Do you think that mental health issues should be considered disabilities?

Where I live there is a program for people who have medical problems and can't work. However, my best friend who has depression and anxiety does not qualify. He wanted to go on it because with his problems it is extremely difficult to hold down a job (fear of being around people, lack of energy, feeling sick all the time, etc.). He wanted the financial backing while he received some really in depth care for his problems so he could return to work, and actually KEEP a job. They said that mental health problems were not disabilities, and he didn't qualify. Also, he works with two people who are on the program with different physical problems, & they can work more hours, & they make more money than he does at his best, but they still qualify. I don't feel it is fair, but I want to know outside opinions. Feel free to disagree with me, but do you feel that mental health problems should be considered disabilites under certain circumstances?

Thanks for the answers so far! I am going to tell my buddy that he needs to try some different avenues like the Social Security one before he gives up. And hey, Randy D, you have my sympathy, because I personally think it is dumb that you didn't qualify... just because you had a desk job doesn't mean that all your activities were done just sitting there. Something as small as getting to the filing cabinent in the next room becomes more of a challenge after an accident like that. I guess the people in charge must have some logic though.

i get disability benefits for mental diability. i called social security and had to answer a lot of questions and then they sent me a lot of paperwork to fill out. i was sent by the state to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and i had to have documentation of every doctor i had ever been to. anyway to make this a little shorter, call social security 1st and your friend will be assigned a case worker. do everything that case worker tells you to do. it can happen. good luck.

I have diabetes and all the things that go with it now they tell me I must have mental disorders like anxiety and or depression to get help I think they hold you off to out last you

Yeah, you're definately right. Some people need to be evaluated and possibly even put under supervision by a psychiatrist. Mental illnesses can definately be disabling.

I have processed numerous individuals with psychiatrically diagnosed illnesses for disabilities over the 20+ years of my mental health practice (now retired). A lot of the ability to get someone qualified for disability depends on the political flavor of the time. I find it interesting that, despite how many people I got qualified for psychiatric disabilities and substance dependence, when I went to get qualified after being run over by a train and losing my leg above the knee, they said I was too educated to be disabled since I "had a sit-down job before your (my) accident and you (me) can have a sit-down job again." Their exact words. God Bless you.

well depending on where u live "mental health problems" can mean completely different things. the thing is the state where u live has it's own governing bodies, to speak that define what type of aliments are considered "disabilities". usually this means that u have to suffer from some form of disorder or possess some types of symptoms that prevent u from being able to be gainfully employed and how long u are able to work consecutively. it is really complicated to say the least because u can receive social security disability or supplemental security income services depending on so many factors such as age, nature of problem, how many years u previously worked, if u had a parent that received these benefits, and the list goes on and on. like the state i live in for ex. (WV) considers mental health problems to be a form of disability especially if this prevents u from being employed. i should also mention that they also consider what type of job u were doing at the time ur disability occured and can u still perform that job or can u be trained to work in another field. i receive social securtiy disability as a result of suffering from major depression, acute anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks. i worked in mental health for 10 yrs so they deemed it necessary that i receive these benefits because i could not return to the field i was trained to work in or what i had a current degree in. and trust me it was not easy to get these benefits, it took me three long years. i greatly appreciate the monthly benefit that i receive because i would be unable to pay my monthly bills without it and during those years i was employed i paid social security taxes so i feel that the money i receive is money i paid into the program. it does get difficult though because sometimes the allotment is not enough to cover everything and i can't afford a car right now. and it gets really boring after not working for awhile. the only problem i forsee now is when i'm ready to go back to work i fear i will lose my benefits and what if i have to quit working again how will i survive? sorry didn't mean to trail off there but i'm sure ur friend has a lot of the same frustrations. anyway hope i helped some good luck to u and ur friend:)

They most certainly can be. I can report from personal experience -- I'm bipolar. Are there some cases of mental illnesses that are not that disabling? sure. It's all a matter of degree, just like other health issues. There are ranges in how bad diabetes can be, just as there is a spectrum of severity of mental health.