" Can you get temporary Social Security disability or SSI benefits ?

The simple answer to this question is that Social Security disability and SSI benefits are not short-term disability programs.

Social Security requires that you have to have been unable to earn a substantially gainful income, or that or you expect to be unable to do this for twelve months, due to a mental or medical condition, before you may be potentially entitled to a social security disability or SSI benefit.

Additionally, disability claims usually take time to be processed to a denial or allowance. If your disability claim is denied at the initial level (first filing), then you will have to appeal the decision. The appeals process usually takes a considerable amount of time, with no guarantee that you will be found disabled.

However if you have been awarded Social Security disability benefits, there is nothing in the Social Security regulations that would prevent a disability beneficiary from receiving disability benefits because of a medical or mental condition, and at some point returning to work. In fact, Social Security offers many incentives to encourage disability recipients to return to work. "

http://www.ssdrc.com/disabilityquestions1-13.html