Can I get disability for an anxiety disorder?

Disability benefits are designed by the Social Security Administration to provide broad protection for workers who have worked for a sufficient amount of time and who have subsequently become disabled and unable to prove themselves and their families with an income. The SSA balances the need to make sure everyone receives an income who needs it, with the need to prevent benefits fraud, and thus sets forth guidelines for when and how someone can obtain disability benefits. 

Anxiety disorders can entitle a person to disability benefits, depending on the nature of the disorder. Some mental illnesses are listed in the Social Security Blue Book of Impairments, which lists disabilities that are considered severe enough to qualify someone for benefits. Others are not listed but can be considered to be of equivalent seriousness and thus to entitle you to benefits, if you are able to prove that the anxiety disorder is sufficiently disabled.

Generally, to collect SSA benefits based on your anxiety disorder, you will need to:

• Prove you really suffer from the disorder. Here, the written medical records provided by an experienced psychologist or psychiatrist or other mental health expert are invaluable
• Prove that your disorder really is severe or serious enough to entitle you to benefits. This means proving that you can't work and that many of the other basic activities that healthy people can do on a day-to-day basis are impossible to you as a result of your disability

To get help proving that your anxiety disorder should qualify you for SSA benefits, and for assistance in making a claim, you should strongly consider seeking the advice of a disability attorney.