Is Anxiety a Disability

Is Anxiety a Disability?

When excessive and irrational feelings of worry, fear, and dread dominate your daily life, it causes functional impairment. This impairment affects all areas of a person’s life, including their career. If you are experiencing crippling anxiety that is impacting your job performance, you may wonder, “Is anxiety a disability?” Read on as we explore this possibility.

Can You Qualify for Disability Due to Anxiety?

When an anxiety disorder causes extreme disruption in a person’s professional life, it may result in the inability to work and earn a living. In some cases, the impairment in functioning caused by the anxiety may qualify the individual for disability support.

Protections under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) provide for employees to receive special accommodations at work for anxiety management. However, sometimes the employer is not able to provide these, or if so, the anxiety is still unmanageable. In this event, the employee may apply for disability.

Government assistance is available through the Social Security Administration (SSA) for qualifying individuals with severe physical or mental impairments. The SSA uses the Blue Book of qualifying conditions, which includes anxiety disorders, to assess applicants. However, there are stringent conditions that must be met before payments are granted.

Disability Criteria for Anxiety

To qualify for disability insurance under the SSA the person must meet certain criteria. These include:

• Must have a disability that affects their work ability for a year or more
• Must have worked 5 of the last 10 years, with young people being the exception
• Must provide access to medical records
• Must provide details of mental health diagnosis and treatment received
• Must provide information about the job and daily duties, including the types of jobs held for the prior 15 years.

Note that the SSA will not approve the claim if the anxiety diagnosis is less than two years prior. The approval process is lengthy, and may take up to nine months to get an answer. If eligible for assistance, the first payment will arrive six months after approval.

Long-term disability is granted if the anxiety disorder does not improve, keeping the person from being able to work. The SSA reviews the claim every so often and will adjust the payments or remove the claim if the anxiety has resolved and the person has returned to work.

About Anxiety

Roughly 40 million Americans experience some form of anxiety disorder each year, making it the most prevalent mental health challenge. Anxiety is rooted in the fight or flight response that all humans are hardwired with. This occurs when encountering a situation that triggers the fear response, prompting the brain to produce the stress chemicals. 

The cortisol and adrenaline cause us to become hyper-aware and on guard in the anticipation of a threat. In individuals with anxiety disorder, this fear response is triggered repeatedly. This results in isolating behaviors to avoid the perceived triggering situations.

Typical symptoms of anxiety include:

• Rapid heartbeat
• Hyperventilating
• Shaking or tremors
• Sweating
• Flushed face
• Agitation
• Dizziness
• Stomach distress
• Headache
• Tense muscles
• Dry mouth
• Insomnia

There are different forms of anxiety within the anxiety disorder spectrum. These each have specific features that relate to the type of anxiety and the way a person responds to it. Anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety
• Panic disorder
• Specific phobia
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder

When Anxiety Causes Functional Impairment

Anxiety impacts many facets of a person’s health and wellness. It often causes insomnia, which affects the person’s job performance. Other signs of occupational impairment due to anxiety include:

• Reduced cognitive functioning. Anxiety disrupts the limbic region of the brain, causing impairment in concentration, decision-making, and memory. This may result in making errors at work, difficulty focusing, or not completing projects.

• Mood swings. Anxiety often causes moodiness and irritability, which can affect workplace relationships. This causes strife among coworkers, drama, conflicts, and tension.

• Avoidance behaviors. When anxiety causes daily problems at work, it may cause the individual to avoid showing up to work. Excessive absences impact job performance and may result in termination.

• Physical symptoms. Anxiety often presents with somatic symptoms, like chronic headaches or stomach distress. These may lead to an employee leaving work early or repeatedly calling in sick, which disrupts overall performance.

In sum, the effects of extreme anxiety can greatly impact an individual’s ability to perform at work. Is anxiety a disability? It is when the symptoms of anxiety create a barrier to functioning on the job.

Residential Treatment for Extreme Anxiety

If extreme anxiety is causing impairment at work, a residential mental health treatment program offers support and solutions. These are inpatient luxury treatment centers that have a limited number of clients at any given time. This allows the clinical staff to provide personalized treatment with a high degree of attentiveness. 

This type of intensive treatment helps the individual gain control over anxiety by learning new ways to manage symptoms. Treatment involves a medley of therapies and holistic activities that help the person respond to triggering situations in productive ways:

• Medication. Anxiety disorder symptoms can be reduced with certain medications. These include antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and mood stabilizers.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT guides the individual toward recognizing irrational thoughts that are disrupting their work life. CBT helps by confronting the triggers and the resulting avoidance behaviors, and replacing them with assertive behaviors.

• Prolonged Exposure Therapy.  This trauma-focused therapy helps to desensitize the person to the traumatic memory through talk therapy. This is accomplished by discussing the disturbing experience until it loses its shock value.

• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. EMDR is also helpful when anxiety involves trauma. EMDR is an 8-step plan that helps to desensitize the person to the anxiety-provoking fear. 

• Psychodrama Role Playing. Psychodrama involves role-playing, where stressful workplace scenarios can be played out in a safe, supportive space. 

Has anxiety has become so disruptive to your career that you find yourself wondering, “Is anxiety a disability?” If so, it is time to seek out expert support and gain a foothold on anxiety.

LifeSync Malibu Luxury Residential Treatment for Anxiety

LifeSync Malibu provides exceptional mental health treatment within a beautiful, tranquil Malibu setting. Don’t allow anxiety to impact your ability to succeed at your career. Give us a call today at (866) 491-4426.