Getting Disability for Depression???

It's comments like this that make people afraid or embarassed to seek help for mental illness ...

You shouldn't judge ... I am visually impaired (legally blind due to a genetic condition called Stargardt's, which is similar to AR Macular Degeneration) ... People can be really rude about it, just because I don't use a cane or have a seeing eye dog (which I would qualify for), wear fashionable sunglasses instead of medical grade ones (too much light, especially sun and flouresent hurts my eyes), and try to "blend in" with normal sighted people (though when I take out one of my magnifying aides, then that kind of gives it away, lol) doesn't mean anything ... Just because a person doesn't have a visible disability, doesn't mean they don't have one ...

I can't speak for depression but I have a friend who gets disability for being obese. In my eyes she can get up and lose the weight but everyone is not willing and able to do that. Now I applied for disability when I got diagnosed with Luekemia in 2009. They turned me down saying I didn't have a debilitating disease. Not to mention I have a disabled child that for as long as she live she will never be able to walk talk or feed herself. Yet to them I wasn't needy, but I didn't cry about and I continued to work and take care of my child while doing chemo. I just finished another 6 month round of chemo and I worked through it all. We all have our crosses to bear and only god can be the true judge. I like to believe that the man upstairs knew I was wrong enough and here I am 4 years later still living.

See, this is the problem. If you can get disability for something like depression, then you should be able to get it if you have cancer, especially if you have a disabled child. You are a survivor ma'am. Awesome for you.

I just think we should be trying to FIX the problem. That money could be spent on intensive inpatient treatment. I had a professor in college who discussed this topic. It was a Drugs and Society class. After taking his class I have a whole different perspective on America's treatment of mental disorders. Instead of trying to help we medicate and put bandaids just to keep making money off of people's suffering. Disability for obesity? I guess it pays more to keep a person motivated to stay obese so doctors are guaranteed thousands of dollars by the time this person dies.

I'm not trying to judge, but I am entitled to my opinion. I had no idea that depression could be so crippling. Like I said I watched my brother spiral in it. He was hospitalized for a month, medicated and sedated; he used to tell me demons were following him. I cried for him quite a bit. After awhile he got some newer aged treatment, starting exercising, and now he's in college and going to work. I guess that's why I didn't empathize with the woman, because I saw my brother fight it and come out on top.

I am glad I asked. I learned something new. It still makes me uneasy, but that's probably because there are theoretical practices that could be tried. But every situation is a different case, so I don't know.

You don't know what kind of treatments she's undergoing at the moment, how many she's tried before, how long she's been doing it, if her previous medication stopped working for her (it happens), if her psych wanted to exhaust SSRI class medications before trying SNRI medications, if she's currently trying to get a job that has a schedule that will work for her (because going from 0 to a 40+ hour work week is seriously overwhelming), if she's taking a break from working to allow herself to focus on her mental health recovery, and on, and on, and on. I sure as anything wouldn't be sharing those details with my neighbours.

(And no, as someone with depression that responds to no treatment but medication (and lord knows I've tried), medication is not a bandaid. Medication is effectively my insulin. The technology to permanently fix what is wrong with my brain is a long way off.)

Hell, even recovery is hard work. "Crap, I still feel bad. This is the xth medication I'm taking and it's still not working, I'm a failure, nothing is going to work for me, why am I even trying, I'm just wasting everyone's time and money, just because I'm thinking bad things about myself doesn't mean they're wrong and attributable to depression, f this I'm just going to sleep for the rest of the day," is a thought pattern I've been through multiple times, and I know I'm not the only person.

Not to mention, if she's the sole caretaker for a minor, even if she can financially afford to be hospitalized long enough to set up an effective long-term treatment plan, she might not be able to have her kid watched for that long. My parents might have left me alone for a few days when I was 16, but I sure as anything can't imagine them leaving me alone for a month+. Given that most medications take several weeks to start showing effects, and several are contraindicated, meaning she would have to be fully weaned off one before starting another, this could take several months of inpatient treatment, as opposed to her simply taking these medications at home where she can keep an eye on her kid.

TL;DR 1) depression can be seriously crippling, 2) given how tightfisted disability services are, someone far more qualified than you has certainly determined that hers is such a case, and 3) it can take a very, very long time to find a treatment that allows one to get back into normal adult life.

There's no need for name calling because a lot of people have mental issues. Anyway, severe depression is crippling, and a mental disorder that warrants a disability check from the government.

Well I can see you have never ever dealt with depression. Depression is crippling, it can make you desperate, it can make you not want to get out of bed. It is not just a made up thing, I think anyone suffering from severe depression deserves to get disability while they work with doctors to improve their mental state.

@ budgie

That's true. I really don't know what all she has tried. However, there are some things about her that kinda tells me she hasn't exhausted all avenues. And I'm very sorry you've had such a battle with depression. See, in my mind I always saw depression as something that has to be overcome, not like an actual DISEASE. to me it's like cancer, a very bad disease that you can either succomb to or survive. Is that a bad analogy to have. With the way some of the posters sound it seems like depression can be something lifelong that can't be cured.

I like to compare chronic major depressive disorder to diabetes. It's usually a lifelong condition (although depression's severity can fluctuate). Untreated, it can do a serious number on you, even kill you. It can go undetected for quite some time, it can show up at different ages, and some people are better at sticking to the necessary regimens for managing it than others. Some people can manage it non-medicinally, while others need medications all their life, and some people might be able to manage it non-medicinally but find it safer/easier/more comfortable to manage it with medication. None of these choices are the wrong ones, so long as they take care of themselves and are healthy.

She might not have tried all her options. Unfortunately, depression is pretty good at making trying seem futile. If that is the case, I sincerely hope she finds the drive to find a solution, for her own sake.

You are right Marilyn, the severity, and the duration, as well as response to treatment can vary greatly.

As a schizo on medication who currently cannot work I take mild offence to that.

But to the point of the thread, yes clinical depression can be crippling to the point where a person cannot work. Is it really your place to be judging the veracity of someone else's mental illness?

Do you have personal experience with it, or...?

I'm very sorry. I shortened the work out of sheer laziness. I will go back and fix it.

And yes I do. I was clinically depressed for a long time. So was my brother. He was hospitalized because of it, and on meds. But disability was never offered to him to help. My mom has a mental disorder, that I will not disclose. But no disability. I was just wondering is all. I have mental illness rampant in my family, but disability for it? It still doesn't seem right.

Think about this. Most people, right, get something out of work.

Even if it's a crappy job, they're bored, they don't like their boss, they get something.

Money. Credibility in the eyes of society. Regular exposure to peers, even friends; some kind of affiliation, anyway. If they're lucky, actual pleasure, and/or a sense of reward, from the actual job they do. If not lucky, at the very least, they get a sense of structure (not to say 'purpose').

The person you're talking about is not engaging in any of that, and is taking on a much smaller, probably more isolated life*. Why would someone do something like that?

*and also probably dealing with shame around not working and whatever in the whole history of their lives is driving the depression, right?

As a schizo on medication who currently cannot work I take mild offence to that.

But to the point of the thread, yes clinical depression can be crippling to the point where a person cannot work. Is it really your place to be judging the veracity of someone else's mental illness?

Do you have personal experience with it, or...?

I'm very sorry. I shortened the work out of sheer laziness. I will go back and fix it.

And yes I do. I was clinically depressed for a long time. So was my brother. He was hospitalized because of it, and on meds. But disability was never offered to him to help. My mom has a mental disorder, that I will not disclose. But no disability. I was just wondering is all. I have mental illness rampant in my family, but disability for it? It still doesn't seem right.

I

You don't get "offered" disability. YOu apply for it and wait months to see if you qualify and a lot of the times you dont the first time. And EVERY PERSON IS DIFFERENT. Great for you, you are able to work. Now shut up about all of us who can't because we aren't quite there yet. I've tried working. I get fired or quit impulsively because of my disorder. Meds dont work for me.