Chances of Getting Disability Benefits for Bipolar Disorder

Chances of Getting Disability Benefits for Bipolar Disorder

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) benefits are available for workers or former workers who suffer from bipolar disorder, as they are for other mental illnesses. In this blog post, we’ll explain how bipolar disorder affects people with the disorder and how the Social Security Administration (SSA) determines whether an SSD benefits claim based on bipolar disorder qualifies for monthly payments.

What Is Bipolar Disorder

Until the 1980s, bipolar disorder was known by different names, most commonly “manic-depression” or “manic-depressive psychosis.” The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (now DSM-5) changed the preferred terminology to bipolar disorder to reduce the social stigma carried by people whose illness referred to mania, implying maniacal behavior.

Bipolar disorder is an illness that causes sufferers to experience involuntary, cyclic, and often extreme mood swings. They may feel intense or sustained depression and at another time swing into an elevated, almost euphoric mood, have racing thoughts, pressured speech, go through extended periods without sleep or fatigue, become irritable, or display aggressive behavior.

The cause of the bipolar disorder is thought to be a combination of genetics, neurobiology, and a person’s lifetime of experiences.

Why Bipolar Disorder Can Qualify to Received Disability Benefits

The Social Security Administration defines a disability by very specific terminology. For the SSA to qualify a claimant for SSD benefits, the claimant must demonstrate that they have the following:

A medically determinable physical or mental impairment that lasts or is expected to last 12 months (or result in death), and that the impairment(s) prevents the person from performing substantial gainful activities.

Bipolar disorder can affect people with the illness in different ways and to different degrees. There are two recognized categories of bipolar disorder, bipolar I and bipolar II. Generally, people with bipolar I experience more intense manic episodes than bipolar II sufferers. The higher intensity or faster cycling from one mood to the other is more disruptive to their ability to carry out daily tasks, to maintain regular work and social relationships. Bipolar II is no less a mental illness, but its manic episodes tend to be less obvious to observers and can be less disruptive to carrying out vital daily activities. There are other bipolar sufferers who don’t fit neatly into either designated group because their symptoms are inconsistent with one category of the illness.

How Severe Must Your Bipolar Disorder Be to Get SSD Benefits

The SSA follows a manual in which it describes the criteria it requires impairment to meet to approve the payment of monthly benefits to an SSD or an SSI claimant. The manual is commonly referred to as the Blue Book. It contains the “Listing of Impairments” the SSA acknowledges as disabilities if the applicant’s symptoms or test results meet the criteria detailed in the Blue Book.

Bipolar Impairment Listing — Section 12.04 of the Blue Book covers what the SSA terms “Depressive, bipolar and related disorders.” To qualify as “disabled” by the SSD program’s standards, a bipolar disorder disability benefits applicant must meet the following criteria:

• Medical documentation of these requirements
  • Bipolar disorder, characterized by three or more of the following:
    • Pressured speech;
    • Flight of ideas;
    • Inflated self-esteem;
    • Decreased need for sleep;
    • Distractibility;
    • Involvement in activities that have a high probability of painful consequences that are not recognized; or
    • Increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation.

AND

• Extreme limitation of one, or marked limitation of two, of the following areas of mental functioning:
  • Understand, remember, or apply information
  • Interact with others
  • Concentrate, persist, or maintain pace
  • Adapt or manage oneself (see 12.00E4).

OR

• Your mental disorder in this listing category is “serious and persistent;” that is, you have a medically documented history of the existence of the disorder over a period of at least 2 years, and there is evidence of both:
  • Medical treatment, mental health therapy, psychosocial support(s), or a highly structured setting(s) that is ongoing and that diminishes the symptoms and signs of your mental disorder; and
  • Marginal adjustment, that is, you have minimal capacity to adapt to changes in your environment or to demands that are not already part of your daily life.

As you can see, the Social Security Administration demands a clear medically documented history of specific symptoms, but there are many sets of symptoms that will satisfy the disability benefit requirements for bipolar disorder.

MJ Ellis Disability Law Will Help You Apply and Be Approved for SSD or SSI Benefits

Collecting all your medical records, analyzing their contents, organizing your application, and fighting for your benefit approval is our specialty at MJ Ellis Disability Law. Attorney Ellis has devoted her professional career to assisting disabled residents of Northern New Jersey and surrounding areas to get every dollar of disability benefits they deserve.