Does Social Security concsider social phobia a disability?
Can you get Social Security disability benefits for social phobia? The short answer is yes.
However, knowing that a condition can be disabling does not tell you HOW to prove that social phobia is disabling in your case.
As in any Social Security disability case, you have to show that social phobia keeps you from being able to engage in a substantial gainful activity (SGA).
Social Security and complex partial seizures
The diagnosis of complex partial seizures brings a wide set of complications to a Social Security disability case. I have seen cases where benefits were denied because EEG results were normal. This exemplifies the confusion between complex partial seizures and epileptic seizures.
I have tried to bridge this gap in understanding by working with my clients’ doctors in providing Social Security with an explanation of this devastating condition.
I recently found a wonderful article with shines a clear light on the debilitating effects of complex partial seizures:
During a complex partial seizure, the patient may not communicate, respond to commands, or remember events that occurred. …
Social Security disability for anemia or other blood disorders
I was recently asked to write about how Social Security views disability claims based on anemia and other blood disorders. First, I will address how Social Security generally handles disability claims. If that puts you to sleep, just skip ahead a few paragraphs
In general, Social Security reviews cases using the five-step sequential evaluation process:
Does your impairment keep you from being able to work?
Is your impairment severe. That is, does your impairment have more than a minimal at effect on your ability to perform daily activities?
Does your impairment meet or equal one of Social Security’s “Listing of Impairments?” A listing of medical conditions, acceptable medical evidence, and the severity necessary for an impairment to be considered disabling.
Does your impairment prevent you from being able to perform any job you performed over the last 15 years which was also a substantial gainful activity?
Does your impairment prevent you from being able to perform any other type of work which exists in substantial numbers of the national economy?
This is just a quick rundown of the five-step sequential evaluation process. There are exceptions and corollaries to this but I just want to quickly state the steps that Social Security will go through in evaluating a disability claim.
Assuming that anemia and/or other blood disorder keeps you from being able to work (step one) and has more than a minimal impact on your ability to perform daily activities (step two), that brings us to step three: does the impairment meet or equal a listing level impairment.
Social Security admits my son has ADD, but they still deny him
A mother called me recently. She was upset that Social Security had denied her son, even though the denial admitted that he has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).
How can Social Security deny him, if they admit he has ADD?
I explained that the diagnosis is only the first step in the Social Security evaluation process. While Social Security requires a medically determinable impairment, basically a diagnosed condition to explain the individual’s symptoms, the diagnosis itself is usually not enough to get a person approved for Social Security benefits.
The reason for this is, except for certain conditions, a diagnosis does not describe the severity of that condition. The child …
Blog: Conversations In My Head
Chica, of Conversations in My Head, has a great site discussing her ups and downs (no pun intended) dealing with bi-polar disorder.
My symptoms are constant and unpredictable. There are stretches of time where I find myself uninterested in hobbies, the kids, days where I want to sleep all day and days when I can’t sleep. There are days when I’m on top of the world, where I organize and reorganize the cabinets in my home, only to crash into an irritable and anxiety ridden state. Bipolar affects the way I live and how I breathe. Unlike regular mood swings, my mood …
Living with Social Phobia
Touching video about what it is like to live with social anxiety / social phobia.
