Bipolar Disorder, Social Security Disability & Seeking Financial Relief
You can get Social Security Disability for bipolar disorder in Arizona if your symptoms have kept, or will keep, you from working for at least 12 months.
Social Security recognizes bipolar disorder as a mental health condition that may qualify for benefits, but you have to show how it significantly limits your ability to work.
Bipolar disorder can make it hard to keep a steady job when symptoms affect your mood, sleep, energy, focus, judgment, attendance, and ability to interact with other people.
Some people struggle most during depressive episodes. Others have manic, hypomanic or mixed episodes that make it difficult to stay stable and reliable at work.
If you struggle with these symptoms, financial relief from Social Security Disability can be life-changing.
Social Security Disability benefits exist to help when serious health problems take away your ability to support yourself. These benefits can provide monthly income, health care access and a path toward a more stable life after work becomes impossible.
Is a bipolar disorder diagnosis enough to get disability benefits?
A bipolar diagnosis alone usually is not enough. Social Security needs evidence that gives a picture of your bipolar disorder hindering your ability to work. Your claim should explain how symptoms affect your attendance, focus, pace, judgment, stress tolerance and ability to interact with people.
You should be discussing these symptoms regularly with your mental health professionals so medical records fully show how your bipolar affects you.
Slepian Ellexson helps people in Arizona apply for disability benefits and appeal denied claims for bipolar disorder.
Our disability lawyers understand that mental health claims can be difficult to explain, especially when symptoms change over time.
We’ve been helping Arizonans win disability benefits since 1978.
You’ll pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
How Do You Know If You Qualify for Disability for Bipolar Disorder in Arizona?
You qualify for disability for bipolar disorder if your symptoms prevent you from working on a regular and sustained basis.
Social Security looks at how your condition affects your ability to function at work and in daily life.
Bipolar disorder may affect your ability to:
- Concentrate and stay on task
- Follow instructions or remember information
- Show up to work consistently
- Work at a normal pace
- Handle stress or changes in routine
- Control emotions or impulses
- Interact with supervisors, coworkers, customers or the public
- Take care of your personal needs during severe episodes
You need to document struggles like these for your disability case.
Your medical records should clearly demonstrate that you are trying to manage your condition, and that even with treatment it’s unreasonable to keep a stable job. If you don’t talk about these symptoms with your providers, your medical records won’t successfully demonstrate how bipolar impacts your life.
Your evidence may include records of your therapy, psychiatric care, medications, medication changes, side effects, hospitalizations, crisis care, and ongoing symptoms despite treatment.
What evidence helps a bipolar disorder disability claim?
Helpful evidence includes records from psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, primary care doctors, hospitals or crisis services depicting your manic, hypomanic, depressive or mixed episodes.
Medication history, side effects, treatment changes, hospitalization records, and statements from people who understand your daily limitations also help, as well as documentation of missed work.
Social Security evaluates bipolar disorder under its rules for depressive, bipolar and related disorders.
Some people qualify because they meet the impairment definition in the rules. Others qualify because their symptoms, treatment history and work limitations show that their daily functioning is too limited for work.
Slepian Ellexson can help you explain the patterns of your disorder clearly.
Our current disability lawyers have more than 50 years of combined experience. Each client receives direct attention from a disability attorney.
Get a FREE bipolar disorder disability claim consultation.
How Can You Increase Your Chances of Getting Benefits for Bipolar Disorder in Arizona?
A strong bipolar disability claim should explain how your symptoms affect your ability to work.
It is not enough to say that you have bipolar disorder. Social Security looks at your “residual functional capacity” (RFC), which is a measurement of what tasks you can still do despite your condition.
You’ll need information, confirmed by health care providers, on these kinds of points:
- How well you can concentrate
- How well you can process information
- How well you can stay on task
- How well you can work with others
- How well you can cope with stress
- How well you can manage your own behavior
Your evidence should help explain patterns over time. You should be regularly talking to your providers (doctors, counselors, therapists) about how often episodes happen, how long they last and how they disrupt your ability to function.
If treatment gaps exist, provide an explanation. Some people stop treatment because of cost, side effects, transportation problems, lack of access or worsening symptoms.
Without context, Social Security may see gaps in your treatment as signs that your bipolar disorder isn’t debilitating enough to qualify for benefits or that you haven’t made enough effort to treat it and try working.
Since the beginning, Slepian Ellexson has been focused on the disability benefits system and how it works, so you can rely on us to help you navigate it.
If bipolar disorder is keeping you from working and leading a normal life, Slepian Ellexson can help you seek the support you need for more peace and stability.
