You’ve probably had someone tell you that “everybody” gets a little anxious from time to time – that it’s just part of life. But you know that not everybody has anxiety to the point that you experience it. Anxiety is a very real disorder – and it can be very disabling.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) does consider anxiety to be disabling – but proving that your condition meets the agency’s rigid criteria to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits can be difficult.
How can you prove a disorder nobody can see?
SSA’s official “Blue Book” of disabling conditions specifically addresses anxiety in various forms – but you cannot qualify for benefits unless you can prove that you have the condition in the first place. Since anxiety isn’t something that shows up on a lab test, how do you make your case?
Here are some places to start:
- Keep a diary or journal. This may seem like a small thing, but you can use this to document the frequency of your symptoms, the triggering events and what effect a panic attack or another manifestation of anxiety has on your life.
- Discuss your anxiety with your doctor. Use your journal at your medical appointments to explain to your doctor exactly how frequently you experience problems with anxiety and how limiting the issue has become.
- Seek regular treatment. SSA reasons that people who have a distressing medical condition will naturally try to seek relief – so show the agency that you are genuinely suffering from your condition. Ask your primary care doctor for medication, go to a therapist and look for other concrete ways to relieve your symptoms.
Finally, you may want to ask your doctor for a referral for psychological testing. Psychiatrists use sophisticated tests to evaluate people for all kinds of mental disorders – and they can detect anxiety, as well.
It can be an uphill battle to obtain SSDI benefits for any psychiatric condition, including anxiety. The very nature of the disorder makes it difficult to prove. Seeking legal guidance can make it easier to get your application through.