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    Do You Need Disability Benefits for Anxiety?

    When an anxiety disorder shakes up your life, it can get hard to stay in normal activities, including working.

    Having your livelihood interrupted only makes the stress worse. Social Security Disability benefits can help. With monthly income and access to Medicare or Medicaid health care, you can steady yourself.

    Anxiety is sadly running rampant these days. About 20 percent of adults in the United States have an anxiety disorder at any given moment, and almost one-third will experience anxiety at some point in their lives, said the National Institute of Mental Health

    But an overwhelming number of people get denied for Social Security Disability benefits.

    A disability claim for anxiety is challenging partly because you have to get other people to understand what you’re feeling on the inside.

    You have to get them to see that you’re dealing with more than just worry—but a serious condition that can be paralyzing. You have to prove that you can’t work because of anxiety.

    There is someone who can help you get your message across: the disability attorneys at Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor.

    Our disability lawyers have more than 60 years of combined experience helping people in Oregon get a financial break after health problems interfere with their ability to make a living.

    Our offices are in Eugene-Springfield, Albany, Roseburg, Coos Bay, and Medford. And when you work with us on your anxiety claim, you pay no fee until you win benefits.

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    A woman holding her head, suffering from anxiety.

    What You Need To Claim Social Security Disability for Anxiety

    Social Security officially lists anxiety as an impairment that can qualify you for disability benefits.

    Because it’s on the list, Social Security also gives you guidelines on what to put in your disability application for anxiety.

    You must provide confirmation that you experience serious forms of conditions like these:

    • Easily becoming irritable
    • Fear of getting into certain situations (like crowds, or the outdoors)
    • Frequent fatigue
    • Invasive, unwanted thoughts
    • Muscle tension
    • Panic attacks
    • Problems sleeping
    • Repetitive motions to calm yourself
    • Restless feelings
    • Trouble concentrating

    Obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia are all included under Social Security’s impairment listing for anxiety.

    To get Social Security Disability benefits, the sum of your symptoms—whichever symptoms you have—must make it difficult for you to process information, relate to other people, focus on and stick with tasks, deal with changes to your expected routine, and control your emotions and behavior, especially in a work setting.

    You also may need to show that you’ve struggled with an anxiety disorder for an extended period of time and that you need medical or mental health treatment to ease your condition.

    To see what your options might be, you can talk to our Oregon disability law firm for an initial evaluation of your case, at no cost to you.

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    A woman consulting a medical professional about her anxiety.

    How to Prove Your Symptoms of Anxiety Qualify for Social Security Disability

    Like we said, the challenging part of applying for Social Security Disability with anxiety is that you know how you feel—but somebody looking at your disability claim might not get it.

    That’s why you have to provide hard evidence to back up what you’re saying about the way anxiety impacts your daily life.

    The evidence can look like this:

    • Records of medical visits
    • Reports from psychologists or psychiatrists you’ve seen
    • Documentation of your treatment program
    • Records of therapy, structured settings and other supports
    • Details of prescriptions you take
    • Statements from people close to you about how anxiety affects you

    Another possibility for your disability claim is that your anxiety could be combined with other mental or physical ailments to rule out working.

    If you’ve been hit with a serious physical health problem, bad enough that you can’t work—and it’s turning your life upside down—it’s completely understandable that you also feel anxiety.

    An experienced Social Security Disability attorney can look at all of your symptoms of anxiety, and any other health limitations you have and put them together in a strong case for why you should get disability benefits.

    It can be stressful to do all the work needed to win disability benefits. But disability benefits could ease your stress.

    The disability lawyers at Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor help you break out of that cycle—and get to a better situation in your life.

    Contact Us Today! »

    Have a Question about Disability Benefits?

    Your health is bad. You can’t work. Your financial stability is threatened. So your head is swimming with questions. How will you get by? How does Social Security Disability work? We’ve gathered answers. See them here:

    Disability FAQs »
    A woman happy about getting the answers to her questions about anxiety.

    Hear from a Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor Client

    “(My lawyer) did a great job getting my case ready, and the court settled in my favor. I highly recommend Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor.”

    James R. in Google Reviews

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