Bipolar Disorder Disability
Lawyer in California

Bipolar Disorder Disability Lawyer California

The disability professionals at Sackett Law have devoted more than four decades to helping people who live each day with the challenges of bipolar disorder navigate through the process of qualifying for disability benefits through the Social Security Administration. If you or someone close to you has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, disability benefits can lessen the financial burden caused by being unable to work.

Sackett Law gets you through a complex process that rejects more than two-thirds of benefit claims submitted annually. Our disability lawyers are committed to bringing you the benefits you deserve and need when bipolar disorder prevents you from working.

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive illness, is a mental health condition causing extreme mood swings. A person diagnosed with bipolar disorder may exhibit emotional highs, called mania or hypomania, and lows or depression. Mood swings associated with bipolar disorder severely impact a person’s ability to perform routine day-to-day tasks, impede the ability to maintain personal relationships and make it challenging to perform work-related activities.

Types and symptoms of bipolar disorder

• Bipolar 1 disorder: This type of bipolar disorder generally includes at least one manic episode followed or preceded by a hypomanic or major depressive episode. A person may experience hallucinations, which medical professionals call psychotic features.
• Bipolar II disorder: Medical professionals look for one or more major depressive episodes and at least one hypomanic episode. A hypomanic episode is characterized by manic symptoms lasting four consecutive days. It is less severe than manic episodes that can last for a week or longer and may require hospitalization to ensure the safety of the individual.
• Cyclothymic disorder: A type of bipolar disorder where a person has at least two years of hypomania and periods with depressive symptoms.

Drugs, alcohol, and medical conditions, such as stroke and multiple sclerosis, can cause other types of bipolar disorders.

Can you get disability for bipolar disorder?

The Social Security Administration recognizes bipolar disorder as a disability qualifying for benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. The disorder must interfere with your ability to work and be documented with medical records, including a diagnosis.

The medical records must include the following:

• Dates of visits to the doctor or hospitalizations for the disorder.
• Notes and observations by the treating physician.
• Patient history.
• Physical examination.
• Examination notes and findings.
• Results of psychological evaluation.
• Treatment recommended and medications prescribed.
• Documentation of patient complying with treatment program and taking prescribed medications.

Medical records must document the severity of the symptoms and their effect on a patient’s ability to perform work activities. It is essential that a person follow the treatment plan and take all medications prescribed by their treating health care provider. Failing to follow a course of treatment can result in a denial of SSI and SSDI disability benefits.

How does Social Security decide if you qualify for disability for bipolar?

The Social Security Administration has a listing of impairments, commonly called the Blue Book, containing medical conditions considered severe enough to meet the eligibility requirements for SSI and SSDI. Bipolar disorder is a disabling impairment found in Section 12.04 of the Blue Book.

To qualify for benefits with a disability for bipolar disorder, the Blue Book criteria you must meet is extensive. For example, it includes a requirement of proof of at least three of the following symptoms:

• Decreased need for sleep.
• Pressured speech.
• Flight of ideas.
• Easily distracted.
• Inflated self-esteem.
• Involvement in high-risk activities without recognizing the probability of painful consequences.
• Increase in psychomotor activities.

The symptoms must cause either extreme in one or marked limitation in two of the following mental functions:

• Ability to remember, understand, or apply information.
• Interacting with other people.
• Ability to concentrate, persist, or maintain pace.
• Adapt or manage yourself.

Working with a Sackett Law disability lawyer relieves you of the burden of understanding and interpreting complex eligibility requirements. Your disability also knows that the listing of impairments is not the only way to qualify for SSI or SSDI with bipolar disorder.

You can qualify for disability benefits if the symptoms of bipolar disorder prevent you from doing the type of work you did in the past or doing other kinds of jobs available in the national economy. Consideration is given to your age, education, skills, and other factors to determine if the limitations imposed by your mental health condition prove that you are disabled.

Had a claim for bipolar disability denied? Let Sackett Law challenge the decision

More than two-thirds of disability benefit applications are denied each year, but a denial of benefits does not mean that you should give up. Sackett Law can appeal the denial through a process that includes the following stages:

• Reconsideration: A request for reconsideration results in your application being reviewed by an examiner who was not involved in the original decision.
• Hearing with an administrative law judge (ALJ): If a request for reconsideration does not turn out in your favor, Sackett Law appeals to the next level, a hearing with an ALJ. Your disability lawyer has the opportunity to present witnesses and present documents supporting your claim.
• Request for an Appeals Council review: Sackett Law can challenge an unfavorable decision at the hearing stage by requesting its review by an Appeals Council, which has the power to reverse the denial of benefits.
• Review by a federal district court judge: The last stage of the appeal process is filing a civil action in a federal district court, asking a judge to review the claim and overturn the denial of benefits.

Through every stage of the appeal process, a disability lawyer from Sackett Law fights to get you the disability for bipolar that you need and are entitled to receive.

Contact Sackett Law today

If a medical professional diagnoses you with bipolar disorder that keeps you from working, contact a Sackett Law disability lawyer for a free consultation and claim evaluation. Learn why people in Northern California and throughout the United States trust Sackett Law as their staunch advocate for disability benefits and have done so for more than four decades.