Does Social Security concsider social phobia a disability?

This was helpful, but I would have liked a littrle bit more information on the causes and how to deal, etc. Or even something on how disabilitating it can be. but i suppose there are many ways in which it can be disabling, or harmful. or maybe you could include some ways to cope, get through panic attacks, etc. (i have one idea, i take vitamins that are supposed to calm and relax you- works wonders on me, but i am mildly phobic. http://getabsolutecalm.com/professional/?utm_source=Googleutm_medium=mediautm_content=Professionalutm_campaign=BlogCommenting)

I completely agree that it is necessary to go beyond the medical evidence to develop a claim like this.
One way to document the effects of social phobia is to keep a journal: http://gatesdisabilitylaw.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/keep-a-journal.html

I have a question. My boyfriend suffers from social phobia. He goes to college but every night before he stresses out and then in the morning he pukes. He can't get a job because hes too nervous to ask for an application because he doesn't want to talk to anybody, and then when he does get a job he quits because he cant handle the stress everyday before going to work. Would he be able to apply for disability? He doesnt want to stress everyday about not having a job, but hes too nervous/scared to try and get a job.

My name is Amelia. I have social anxiety too.

Visit http://www.socialanxietyemployment.ws

for employment opportunities for others with social anxiety disorder. Work from home and make a decent income. Try it out!!!

I'm going to try and keep this short and simple.

I have suffered from some fashion of social phobia since I was in middle school. It progressivly got worse in high school. I couldn't stand to be around people…the thought of interacting with my classmates would make me physically sick. I almost failed my senior year because I missed so many days. The only reason I made it through college (a one year technical school chosen for how quickly I could obtain my degree) was because I was able to lose myself in the books. I would arrive at class early so I wouldn't have to walk into a room that was already full. I only interacted with the students if a project required it.

I find it hard to keep a job. My last jot I worked as a customer service representative at a call center. I thought that not dealing with people face to face would alleviate some of my fears. I was wrong. Being stuck on a floor with 200 other people talking was devastating. I started getting daily migraines and had to give my job up.

I fear going anywhere…Even just to the grocery store. My heart races and most of the time I feel like I'm on the verge of a full on panic attack. I don't go out with my friends and rarely see them. I even panic when it comes to seeing some of my closest friends! Since I quit my job I've noticed I've become more withdrawn…the idea of having to get a job and interact with people terrifies me.

I don't want to be one of those people that doesn't try….I've taken medications and tried counseling. I read the legalese and know this doesn't constitue as advice , but I was wondering if it comes down to this if this would be a possible course of action for myself?

Thank you for your time (and sorry for the life story!).

This is gonna be a long ramble, so I'm sorry, but here goes….

I haven't been “officially” diagnosed with S.A.D, because I can't afford the psych visits or insurance, and don't qualify for assistance. Things were generally okay for a few years, atleast so I thought (hindsight's 20/20). Apparently it started creeping up on me a few years ago, and I just didn't realize it until it got quite noticable.

Now, I spend almost all day everyday in my bedroom. When my roommate comes home from work I'll usually sit in the livingroom with him, but anytime he leaves the room I have to know where he's going, and if he's gone too long I go looking for him. When he leaves the house, I once again end up back in the bedroom. If he is gone overnight, I stay awake until I am simply so exauhsted that I HAVE to sleep, and then I do it with a loaded gun less than 2 ft away. I constantly think I'm hearing people moving around the house, or picking at the doors. I won't go out and check the mail unless it's the middle of the night when I know everybody around us is asleep and there are no cars anywhere in sight. If I have to get something out of my car, I watch through the front windows until I am certain there is nobody around, and then run to the car and back.

I have ended up trapped in my car in the driveway before because I went to get something out of it and there were a large number of families playing ball across the street. I sat in the car with the doors locked for almost an hour, shaking, watching in the mirrors to see if anybody was looking my direction, until finally I got out and ran inside the house.

I don't go to the store anymore. Even if I go to the grocery when almost nobody is there, I can't handle it. I start shaking and feeling like I'm going to be sick. I can't go down isles with other people because I can't stop looking over my shoulder. I went with my roommate to AutoZone once, and the whole time we were standing in line to check out I was shaking, nervous, sick to my stomach, sweating and dizzy. I couldn't shake the feeling for about a half hour after we left.

I have evening classes at a tech school 3 nights a week and I don't always make it to them. There are some nights when I am so upset that I can't leave the house. Sometimes I make it to the school, but can't get out of the car to go into class. I sit in the parking lot for up to an hour, and then turn around and go home. I have taken failing grades before for refusing to read a report in class, because as soon as the teacher would call me I would feel sick and start shaking, all the color would drain from my face and I couldn't talk or stand.

Anytime I'm out driving, if I happen to get lost in an area I'm not familiar with, I immediately start to panic. In my desperate desire to get out back where I'm sposed to be, I typically start speeding, making hasty decisions, taking more wrong turns, and overall getting even more lost. My brain starts racing so fast that I can't think of a logical way to turn around and go back the way I came.

I don't go out with friends anymore, what few I still have. I can't get past the feeling that if I go out with somebody, then something bad is going to happen. I tried looking for one or two people that I could talk to online and become friends with that maybe eventually I could start hanging out with, to try and get back out in the world. But as soon as they start talking about going to movies and such together, I immediately get stressed and sick and start wondering why they're so eager to meet and what they're really up to…and that ends the conversation. So I've given up on that.

I am pretty sure this is S.A.D, but with no way to see a doc, I can't prove it. I've tried going to psychs in the past, but we never made any headway. I would freak when they started asking personal questions and would get defensive, then they would get frustrated, and eventually soon after I just wouldn't go back.

hi am 23 i feel am stuck with this for life i dont know where to turn i cant communicate with people even people i know i really i want to get a job but am to shy to use a phone or even go to the job centre to look for a job or even sighn on. i want to get help to get over this and function in this world and get a good job and support myself at the moment my boyfriend supports me. i've been like this since i was little people said i would grow out of it but i seem to be getting worse.

I am 20 years old, I'm afraid to leave my house, even talking on the phone is difficult for me, I rarely ever go to the doctor, and I can't hold a job to pay for it anyway. Sometimes I think that I should just go ahead and kill myself because I'm so trapped in this life that there is no other way out. Could you maybe tell me how to even begin to apply for this kind of thing let alone prove it? I don't go to stores at all let alone at 1 am, I don't leave my house very much, if at all. I have panic attacks that my doctor proscribed a generic version of xantax and prozac for, and my perscription has run out. My dad just walked out on the family and if I don't do something, me, my younger brother, my dog and my mom are going to end up homeless.

I feel like it's all my fault, why can't I get a life? Drive, talk to friends, get a job, do anything? I know most people in the world don't give a damn about other people.

The only friend I have is my dog, if it weren't for him I probably would have just blown my brains out a long time ago.

I don't know what to do at all, can you tell me how to even get started? Please, I'm desperate, my mom needs me. It's not like I've ever been much use to her before.

You don’t have SAD, you have paranoid schitzophrenia.

If you had SAD, you would go into your bedroom as soon as your roommate got home, not the other way around, and you would feel relief when he left.

With regards to having Social Phobia/Anxiety. Does it help to mention all the continuous problems you’ve had with people at the work environment? People with Social Phobia tend to be socially awkward to where they get targeted just like in school. So say I get made fun of at every place I’ve work at because I’m awkward. And there are always people at every place I’ve worked at trying to get me fired because I’m “odd” or “weird”. And I end up having a lot of problems in the work environment with everyone always trying to get me fired in which I’ve gotten fired from these jobs because of these people.

i.e. something wrong happens at work. And these people that make fun of me are the ones who say to the boss that I did it when they don’t even who did it. They just use me as a scapegoat everytime because I don’t socialize with people and act awkard which is caused by my disorder. And that happens at every job.

I don’t think there would be any witnesses. In order to have a witness, you have to have someone who is your friend and care to provide testimony. If you had no friends in the work environment, then you have no witness testimony. But I do have counseling sessions where I’ve discussed my workplace problems with my counselor. So, I say could use my counselors testimony. I think I’ll see my counselor to see if he will write a letter describing my limitations. As they do GAF scores, and also have forms about your activity of daily living. So, I say he could use that to write a letter explaining how I can’t work because of my psych problems. That may help get me approved 1st thing.

I did talk to some attorneys. But all they cared about were what docs I’ve seen in the past year. Even though I’ve been dealing with these things for 10 years even though I may not have seen a doc every month about it. I did talk to an advocate, but they were kind of harsh as I told them about my many physical and mental impairments. So, I guess they were concerned about my testimony not being credible. I did mention about asking for accommodations from employers in the past under the ADA. And I guess they didn’t like that either.

Hi, Vanessa. Every case is different so it is very difficult to make general statements about how to prove a case. Especially, when I can’t say, “make sure SSA gets your medical records.”

Personally, I recommend working with a lawyer to help figure out the best way to develop your case. However, it can be difficult during a comparison review since there are no back benefits to be used for fees (since the benefits are still being paid).

When an individual seriously isolates themselves (avoiding doctors, friends, family, etc), it may help to get letters documenting this isolation, the types of events they have refused to go (church, family get-togethers, dinners, children’s sporting events, weddings, funerals, avoiding family and friends visiting from out of state). There is in addition to documenting other examples of avoiding public situations (not shopping until past midnight, leaving stores if too crowded, leaving groceries and walking out if too noisy, sitting in the back at events, leaving events early, doing telephone meeting with children’s school instead of attending school conferences). There is no limit to the possible ways of documenting this.

I’m 25 yrs. old, and have been dealing with some social phobia since around middle school. I can’t say exactly what is wrong, I’m too scared to go see doctors.The last time I went was years ago, and i was told it was only social anxiety. I hardly leave the house, let alone my room. I have panic attacks almost daily. I’ve distanced myself from friends, and hardly talk to family.The only time I really do get out is to the grocery store. I feel trapped, and sometimes leave on that fact alone. Someone has to go with me now, in case I feel too panicked and have to step outside. I have palpitations that keep me up at night. I have filed for disability,and was denied. I’m trying to complete an appeal. I’m having a hard time explaining my disability, I feel everything I think of or write down is stupid, and have difficulty with someone reading something I have written, for fear of them judgeing me..I know it’s more than “social anxiety”, but I can’t get past feeling like an idiot for the reasons i have for not functioning like a “normal” person.. And I don’t know how to prove something is wrong with me, since I have not been to see a doctor in some time.

Hi Sarah.  My name is Amanda and I could have written everything you just did. I was also denied and feel hopeless. I don’t know how to appeal..it involves contacting people, attorneys, doctors and hello, that’s why I applied for disability – I *can’t* do that sort of thing. I can’t make phone calls. Can’t leave my house.  I feel utterly doomed.

Hi Amanda, thank you for sharing. While I recommend working a lawyer (we try to make it as simple as possible), I understand it can still be very difficult, to find someone and go in for appointments. In most cases, individuals can appeal online https://www.socialsecurity.gov/disability/appeal

There are not forms to wait for the appeal can be done in the privacy of one’s own home. The online appeal walks you through each step. 

Good luck!

Wow,sounds so like my situation,I’m so fearful to go to the dr.,just going to the hospital is just ,,,can’t even describe,too scary,been on ssdi few years now,so grateful,but now so worried they say ssdi runs out of money in 6 years,don’t know what I will do,i have thought of ending my life,being around people is death to me anyway,thanks for reading,Edward.

Fortunately, no. However, a number of my clients have. 

I still live with my mother (i’m 20) but have been dealing with social anxiety. I work part-time, and I am going to be going to school (I’m off for the next semester) but there is so much anxiety in these two departments that in some respects I just want to take online classes and quit my job (which is in retail) … but, I can’t because I wouldn’t have money to pay my bills.  I don’t feel well about this issue.  I wish I could receive these benefits so I didn’t have to work but I doubt they’d give it to me since I’m technically still dependent on my mother in a lot of respects. But she doesn’t make money so..