Bipolar disorder leads to many Social Security disability claims. It’s a common health problem and often a serious one.

Not all people with bipolar disorder will get on Social Security disability benefits, nor should they. In most cases, bipolar disorder can be controlled with medication and therapy.

Certainly, there are many who suffer from bipolar who should be on disability benefits. It’s one of the more common health problems that Social Security disability attorneys see.

In bipolar cases Social Security is looking at these sorts of factors:

• Is the patient in psychiatric care? Not just care from a primary care physician but from a psychiatrist.
• Is the patient taking the medications prescribed for them?
• Has the patent required inpatient treatment?
• How well is the patient getting on with their life? Can they get much housework done? Socialize? Take care of business affairs?
• What happened in the past when the patient was working? What problems led to the patient being out of work?
• Does the patient also have a substance abuse problem? They’re commonly associated with bipolar disorder and make the bipolar disorder worse. This makes a case harder to win.
• Does the patient have a panic disorder? They’re also commonly associated with bipolar disorder. Is the panic disorder causing agoraphobia — that is the fear of leaving the house without a security figure such as spouse, parent, or child? Agoraphobia can certainly be disabling.