Bipolar and disability?
 

has anyone ben approved for disability for bipolar? my claim for disability was first fybromyalia but when giving my lawer my dr addresses he asked me what i was seeing one of my drs for and i told him bipolar so he gave me papers for my dr to fill out. he says disability hearings are not like going to regular court. his example was if you go in to court for child support you can not bring up anything else in that hearing but with disability you can. so i uess he is trying to get my benefits for bipolar. the answers my dr gave on the questions do meet the criterias for disability so im hoping for the best. my hearing is jan 10th, 2011.

From my readings here, I believe it is not the actual diagnoses that matter, but how they affect your life and ability to do any job or not.

Are you applying for SSI or SSDI?

In addition to Jo*mar's response.............

To qualify for benefits, you must first have worked in jobs covered by Social Security. Then you must have a medical condition that meets Social Security's definition of disability. In general, we pay monthly cash benefits to people who are unable to work for a year or more because of a disability.
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/


Also, check out: http://www.ssa.gov/disability/profes...ltListings.htm

[QUOTE=Mz Migraine;731876]Are you applying for SSI or SSDI?

In addition to Jo*mar's response.............

To qualify for benefits, you must first have worked in jobs covered by Social Security. Then you must have a medical condition that meets Social Security's definition of disability. In general, we pay monthly cash benefits to people who are unable to work for a year or more because of a disability.




I applied for ssdi. I know i have worked enough to get it, I was just wondering if anyone on here got it for bipolar. I first applied for my fybromyalgia and I just dont have enough records to support that so when my lawer found out i was being seen for bipolar he jumped on it. he gave me papers with questions for my psychiatrist to fill out along with getting my records. I have been in the hospital 3 or 4 times for this so i was told that helps my case to. my axis v gaf. is 40/45 and that is listed under servere symtoms. plus i looked up the criterias for bipolar and the answers he gave on those questions meet the ones i read so i dont know. all i can do now is hope the judge and vocational expert thinks it meets them also. thankyou for responding to my post.

I narrowed Mz Migraine post to mental disorders. I can only speak for Florida, in Florida you had to have a physical and mental disorder to qualify, but I have seen people on here with just mental disorders who qualified. Your illness has to cause you not be be able to do substantial gainful activity and residual function capacity.

http://www.ssa.gov/disability/profes...ders-Adult.htm

Here is an additional link that may help you.

http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/page9-16.html

I was awarded disability for Bipolar disorder this past May. I also have other mental illnesses that the judge took into concideration...OCD, Borderline Personality disorder, anxiety disorder...I wish you the very very best with your case. It is agonizing waiting!!!! Only a few more days!

SSDI is a federal program. Individual states do not get to make up their own rules about what kind of disabilities are considered. Any impairment that results in total disability that is expected to be permanent (or last more than 1 year) can qualify you. There is no requirement if the impairment is a mental disorder that you also have to have a disorder from another category to qualify.

If you do have more than one condition, the cummulative effects of both conditions may cause more disbility than either condition individually.

It is possible to be approved for 'just' bipolar disorder. It is up to the ssdi applicant and his/her medical records to prove that bipolar disorder in their case causes total disability. The fact that you have required several hospitalizations for bipolar disorder certainly helps your claim. Issues like if you were diagnosed awhile ago and worked since then, but can't work now complicate your claim. If you were in bad psychological shape when you were in the hospital, but your recent medical reports indicate you are stable and well functioning, you wouldn't be approved.

Jomar made an important distinction....it's all about how the condition effects your ability to work, not about what the diagnosis is. To illustrate the fact, some people are permanently disabled after having a stroke, but Tedi Bruschi returned to playing professional football after his. You've got to explain to SSA why your bipolar disorder makes you unable to perform SGE.

Best of luck at your hearing.

thankyou, my lawer gave me medical papers for bipolar for my dr to fill out and the answers he gave to the questions state I have servere symtoms of several different things plus my axis v gaf is 40/45 which are servere symtoms. I looked it up and read them so im thinking that will help. he states on my papers that my ability to carry out detailed instructions is marked along with a couple other things. he also states on there my condition will cause good days and bad days. and states my time required off work is unpredictable. he wouldnt even give an amount of time i would need off from work. so Im thinking this will really help my case. thanks for all the responses. its nice to read what others have to say about these things. my hearing is monday so i will be glad when it is over. how long it will take for a decision i dont know but my lawer said the judge i have usually is quick about giving a decision. it would be nice to get one that day but i dont think that will happen although it has happened in some cases but i cant get that lucky.

I was approved for Bipolar Depression and a number of other psychological impairments that made impossible for me to hold down any kind of employment. I had been seeing a pdoc for over ten years prior to applying for SSDI and had several unsucessful work attempts during that time. It got increasingly harder for me to keep a job and on top of it all I was not able to keep up with the IT certifications required in my line of work. I tried working in a different vocation but that was short lived and it became pretty obvious that I was disabled. Being on SSDI has made my life worth living again although I am very embarrassed to admit that I am on disability. :( I avoid social gatherings as much as possible.

************************************************** *

I would hope that will all help, especially the unpredictability of when your symptoms will be worse.

My fingers will be crossed for you next week !