Disability Benefit Eligibility: Mental Health Conditions

Most everyone understands that the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits for physical injuries and disabling diseases, from paralysis or traumatic brain injury to chronic painful conditions such as carpal tunnel or back pain. However, the range of conditions covered by Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) includes many debilitating mental disorders.

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People who cannot work because of major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic or other mental health conditions should understand their eligibility for SSDI or SSI benefits. Evaluation of disability benefits eligibility for mental disorders requires adequate documentation of a medically determinable impairment that matches specific criteria.

The SSA arranges mental disorders into nine diagnostic categories, each with their own required level of severity:

• Mental retardation.
• Schizophrenic, paranoid and other psychotic disorders.
• Organic mental disorders associated with brain dysfunction.
• Anxiety-related disorders, including phobic disorders and obsessive/compulsive syndromes.
• Affective disorders, characterized by mood disturbances, including manic and depressive syndromes.
• Personality disorders that significantly impair a person's social or occupational functioning or cause subjective distress.
• Substance addiction disorders, which can be based on various diagnoses from depression and anxiety to liver damage and pancreatitis.
• Somatoform disorders, which produce physical symptoms but have no known organic or physiological cause, including chronic pain disorders.
• Autistic disorder, based on qualitative deficits in reciprocal social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and imaginative activity.

Disability Benefits for Depression or Anxiety Disorders

People who wonder if they are eligible for Social Security disability benefits for depression, anxiety or other mental health issues should be aware that the SSA requires thorough documentation of a person's medical history and inability to work.

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Jeffrey W. Goldblatt Law Office and published on 2012/08/27, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.