Poor mental health can impact every part of your life. Conditions like anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders can make it hard to keep up with work, school, and family responsibilities.
Over time, these challenges can also affect your physical health and relationships, leading to even greater challenges.
When symptoms become severe, some people wonder if mental health issues can qualify for long-term disability.
Understanding how mental health is viewed in disability evaluations can help you get the support you need.
What Qualifies as a Disability?
A disability is not just a health condition; it’s about how that condition affects your ability to participate in everyday life.
In the United States, laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) define a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that significantly limits one or more major life activities.
Major life activities include a wide range of daily activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, caring for oneself, and interacting with others. The important part is that the impairment must substantially limit these activities. This means the condition makes it much harder or impossible for you to do these things compared to most people.
Is Anxiety Considered a Disability?
Anxiety is a normal human emotion, but for some people, it becomes severe and persistent, greatly impacting their daily lives.
When anxiety becomes a diagnosed medical condition, such as Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, or Social Anxiety Disorder, and it significantly limits one or more major life activities, it can indeed be considered a disability.
This means if your anxiety makes it very difficult to work, attend school, care for yourself, or interact with others, it might meet the criteria for a disability under laws like the ADA.
Is Depression a Disability Under the Law?
Depression is more than just feeling sad; it’s a serious mood disorder that can cause severe symptoms affecting how you feel, think, and handle daily activities.
When depression is severe and long-lasting, making it hard to work, sleep, eat, or participate in hobbies you once enjoyed, it can be considered a disability.
Like anxiety, for depression to be recognised as a disability, it needs to be a diagnosed medical condition that substantially limits a major life activity. This might include major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), or bipolar disorder when it significantly impairs functioning.
What About Schizophrenia and Other Severe Conditions?
Schizophrenia is a complex, long-term brain disorder that can cause a range of problems with thinking, behaviour, and emotions.
It frequently leads to significant impairment in daily functioning, making it very difficult for individuals to hold a job, maintain relationships, or care for themselves without support.
Because of this, schizophrenia is generally recognised as a severe mental illness that often qualifies as a disability.
Other severe mental health conditions, such as Bipolar Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), can also qualify as disabilities if their symptoms are severe enough to significantly limit major life activities.
Get Mental Health Screening and Support at 3P4Care Avondale
If you or someone you care about may be facing anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or another mental health concern, 3P4Care Avondale is here to help.
As your primary care providers, we offer mental health screening as part of our approach to whole-person care.
During your annual wellness visit, we can provide counselling and connect you with trusted therapists, psychiatrists and other mental and emotional health resources to support your needs.
Book your appointment today and get the care and guidance to move forward.
