is being put under pressure to do so by the person he talks to on the phone.
He is on medication and has sick notes stating he is not fit for work.
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DEIDRE SAYS: It’s encouraging that your son wants to go back to work.
Encourage him to learn about his anxiety and slowly build up his resilience.
Draw his attention to how strong he is – even though he dreads the phone calls and they make him anxious, he is able to tolerate that discomfort.
This will underline to him how resilient he is, rather than focus on how he is struggling to cope.
Suggest he tries the free help available at headspace.com.
In the meantime, my support packs on Anxiety and Panic Attacks will help.