Living with an anxiety disorder has an impact on almost every single aspect of your life. This includes your ability to work, which in turn affects how well you can take care of yourself and meet your basic needs.
Thus, as someone with a disorder under this umbrella, you may wonder if you qualify for SSD benefits. After all, these benefits can help alleviate some of the financial burden and resulting stress from your life.
What disorders qualify?
Social Security examines anxiety-related health disorders and their respective qualifications for benefits. Fortunately for many, SSD benefits do cover certain forms of anxiety disorders that directly impact a sufferer’s life. This may include panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and agoraphobia.
Satisfying requirements for application
When satisfying requirements for anxiety, you must first prove documentation of three or more symptoms including trouble concentrating, irritability, restlessness, quick fatigue, muscle tension or sleep disturbances. Panic disorder and agoraphobia hold different requirements and include either panic attacks and worries about additional panic attacks, or disproportionate anxiety or fear about at least two situations. This can include anything from waiting in line to using public transportation to being in open spaces.
In addition, you must also suffer from an impact in mental functioning, including the ability to manage and adapt, interacting with others, concentrating and maintaining peace, or understanding, remembering and applying information. You must either have an extreme limitation of one, or a strong limitation in two.
Barring that, you may still apply if you have a minimum of 2 years of documented “serious and persistent” trouble. You must show evidence of therapy, medical treatment, structured settings or psychosocial support that is ongoing and diminishes symptoms. You must also show the minimal capacity to adapt to environmental or daily life changes.
