Mental Illness And Disability Claims: Info For Caretakers
Helping a loved one get approved for social security disability is often a complicated process. The approval process can be even more confusing when the disability is one with mental rather than physical symptoms. Here is some information for caretakers to help you understand social security disability claims for mental impairment.
Social Security's Focus on Functional Capacity
One thing that can help you understand whether your loved one will qualify for social security disability help is to focus on the "functional capacity" aspect of social security's disability process. There is no set list of ailments that qualify someone for disability. It depends on whether the ailments prevent the person from working and completing daily tasks. Many debilitating mental illnesses can meet these criteria.
Examples of Mental Disabilities That May Quality For Disability
There are several ways that a mental illness can be debilitating enough to warrant a social security disability claim. If the illness causes a deterioration of social skills to where the person can't function in a basic work environment, this may be one reasonable cause. Diseases like schizophrenia and mental retardation may qualify for disability. Sometimes, severe anxiety is a good reason to get on social security disability if it prevents a person from being reliable in the workplace. Anything that relates to slowed cognitive development may also be evaluated favorably by the social security disability approval process.
Why a Lawyer Is Important
If you're trying to get approval for a social security disability claim, hiring a lawyer is especially important when the illness relates to mental symptoms. Mental impairments may be more subjective than a physical injury that is obvious to the approval officer. Your lawyer can advise you on what types of documentation to include with your application. You may need to get evaluations from several different mental health professionals to show the severity of the mental impairment.
You'll need to work with your social security lawyer to show that these symptoms prevent the person from working on their own. If they have been repeatedly fired or have not been able to find a job because of their mental illness, this can help to support your case. It's all about showing a strong link between the mental symptoms and the person's inability to work; having a good social security lawyer on your side to provide strong exhibits of this is crucial to a successful disability claim. Check out a firm like Knollmeyer Law Office to find a lawyer to assist you.