Panic Disorder Disability Attorneys – Get the Benefits You Deserve
If you experience multiple episodes of sudden and intense feelings of fear that cause rapid breathing, sweating, and set your heart racing, they may be panic attacks. Panic attacks may be a sign that you have a panic disorder.
Persistent panic attacks should be brought to the attention of your healthcare professional for a proper diagnosis of the cause of the attacks. Panic disorders frequently respond well to medication or other treatment a physician prescribes. However, the symptoms of panic disorders can be frequent and severe enough to interfere with your ability to go about daily activities, including employment-related activities.
When a panic disorder keeps you from working, you may be eligible for panic disorder disability benefits through the programs administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA): Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Getting through the application review process can be frustrating, with the majority of claims submitted annually denied benefits.
Let the experienced and skilled panic disorder disability attorneys at GCC Law fight for the disability benefits you need when you cannot work. They know the laws, regulations, and procedures of the Social Security disability system, so they handle everything from the initial application through all levels of the appeal process.
What To Know About Panic Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, And Treatment
A panic attack can be a frightening experience, causing a person to have strong feelings of fear combined with physical reactions that may include the following:
Common symptoms that you sustained a hip fracture include:
- Chest pain
- Sweating
- Rapid heartbeat
- Hyperventilation
- Numbness or tingling in toes or fingers
During a panic attack, a person may experience a smothering or choking sensation. It’s common for someone in the midst of a panic attack to mistake it for a heart attack.
Recurring panic attacks accompanied by at least one month of constantly thinking and worrying about having a panic attack, and making a change in your behavior to avoid what you believe to be the cause of the attacks, may lead to a panic disorder diagnosis. A mental health professional may not conclude that you have a panic disorder when there is evidence of other physical or mental health conditions causing the panic attacks. For example, a person with post-traumatic stress disorder would be diagnosed with PTSD rather than with panic disorder.
Mental health professionals treat panic disorder and the panic attacks you experience because of it with anti-anxiety and other prescribed medications and psychotherapy, or they may prescribe both treatment methods in combination, depending on the severity of your condition. Some people respond well to treatment that limits the frequency of panic attacks, but others continue to experience frequent attacks that interfere with their daily activities, including their ability to work. If you cannot work because of panic attacks associated with panic disorder, you may be eligible for Social Security for panic disorder.
Disability Benefits When You Cannot Work Because Of Panic Disorder
The SSDI program pays disability benefits provided you have a work history where you paid Social Security taxes on the income earned. You must have worked long enough with some of the work occurring recently enough to the onset of your disability to meet the eligibility requirements for the program.
The SSI program, in contrast to SSDI, does not require a work history because it bases eligibility on need with income and resource limitations. For example, individuals cannot have resources valued at more than $2,000, with the resource limit being $3,000 for eligible couples.
Both programs use a federal definition of disability to evaluate applications. You must be unable to do substantially gainful work activities because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to result in death or expected to last for at least 12 months.
Neither disability benefits program administered by the SSA pays benefits for short-term or partial disabilities, so qualifying for panic disorder disability can be challenging. Your application must be supported by medical evidence that includes not just a diagnosis, but it must contain documentation proving your condition to be severe and preventing you from working even with treatment as prescribed by your doctors.
To win approval of disability claims for panic attacks requires evidence of the severity of the condition. One method of proving severity is by meeting the requirements of an impairment in the SSA Listing of Impairments. The listings contain medical conditions that the SSA considers severe and disabling according to the federal definition.
Section 12.06 of the listings provides the requirements to qualify for benefits with panic disorder. Your condition must include one or both of the following:
- Panic attacks followed by persistent worry of additional attacks or their consequences.
- A disproportionate fear or anxiety about two different situations, such as being in a crowded location, taking a bus or other form of public transportation, or being in a place other than your home.
Medical records also must prove an extreme limitation of one or a marked limitation of two of the following:
- Ability to understand, remember, and apply information.
- Ability to interact with other people.
- Ability to concentrate, persist, and maintain pace.
- Ability to adapt to change or to manage yourself.
As an alternative, you could meet the listing with evidence proving the existence of the disorder for at least two years. The medical records must document treatment efforts with only a limited capacity to adapt to changes in your environment or to new demands put upon you.
If you do not meet the listing criteria, you may qualify using your residual function capacity (RFC), which shows activities you can do with the limitations caused by panic disorder. You must be unable to do the work you did in the past and cannot retrain to do other types of work.
Put An Experienced Disability Attorney To Work Fighting For Your Panic Disorder Disability Benefits
The process of proving disability claims for panic attacks is not an easy one, so doesn’t it make sense to have an accomplished disability attorney on your side? The panic disorder disability attorneys have the skills and knowledge you want to get you the benefits you need. Learn more during a free consultation by contacting GCC Law.
Call Our Illinois Panic Disorder Disability Lawyers Today
At GCC Law Firm, our Illinois Panic Disorder disability attorneys provide personalized, solutions-driven legal advocacy for clients. If your SSDI or SSI claim has been denied in Illinois, we can help. Contact us to schedule a free and completely confidential initial consultation, please contact our law firm today.
Call (479) 340-0002.