When Is Depression A Disability You Can Be A Victim Too
Depression will get your mood low or blue for hours or days, or even longer. Being depressed daily will have you not enjoying the activities you would normally have fun doing. The fact that depression cripples your average productivity is a disability.
There is that feeling of hopelessness and reduces self-worth. You may sleep for longer hours and lack the strength to get out of bed and face the world. In other instances, you experience insomnia and constant headaches.
One symptom of depression will elicit after another, from low energy to lack of enthusiasm. All these symptoms may be chronic or can be experienced in cyclic episodes of highs and lows. Depression will lower your performance generally. Causes can be attributed to environmental and genetic factors. Having a history of alcohol and or drug use can be the cause of depression.
The depression may start from certain painful and heartbreaking situations that will lead to episodes of sadness. The attacks may be short at first, but as your condition worsens, you will deteriorate mentally and physically. Clinical depression will cripple your normal daily productivity due to the inability to cope with stress. Depression can render you functionless with the inability to work, perform a routine task, or even make rational decisions.
Some of the symptoms you can present include:
- Low concentration
- Inability to complete tasks
- Suicidal thoughts
Benefits For Disabled Adults
SSDI is available to disabled adult workers who have paid Social Security taxes, while SSI is a need-based program only available to applicants that meet strict limitations on income and asset holdings. If you have never worked due to your mental illness, you will not qualify for SSDI. If you have financial support from friends or family, you will not qualify for SSI.
Applying For Disability Benefits
Read Also: How To Live A Happy Life With Depression
How Can The Nba Help
The National Benefit Authority is Canadas largest disability tax service provider, having assisted thousands of Canadians in successfully claiming disability credits. Our in-house team of experts can help determine your Disability Tax Credit eligibility, and walk you through your Canadian Disability Tax Credit application . Disability benefits for depression can vary on a case-by-case basis, though disability for depression can be upwards of $50,000 per application.
Depression puts enough on you and your familys minds, never mind adding the paperwork and research required for the Disability Tax Credit. We can guide you through every step towards recovering your unclaimed disability tax credit or Child Disability Tax Credit, helping you and your family maintain a high standard of living and quality of life.
What To Know Before Filing Your Disability For Depression Claim
Every person who applies for Social Security disability benefits must meet certain basic eligibility rules. This is true regardless of whether you have cancer, depression or several different health problems. So, before you apply for disability benefits, answer these questions first:
Its normal for people to feel down or blue from time to time, especially during stressful periods or events. However, real depression is much more than temporary sadness and most people need help to manage its symptoms. If depression interferes with your ability to complete basic daily living tasks, then you likely qualify for SSD benefits. Next, lets look at what criteria the Social Security Administration uses to evaluate disability for depression claims.
Don’t Miss: What Do You Say To Depressed Person
Drug Or Alcohol Addiction
Applicants who have struggled with drug and/or alcohol addiction will have an incredibly difficult time being approved for disability benefits. This is because the SSAs medical examiners will assume your symptoms are due to drug or alcohol abuse. To avoid this, before an applicant completes an application, he or she needs to be sober for a substantial time period and must have medical records during this period that proves they are clinically depressed without the usage of drugs or alcohol.
Showing Severe Impairments Or A Combination Of Impairments
Most people do not meet the criteria for a listing, and so do not automatically qualify for benefits. You can still prove you qualify for benefits by showing your medical condition prevents you from performing a full-time job. You can do this by offering medical records that show your conditions are severe or that you have a combination of impairments that prevent you from working.
You May Like: Depression In Bed All Day
Duration And Level Of Depression And Anxiety
The level and duration of your depression and anxiety must have lasted for at least one year and would be at a stage at which you would be unable to perform a task on a regular or consistent basis.
It is not the wish of the SSA to render you depressed every day of the month, but you need to demonstrate that your depression and anxiety symptoms occur frequently enough to prevent you from performing your duties effectively.
Quite often, psychologists would rather record in your medical treatment records during a particular visit that you are feeling better or vastly improved or simply just commendable improvement.
But the SSA can also use these records as a basis to deny you disability benefits.
To get disability for depression and anxiety, SSA demands medical evidence that you suffer from anxiety disorder and that due to this condition, you have not been able to work for at least 12 months.
Based on your current work history and income, a medical practitioner can advise that you to apply for Social Security Disability.
Other Ways To Qualify For Disability For Depression
Meeting the requirements of the clinical depression listing, above, isn’t the only way to receive an approval for disability . If Social Security finds that your depression isn’t severe enough to meet the listing above, the agency will determine if you can be approved for benefits by being granted a “medical-vocational allowance.” Social Security will consider how your depression symptoms affect your ability to do any type of unskilled work, by looking at your ability to:
- carry out simple instructions
- respond appropriately to supervision and to co-workers, and
- handle changes in routine.
Social Security will then give you a rating of the type of work it thinks you can do .
If depression is the only impairment you listed on the disability application, getting disability will be a long shot unless you have severe, disabling depression and can qualify under the listing for depression. But if you also have a physical impairment or another mental impairment along with depression, you have a better chance of getting benefits.
You May Like: Persistent Depression Vs Major Depression
What If My Application Is Denied
If your application for disability is denied, you have several different options. When you receive a notice that your application has been denied, you have 60 days to formally appeal the decision. There are four steps to an appeal:
-
You can request a reconsideration if your application was denied based on medical reasons, income, living arrangements, or other reasons that you disagree with. When you file a reconsideration, someone from the SSA who was not involved in your original determination will review your application and any new evidence.
-
If you disagree with the SSAs decision after a reconsideration, you may request a hearing by an administrative law judge who was not involved in your first determination. The hearing may take place in-person or through video.
-
If you are denied benefits after a hearing with an administrative law judge, you may request a review by the Appeals Council. The council will consider all requests, but may deny your request if they determine that the decision made by the administrative law judge was accurate. If the council reviews your case, they will either make a decision on their own or send your appeal to another administrative law judge.
-
The last level of the appeals process is filing a civil suit in federal court. You may do so if the Appeals Council refuses your case or you disagree with their decision. You have 60 days after receiving the Appeals Councils decision to file a civil suit.
Listing 1204 Benefits For Depression
This is the Social Security listing criteria for Depression. There are three parts to the listing. In order to meet the listing, you must have part A and B or part A and C.
12.04 Depressive, bipolar and related disorders , satisfied by A and B, or A and C:
Also Check: Getting Over Anxiety And Depression
Medical Evidence To Prove Your Depression Is A Disability
The difficulty in winning disability benefits for depression is that you must show, with objective medical evidence, that you have the depressive symptoms in Part A. But, what is medical evidence. Medical evidence, for example, are notes from your doctor. Or, they are treating notes from your therapist. In addition, you must also show your symptoms are so severe that they also meet the criteria under Part B and/or C. There are times where proving Part C is easier than proving Part B. This is particularly true if you are living in a highly structured setting. Learn more about the importance of medical evidence in proving your disability case for depression.
For example, if you live in a state mental institution or in housing that also provides mental health treatment, then you live in a highly structured setting. If leaving that setting would make your depression worse, then you are probably meet the Part C criteria. Thus, you are disabled.
How Someone With A Mental Health Condition Can Qualify For Social Security Disability Benefits
If you have a mental health condition that limits your ability to perform routine daily tasks and keeps you from performing work to earn a living, you may qualify for disability benefits administered by the Social Security Administration . The SSA has two disability programs, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance . Both programs have strict medical requirements for a claim to be approved.
SSDI vs. SSI
SSDI is a disability program based off your work history. You must have earned enough credits and paid in enough taxes to qualify for benefits. For most people, you must have worked the equivalent of 5 years full-time out of the last 10 years. SSI does not depend on work history, and just so long as you meet the financial criteria, which involve resources and income, you can be approved. You will need to provide supporting documentation for both.
Medically Qualifying for Disability Benefits
The SSA uses a medical guide, which is called the Blue Book, to determine if a claimant qualifies for disability benefits. There is a section in the Blue Book for mental disorders, and it has listings for a variety of conditions, including anxiety-related conditions, psychotic disorders, learning disabilities, depression, and many other mental health issues. Each listing has specific criteria that must be met for the claimant to medically qualify per that specific listing.
Using A Medical Vocational Allowance
Applying For Disability Benefits
Read Also: What To Do When You Have Severe Depression
Social Security’s Alternative Listing For Depression
Social Security provides another way to meet the listing for depression for those who can’t show they currently have the functional limitations above because they’ve been living in a highly structured or protected situation or undergoing intense therapy.
If you are in this situation, you may be able to meet a second set of functional criteria. You can do this if your disorder has been medically documented as serious and persistent over a period of at least two years and you have either been living in a highly structured setting or you’ve been receiving ongoing medical treatment, mental health therapy, or psychosocial support that diminishes the symptoms of your mental disorder. You must also show that you have little ability to adapt to demands that are not already part of your daily life or to changes in your environment.
Social Security Disability Benefits
Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance are disability income benefits administered by the Social Security Administration that also provide Medicaid and/or Medicare health insurance to individuals who are eligible. The application process for SSI/SSDI is complicated and difficult to navigate. Nationally, about 37 percent of individuals who apply for these benefits are approved on initial application and appeals take an average of two years to complete.
For people who are homeless or who are returning to the community from institutions , access to these programs can be extremely challenging. Approval on initial application for people who are homeless and who have no one to assist them is about 10-15 percent. For those who have a mental illness, substance use issues, or co-occurring disorders that impair cognition, the application process is even more difficult yet accessing these benefits is often a critical first step in recovery.
Critical components of SOAR include:
- Serving as the applicants representative
- Collecting medical records
- Writing a medical Summary Report
- Conducting quality review
- Please contact a regional coordinator below to find your nearest SOAR Specialist:
| Ashley Blum |
Don’t Miss: Is Depression And Anxiety A Mental Illness
Receiving Assistance From An Advocate
To increase your chances of approval for disability benefits with depression, it is best to seek out representation from a disability advocate or attorney. This is because they are highly educated in Social Security Disability and know what exactly the Social Security Administration is looking for when approving depression cases. To learn more about representation from a disability advocate or attorney, visit our Advantages of Representation page.
Social Security Benefits For Depression
Depression takes its toll on all aspects of life, including the ability to perform well on the job. The disease can affect sleep, interpersonal communications, concentration, and physical health as well. Although many people with depression are able to continue working, severe depression may stop you from earning a gainful living or from holding a job at all. If this is true for you, then you may be able to qualify for benefits through the Social Security Administration .
You May Like: How To Tell People You Are Depressed
What Is Mental Rfc
Describes the work youre able to perform even with the limitations your mental illness places on you.
After your application, RFC evaluates your mental capabilities and the activities required to perform. The following criteria are used.
- Intellectual functioning
- Social functioning
You will now be categorized under the labels: markedly limited and moderately limited. Insufficient evidence is also an option.
The SSAs satisfaction is essential otherwise, it will be difficult getting anything from your disability. SAA works on the following areas
-
Understanding and Memory
Your level of understanding and making correct decisions is assessed by SSDI, who are interested in the severity of your condition based on your capability of following instructions, remembering, and executing simple tasks. If you can follow through with simple instructions, you are marked limited and can perform unskilled labor. On the other hand, you can be marked as a misfit if your condition is affecting your memory and ability to understand simple instructions.
-
Social Interactions
How well you can focus on interests and activities is also important in determining your mental RFC. The SSA calls this concentration, persistence, and pace related to your ability to pay attention and concentrate long enough to complete everyday work or tasks.
-
Adaptation
Rule 4# Improvement In Mental Depression
Upon improving mental health, the SSDI and SSI benefits will automatically be stopped, but that does not necessarily mean it is done. The social security department will periodically view your condition, usually every 3 to 7 years, to determine your disability. Around 85 % of all beneficiaries continue to receive the benefits even after recovery. The appointment of a disability attorney can help ease the process of securing SSID benefits.
You can qualify for health insurance by Medicaid, a federal government program that works with low-income earners. The health insurance is after at least two years of having the SSDI, but you can apply for the health insurance after a month of receiving SSDI payments. Depression resistance to treatment will most definitely lead to a disability.
The disability qualifies you to apply for financial support to supplement your lost income source and possibly health insurance. The payments may range from about $600-$1300 monthly, depending on how much you had been paying to the program.
Depression is currently a common illness worldwide, with over 264 million people affected. People of all ages can suffer from depression, depending on their environmental and genetic factors. Women tend to be more affected compared to men. Chronic levels of depression can lead to suicidal attempts.
Get yourself treated for clinical depression. Click the button below to book your appointment.
Recommended Reading: Best Podcasts For Depression And Anxiety