𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔢 𝔄𝔯𝔱𝔢 𝔬𝔳 𝔚𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔅𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱

This piece illustrates what it is like to be under the psychic assault of the UK benefits system. I have turned a benefits rejection letter from The Department for Work and Pensions into a psychotic artefact of bureaucratic horror.

There is a thing called "brown envelope syndrome" which used to refer to the extreme anxiety caused by receiving letters from the DWP in the UK, as they were sent in distinct manila envelopes. They switched to white envelopes in 2021. It didn't help. As the disabled and chronically ill are under attack here in the UK, with cruel cuts to benefits on the horizon, more than ever are we feeling the immense fear of these letters arriving on our doorsteps. This fear has an intensely serious effect on our mental health. Inspired by personal experiences with the benefits system and using my own manic depressive intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideations, and hallucinations as inspiration, I have reimagined the letter as an explicit object of terror. It is a peculiar thing how such a mundane item can carry such psychic violence.

Philippa Day, from Mapperley in Nottingham, was 27 years old when she took her life in 2019. Philippa had a diagnosis of EUPD and type 1 diabetes. The actions of the DWP had left her with agoraphobia and debilitating anxiety. She was found dead beside a letter from Capita (an assessment contractor for the DWP) refusing her an at-home assessment for Personal Independence Payment. A safeguarding review concluded that flaws in the benefits system were "the predominant factor and only acute factor" that lead to her death. Phillippa's story struck a dissonant chord with me. Fast forward to 2021, and there I am, in Nottingham, with debilitating anxiety and agoraphobia, reading a letter from the DWP telling me that I have scored zero on my PIP assessment. I wanted to recreate the feeling of receiving such a letter when you are in the throes of acute mental illness. My letter is a simulation of psychosis. Many elements are taken from memories of my own hallucinations, and the text is a story-collage of my own intrusive thoughts and paranoia.