Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders in the entire U.S. Yet its symptoms can frequently go unrecognized by those who experience them and those around them.[1] There’s also a major gap between the everyday anxiety we all experience and the kind of chronic anxiety disorder that can make holding a job or getting through the day feel out of reach.
For adults living with severe anxiety and ongoing demands at work, getting help while also keeping their job can be an urgent matter. But is anxiety a disability? The answer truly depends on the framework for the question and a host of factors, perhaps the most important of which is how to get enough support to function day-to-day.
If you’re concerned that anxiety is affecting your life to the extent that it’s becoming a disability, a mental health professional can offer insight and guidance. In the meantime, this page can also help, as it explores the idea of anxiety as a potential disability, including:
Anxiety can have a massive impact on your work, professionally and personally. Missing deadlines and finding it hard to concentrate can lead people to call out sick or cause conflict with colleagues and management. This can create several issues that can be difficult to navigate.
It can be uncomfortable to think about disclosing your difficulties to your employer. But an employer who doesn’t know about your anxiety disorder also has no legal requirement to make any accommodations for it.
Disclosing your experience doesn’t mean you have to share every detail of your personal life, experience, or treatment. It will likely involve sitting down with human resources and/or your direct manager to tell them you have a medical condition that affects your ability to perform certain job duties. This allows you to discuss potential accommodations that you may need.
From that point on, your employer is required to both listen to and work to help you with accommodations. And retaliation against you is expressly prohibited under the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, it’s still worthwhile to keep accurate documentation around your conversations with your employer, as, unfortunately, discrimination can still happen.
The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t list specific conditions that automatically qualify as disabilities in and of themselves. Instead, it defines disability functionally as a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities.[2] The definition is very broad, with anxiety disorder ADA coverage likely falling within these limits for many people.
Major life activities per the ADA include things like focusing, communicating, interacting with others, sleeping, and performing your work – all the areas that anxiety disorders tend to affect the most. Any adult whose anxiety produces panic attacks that make driving difficult or whose intrusive thoughts can make concentration feel impossible might meet the ADA threshold. This is because their anxiety is preventing them from functioning.[3]
Ultimately, the question of severity matters a lot in considerations. Milder or situational anxiety that responds well to self-management techniques usually won’t clear the bar of limiting a major life activity. But anxiety disorders that are clinically significant and disruptive to daily functioning may be different. Conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are all recognized in legal contexts as qualifying impairments under the ADA.
What’s more, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 expanded the definition of disability, making it easier to qualify than it had been before. The courts had previously interpreted the threshold in a much narrower way, excluding many with legitimate concerns. The amended law strengthened protections and opened mental health disability benefits to more people as a result.[4]
Qualifying as disabled under the ADA won’t mean your employer treats you as incapable of doing your job. Instead, it triggers a legally-protected obligation to engage in what the law refers to as an “interactive process,” or a good-faith conversation with your employer. This conversation focuses on what workplace accommodations for anxiety might make it possible to perform the essential features of your job.
These accommodations may include things like flexible scheduling to allow for therapy participation, permission to work remotely during periods of increased symptoms, a quieter workspace, or modified deadlines. Your employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would cause undue harm to the business – a high bar that most accommodations don’t come close to crossing.
Having said that, the ADA doesn’t protect you from all consequences related to your anxiety. For example, if anxiety-related absences or performance issues mean most duties of your job can’t be completed, even with accommodations, the legal protections have limits around what they can do.[5]
It’s important to always keep good records, engage with your treatment providers, and work proactively with your company or human resources team. Doing so allows you to successfully navigate the intersection between your anxiety and employment rights.
AMFM is here to help you or your loved one take the next steps towards an improved mental well-being.
Social Security disability anxiety claims are definitely possible, but the bar can also be much higher than you might think. The Social Security Administration (SSA) manages two programs for adults that people with anxiety might be eligible for. These are:
To receive disability for anxiety through either program, the SSA will evaluate your claim against a set of medical criteria from what is known as the ‘Blue Book.” This is a listing of conditions serious enough to qualify you if they’ve been thoroughly documented. Anxiety is covered under listing 12.06, which includes GAD, panic disorder, social anxiety, agoraphobia, and OCD.[6]
Meeting the listing requirements typically calls for documented evidence of specific symptoms and proof that the condition limits your ability to function, both at work and in daily life.
The SSA uses a two-part framework to evaluate claims for anxiety. This includes:
You must have an official diagnosis of an anxiety disorder and be able to demonstrate a treatment history and clinical records from prior treatment providers.
The SSA will also look for limitations experienced in your life across four key areas. These areas are: the ability to understand and apply information, the ability to interact with others, the ability to concentrate, and the ability to adapt to change.
To qualify under listing 12.06, someone making a claim usually needs to prove extreme limitation in at least one of the above areas, along with a serious limitation in at least two others. Someone whose anxiety disorder has been ongoing and serious for at least two years and who relies on ongoing medical treatment might also qualify. This may still be the case even if they don’t meet the criteria on the surface, though this process can be difficult as it falls under a separate provision.[6]
Even if the SSA doesn’t grant a claim, they still might award benefits via the medical-vocational allowance. This involves assessing whether there are any jobs in the current economy that you could reasonably perform successfully.
Overall, the SSA assessment process is notoriously slow. Initial applications are typically denied at a very high rate. Plus, many legitimate claims only get approved after requesting reconsideration or attending a hearing before a judge with an attorney.[7]
A Mission For Michael (AMFM) provides treatment for adults experiencing various conditions. Anxiety support is a phone call away – call 866-478-4383 to learn about our current treatment options.
See our residences in Southern California’s Orange County & San Diego County.
Take a look at our homes on the east side of the Metro area in Washington County.
View our facilities in Fairfax County, VA within the DC metro area.
If your anxiety has reached the point of affecting your employment or legal standing at work, it’s all the more important to be involved in treatment services. Managing your symptoms well enough to get through the day is one thing, but recovering to where work feels sustainable and enjoyable again is another. What’s more, successful treatment can involve more than weekly therapy appointments can provide.
Outpatient therapy and potential medication management are a great starting point for most people, and for some, will also be enough to get things on the right track. But if your anxiety is severe enough to threaten your job or trigger a disability claim, then you might need a higher level of care for ongoing recovery and healing.
Anxiety treatment programs that provide more support include IOP and PHP programs that provide treatment several days per week while still allowing you to return home at night. Alternatively, inpatient treatment can both stabilize a crisis and provide more intensive services. Evidence-based approaches such as these work to treat your anxiety’s root causes, integrating holistic activities and psychiatric care into your custom treatment plan.
Anxiety can cause major disruptions to your life, work, and loved ones – but it doesn’t have to control you. A Mission For Michael provides behavioral health treatment across every level of care, specializing in evidence-based anxiety treatments for adults. So we can help you address your long-term health and any dual diagnosis concerns you might have.
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If you believe that you may need certain workplace accommodations or leave due to your anxiety, it’s understandable that you may have some questions. We’ve provided the following answers to FAQs we commonly receive to help.
Technically, you don’t, but documentation from a clinician can make the process much smoother. Your employer can request medical verification that a condition exists to provide accommodations, and without a diagnosis, your request might be harder to substantiate.
No, retaliation for disclosing any disability or requesting accommodations is illegal under the ACA. However, if your performance issues at work existed before you spoke with your employer, they can still legally act on those separately. This is why timing and the appropriate documentation are so important.
The ADA’s standard asks if the condition in question substantially limits a major life activity, and not if a clinician has diagnosed it to be severe. Milder anxiety that responds well to treatment is unlikely to qualify as a result, but anxiety that makes it consistently hard to focus or attend to your job might.
At AMFM, we strive to provide the most up-to-date and accurate medical information based on current best practices, evolving information, and our team’s approach to care. Our aim is that our readers can make informed decisions about their healthcare.
Our reviewers are credentialed medical providers specializing and practicing behavioral healthcare. We follow strict guidelines when fact-checking information and only use credible sources when citing statistics and medical information. Look for the medically reviewed badge on our articles for the most up-to-date and accurate information.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate or out of date, please let us know at info@amfmhealthcare.com
