Long-Term Physical Conditions and Mental Health

Long-term physical conditions are medical diseases or disorders that may affect one’s quality of life and often require special accommodations that may last for the majority of someone’s life. Long-term conditions are significant because they may affect a person’s ability to work and create income for at least six months or longer.

Life is difficult enough as is, so having on-going physical ailments like asthma and fatigue that require many accommodations or difficulty finding work on top of that can take a toll on one’s mental health. It can be important for family members, caregivers, and victims themselves to understand the link between physical health conditions and mental health struggles. 

With such difficulties mentally, physically, and financially, you may be wondering what legal options are available to individuals suffering from long-term chronic illnesses and mental health struggles. Luckily, there are government benefits available through the Social Security Administration (SSA) for individuals who are suffering, including access to healthcare and reliable income. A disability attorney is a legal representative who can assist in claiming these benefits.

For Philly residents living with disability, consult with a Pennsylvania disability lawyer and pursue the benefits you deserve.

How Do Chronic Illnesses Affect Mental Health?

Chronic illnesses are a wide range of physical health disorders that can often have long-term consequences for years and even an entire lifetime. These may include:

• Arthritis: Where the joints in one’s knees, elbows, shoulders, and fingers swell up, causing chronic pain.
• Eczema: Involving inflammation of the skin causing redness or rash.
• High cholesterol: Involving build-up of plaque in blood vessels that narrow the arteries over time and can cause risk of blood clots and could lead to a heart attack or stroke.
• Diabetes: Effects the body’s insulin production and deregulates blood sugar levels.
• Asthma: Where the airways in the lungs are narrow which makes breathing difficult.
• Lupus: When the immune system attacks its own healthy tissue and organs, causing severe pain.
• Scoliosis: Involving an irregular curve in the spine that leads to back pain and stiffness, and in more severe cases could physically impair one’s ability to walk or sit down for long periods.
• Cystic fibrosis: Where the lungs, pancreas, and other organs become clogged with mucus.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Respiratory conditions where damage or inflammation in the lungs obstructs airflow and leads to tight chest or loud coughing. It can often be caused by long-term exposure to chemicals or smoking.
• Cancer: Abnormal cell growth that can be fatal with or without treatment.
• Heart disease: A number of conditions that affect the overall cardiovascular function like blood vessels and arteries, often creating blockages or restricting access of oxygen, causing severe pain or even heart failure.

In some cases, one may even have coexisting conditions from two or more physical health diseases that may lead to complicated medical records, like diagnostic overshadowing. 

There is also a significant impact of physical activity on mental health, as it may affect one’s self-esteem, their sense of duty, guilt for needing assistance or maintenance, frustration from the constant pain, financial stress from healthcare and disability policies, and other such mental health struggles like anxiety and depression. 

To understand how a victim of chronic illness and mental health issues can claim disability benefits, they can seek support from a disability lawyer.

Proving Mental Health Impairments in Disability Claims

In a disability claim, mental disability can sometimes be more difficult to prove than physical health problems, as physical symptoms are more immediately visible than psychological symptoms. 

However, mental health illness can still qualify for disability if it can be proven to be caused by a long-term condition, and if the condition has prevented someone from working full-time for at least 12 months, among other criteria.

To prove that an individual has been affected by such health impairments, the individual or their lawyer will need to provide documentation that verifies that they have the disorder and the extent to which they need treatment and accommodation.

What Evidence is Needed to Prove a Disability Caused by a Long-Term Condition?

To successfully prove a disability caused by a long-term condition, you’ll need to collect evidence, such as:

• Medical diagnosis: A written or digital statement from a doctor or healthcare provider confirming the diagnosis of the mental or physical disorder.
• Treatment plans and records: Records of the claimant’s appointments and specific accommodation options for their conditions.
• Physical therapy reports: A record of attending any physical therapy sessions, as many chronic illnesses require physical therapy.
• Collaborative care reports: A record involving multiple providers communicating over a patient’s diagnosis and treatment.
• Imaging studies: Visual representations of the interior of the body.
• Medical invoices: Bills accrued over time from doctor’s appointments, prescriptions, or surgeries.
• Prescriptions: Proof that the claimant takes medicine for their ailment that was recommended by a doctor.
• Preventive health checks: Physicals, screenings, or immunizations
• Statements from family and caregivers: Testimony from those who have observed the claimant in their day-to-day life.
• Statements from job: Pay stubs or statements from a former employer that prove the claimant is either unemployed or unable to work full-time and makes less than $1500/month.
• Statement from therapist: An account from a therapist or other mental health specialists on the claimant’s mental state and psychosis, if applicable.
• Social determinants of health: Non-medical lifestyle factors like income, education, neighborhood
• Personal testimony: The claimant’s own account of their daily lifestyle and how their illness or condition affects their joy of life.

A disability attorney can also assist in collecting such documents to build a stronger case for your disability claim.

Can Mental Health Conditions Alone Qualify for Disability Benefits?

There are a number of mental disorders that qualify for disability, including:

• Cognitive impairment: Can be defined as a significant decline in decision-making, insight, judgement, coordination, speech, spatial awareness, coordination, or other cognitive-related symptoms.
• Psychosis: Can be defined as being unable to distinguish reality from fantasy, often involving delusions, hallucinations, or near catatonic behavior.
• Mood disorders: A collection of complex behavioral disorders that involve rapid changes or disturbances in a person’s mood. Trauma and emotional stress are often underlying factors.
• Schizophrenia: A specific mood disorder that can result in hyper-realistic hallucinations and delusions.
• Anxiety: Characterized as related to excessive worry, apprehension, and avoidance of certain activities, places, or people due to fear or embarrassment.
• Depression: A loss of interest or pleasure in most activities, that can lead to loss of energy, disturbed sleep, changes in body weight, sadness, and decreased physical activity, and social isolation.
• Bipolar disorder: An abnormal disorder distinguished by frequent changes in mood from abject depression or elevated mania.
• Insomnia: A sleep disorder where individuals have difficulty sleeping at night often leading to daytime sleepiness, irritability, or depression.
• Suicidal Ideation: Thoughts and ruminations by an individual about dying by suicide. Not always a diagnosis.

Disability benefits with a mental illness are meant to provide financial support to people who cannot support themselves because of their disability.  This support allows mentally disabled people to focus on self-care practices and hopefully enjoy better health outcomes.

Seeking Legal Help for a Better Quality of Life

To better navigate the claims process with insurance companies, you can enlist the help of a disability lawyer to help pursue the benefits you need. 

For Philadelphia residents struggling with physical health challenges and mental health, Chermol & Fishman has a solution. Our team of attorneys can assist you in the claims process, and if your initial application is denied, we can also help to appeal in court, and ensure you receive the benefits you deserve.