Sufferers of health disorders often struggle in many ways to live a normal life. One of these ways may include holding down a job. Unfortunately, this can have severe and lasting repercussions throughout the rest of your life.
One of the way to mitigate these repercussions is filing for disability benefits. But as someone suffering with mental health rather than physical health issues, is this applicable to you?
Symptoms and characteristics
Social Security discusses mental health disorders in adults that get categorized as disabilities. Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders are in fact among them. The primary characteristics of this cluster of disorders includes excessive worry, apprehension, fear and anxiety. Potential signs and symptoms can include muscle tension, restlessness, sleep disturbance and fatigue. Victims may also feel hyper-vigilant and suffer from panic attacks.
Types of disorders
Numerous disorders fall under this category. A few include panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Note that these are not the only disorders that may qualify you for benefits.
Note also that some mental health disorders share overlap. For example, a person with a stressor or trauma related disorder may also suffer from anxiety. But if the anxiety disorder comes from the stressor or trauma related disorder, you will likely need to apply for benefits under the latter.
Achieving benefits allows you to worry less about your financial security, which often contributes to anxiety disorders and its related symptoms anyway. This gives you more money, time and mental space to worry about working on your mental health instead. All in all, it is a net win.