Various mental health disorders have the potential to interfere with someone’s ability to hold down a steady job and earn an income. If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or another such condition that’s severe enough to prevent you from earning money and covering your basic expenses, you might be eligible to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) through the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Further Reading: What Conditions Qualify for Disability?
SSDI consists of monthly payments to assist you with paying for food, housing, etc. The maximum mealth health SSDI payment is is $3,627 per month in 2023. However, the exact amount you might receive can vary depending on numerous factors.
How To Calculate How Much Disability You’ll Get With A Mental Health Disorder
Factors which can influence how much SSDI might pay to someone struggling with a mental health disorder include the following:
- Average lifetime earnings prior to becoming disabled
- Cost of living expenses
- Medical expenses
The SSA may account for these factors and more when deciding how much money you deserve to collect every month.
Getting Back Pay For A Mental Health Disorder
It typically takes the SSA several months to reach a decision when someone with a mental health disorder applies for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI). Additionally, the SSA often denies initial applications. It may thus be necessary for an applicant to appeal the SSA’s decision before receiving an approval.
A significant amount of time may elapse between when you apply for SSDI and when the SSA ultimately approves your application. When you do receive an approval, you may be eligible for SSDI back pay consisting of up to 12 months of payments to cover the time between when you submitted an application and when the SSA approved it.
Be aware that a five-month waiting period also applies to SSDI benefits. For instance, maybe 10 months elapsed between when you applied for SSDI and when you received an approval from the SSA. Subtracting the five-month waiting period, this means you might be eligible for up to five months of back pay.
Retroactive Payments For A Mental Health Disorder
Back pay consists of payments to cover the period between submitting an application and the SSA approving said application. However, if you have a mental health disorder, it’s possible you struggled with a disability for some time before applying for SSDI.
As such, you might also be eligible to receive up to 12 months of retroactive disability payments to cover the time between when your disability began and when you submitted an application. As with back pay, the five-month waiting period applies.
Work With An Attorney
Don’t let the process of filing for SSDI benefits overwhelm you. If you struggle with a mental health disorder that interferes with your ability to work, you don’t need to add to your burdens by attempting to handle your SSDI application alone. Instead, strongly consider hiring an SSDI attorney to represent you.
No one can guarantee you will receive a specific amount of monthly SSDI payments when the SSA reviews your application. That said, an SSD lawyer’s expertise might improve your odds of receiving what you deserve. Get started today by taking the Free Case Evaluation on this page to get connected and speak with a lawyer who can help—at zero cost to you.
