Stress is an unavoidable part of our everyday lives. That is particularly true for professionals in skilled occupations that involve fast-paced, high-stakes decisions. The problem has only become worse now that technology enables us to work from anywhere, at any time.
But while some stress can improve work performance, chronic stress can interfere with our productivity and lead to harmful outcomes. If you suffer from excessive worry over everyday work and life stressors, you may be suffering from a generalized anxiety disorder. The most common mental health disorder, affecting nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives, a generalized anxiety disorder, can be disabling. But obtaining short-term or long-term disability benefits due to generalized anxiety disorder is not always easy. This article will offer suggestions for how you can improve your likelihood of receiving short-term or long-term disability benefits due to generalized anxiety disorder.
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What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
According to the American Psychiatric Association, generalized anxiety disorder is excessive anxiety and worry that interferes with daily activities. It occurs on more days than not, for at least six months. The anxiety must be accompanied by at least three of the following six symptoms: restlessness, quickly becoming fatigued, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. Often, the worries are related to everyday matters, including job or family responsibilities. Another disorder must not explain the anxiety. It should not be confused with panic disorder, which is characterized by panic attacks (defined as sudden feelings of terror when there is no real danger).
Can You Get Disability Benefits for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Most people who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder can work despite their symptoms. However, the condition can be disabling if it leads to excessive tardiness or absenteeism at work, difficulty interacting with supervisors and coworkers, difficulty completing work assignments on time, or error-free. If your anxiety disorder meets the forgoing criteria, then you may qualify for short-term or long-term disability benefits from your employer.
Be forewarned that many long-term disability plans limit benefits for mental and nervous disorders to two years, and some exclude coverage altogether. Thus, if you anticipate remaining off work due to anxiety for a prolonged amount of time, it is prudent to also apply for Social Security disability benefits (which your LTD plan administrator will require that you do anyway), since the Social Security Administration imposes no limit on benefits for disabilities caused by mental or nervous conditions.
How Do I Prove That My Anxiety Disorder Is Disabling?
Proving disability due to generalized anxiety disorder is no different from proving disability due to depression or other mental health conditions. Generally, the disability plan administrator will look for evidence that you see a psychologist or psychotherapist on at least a weekly basis. The plan administrator will also look for evidence that you have been prescribed medicine by a psychiatrist or doctor. Medication changes and changes to your dosage can indicate that your condition has not yet stabilized.
If your doctors have recommended that you attend a partial hospitalization or intensive outpatient program, that can be strong evidence of disability. The need to participate in daily treatment would preclude you from working full-time. It also suggests a level of severity of your condition that is not consistent with competitive employment.
In addition to medical records and therapy notes, you should submit letters from your doctors identifying the nature and extent of your anxiety-related restrictions and limitations. You might also consider having them complete a questionnaire (such as this one utilized by the Social Security Administration) regarding your ability to do work-related activities. Finally, you might consider undergoing a psychological evaluation that includes a battery of standardized tests to substantiate your impairment.
Why Are Disability Claims for Generalized Anxiety Disorder Denied?
Often, anxiety disorders are caused or aggravated by workplace stressors, such as a hostile boss or coworker. Removing yourself from a hostile work environment may be necessary for your recovery, but it can invite unwanted scrutiny of your short-term or long-term disability claim. Frequently, disability plan administrators will deny such claims by characterizing them as a “workplace dispute.” However, the cause of your anxiety is mainly irrelevant to whether you are disabled. Far more important are the functional restrictions and limitations documented by your treating providers.
Another favorite tactic of insurers and disability plan administrators is to ignore or minimize the stressfulness of your occupation. Most standard occupational resources do not acknowledge the stressfulness of work unless it involves matters of life and death (e.g., surgeons, first responders). Disability plan administrators exploit that omission by ignoring stress in their vocational analyses. For this reason, it is important that your doctors provide concrete restrictions and limitations (such as limited ability to “interact with the public” or “unable to remember detailed procedures”) that can serve as a proxy for stress, instead of offering only generic statements (e.g., “unable to tolerate stress”).
Another favorite tactic of insurance companies and ERISA plan administrators is to rely on reports by non-examining doctors and nurses to deny disability claims due to anxiety and depression instead of arranging an independent medical examination. Yet courts have harshly criticized the former practice, observing that, “Evaluation of mental health necessarily involves subjective symptoms, which are most accurately ascertained through interviewing the patient and spending time with the patient such that a pure record review will often be inadequate.” Okuno v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 836 F.3d 600, 610 (6th Cir. 2016) (internal quotations omitted). Thus, if you are denied disability benefits for generalized anxiety disorder based on the report of a file-reviewed doctor or nurse, and your treating physicians support your disability claim, you have a solid basis to appeal.
If you have questions about obtaining disability benefits due to generalized anxiety disorder or other conditions, do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at DeBofsky Law for a free consultation.
If you find that you worry excessively or have unexplained episodes of sadness or hopelessness where it interferes with working and everyday activities, you may be one of the millions of people in the United States who suffer from depression or anxiety. Both are mental health disorders capable of producing disabling symptoms.
A short-term disability insurance plan may offer financial relief while you work with your health care professionals to manage an anxiety disability and depression. Filing a claim and making the plan pay benefits can be a challenge, so the following information about getting short-term disability approved for anxiety and depression may be of some assistance.
What Is Depression?
Depression affects more than 17 million people in the U.S. with symptoms that may prevent them from working or engaging in the daily and social activities that they once enjoyed. Some of the common symptoms of depression disability include the following:
- Loss of motivation
- Lack of interest in participating in activities
- Episodes of sadness and feelings of hopelessness
- Thoughts of death and suicide
- Unexplained, rapid weight changes
- Binge eating, loss of appetite, and other unexplained changes in eating habits
- Episodes of anger with no specific cause associated with them
If you have symptoms lasting for at least two weeks, arrange an appointment with a physician or mental health professional for an evaluation of your condition. Depression is a treatable condition, but the symptoms associated with it may cause a person suffering from it to avoid or unnecessarily delay seeking professional help.
What Is Anxiety?
Feeling nervous or fearful can be a normal reaction to stressful situations, but someone with an anxiety disability may experience excessive fear and nervousness inappropriate to thoughts or situations. Someone with an anxiety disorder may be unable to function and find themselves withdrawing from and avoiding situations and activities, including work, school and social activities, that they fear may cause symptoms.
Symptoms of anxiety disorder may include all or some of the following:
- Excessive fear and nervousness
- Avoidance of social contacts
- Cold sweats and hyperventilation
- Rapid heart rate
- Hand tremors
- Weakness and fatigue
- Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia.
There are many types of anxiety, including panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder. If you believe you suffer from anxiety that affects your ability to work and engage in normal activities of daily life, speak with a physician or mental health professional. Anxiety disorders are treatable, but you need to take steps to obtain a proper diagnosis from a medical professional who can recommend a treatment plan.
Getting Short-Term Disability Approved For Anxiety And Depression
If your employer offers short-term disability insurance to pay for lost earnings and medical care when you have an illness that prevents you from working, you may consider filing a claim for benefits for anxiety or depression. However, first check the terms of the plan to determine the coverage, if any, offered for mental health disorders.
Some short-term disability plans exclude mental health illnesses, such as anxiety and disability, or limit the benefits they provide. The plans in most states are insurance policies that employers voluntarily purchase to cover employees, but laws in some states require coverage. Either the policy itself or the law in your state will provide you with information about the coverage provided for anxiety and depression.
An anxiety or depression disability caused by conditions related to your employment may not be eligible for short-term disability benefits. Work-related injuries and illnesses, including mental health disorders, are entitled to benefits through the workers’ compensation that exists in your state. Each state has its own workers’ compensation laws, so ask your disability lawyer to look into it for you to determine if it precludes you from receiving short-term disability benefits.
How To File A Claim For Short-Term Disability
To file a claim for short disability for anxiety, depression or other mental health disorder, you need a diagnosis from your physician or, preferably, a mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist. The medical records should include a diagnosis, treatment plan and a statement from the doctor detailing the specific ways that your illness affects your ability to work and engage in normal, day-to-day activities.
Convincing insurance companies to pay short-term disability claims for mental health disorders can be difficult. If your plan denies your claim, you have the right to file an appeal.
How Can A Disability Lawyer Help With A Claim For Short-Term Disability?
A free consultation and claim evaluation with a disability lawyer from Liner Legal Disability Lawyers may be the best way to learn about your rights and options available to you for benefits for depression and anxiety disability. Contact them today to schedule an appointment.
