How to Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits with Mental Illness Mental illness makes everything you do harder. It can make working impossible. Social Security Disability benefits could improve your life, providing monthly income when you can’t work. But proving you need benefits with a condition people struggle to see and understand comes with special challenges. Here’s what you must show:
WHAT DIAGNOSIS DO YOU HAVE? Mental illness is a broad category that includes many specific impairments. Social Security lists several qualifying mental disorders, including:
ANXIETY
BIPOLAR DISORDER
DEPRESSION
OBSESSIVECOMPULSIVE DISORDER
PERSONALITY DISORDERS
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
EATING DISORDERS
SCHIZOPHRENIA
WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE? In addition to showing Social Security your diagnosis, you must provide medical records and other evidence confirming the mental health symptoms you experience.
MEDICAL TEST RESULTS
HOSPITALIZATION RECORDS
RECORDS OF YOUR TREATMENT
RECORDS OF MEDICATIONS YOU’VE TAKEN
DOCUMENTATION OF PSYCHIATRIST OR PSYCHOLOGIST VISITS
TESTIMONY FROM PEOPLE WHO KNOW YOU
GET AN EXPERIENCED DISABILITY LAWYER If you can’t work because of mental health problems, get someone to support you and help you secure income so you can focus on your own well-being. The attorneys at the Lachman & Gorton Law Office have decades of experience helping people in New York win disability benefits.
CALL the Lachman & Gorton Law Office Today: 607-754-0500
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