Schizophrenia is a mental disorder and has to be detected by a psychiatrist instead of a physician for proper diagnosis and treatment. Mental disorders are more difficult to be testified by a doctor as severe disabilities under the strict criteria of the Blue Book of impairments. Nonetheless, schizophrenic patients suffer great troubles concentrating and fulfilling day to day responsibilities of an adult normally.

Schizophrenic patients face mild to severe troubles depending on the type of schizophrenic disorder they have. The common ailments include hypertension, severe insomnia, trouble concentrating or keeping focus for a longer time than 10 minutes, difficulty in muscle coordination etc. Sometimes as the disease progresses the patient may experience hallucinations, flat effects (difficulty feeling pain), social withdrawal, agitation and anxiety.

Depending on the severity of your schizophrenia the Social Security Administration (SSA) will determine if you qualify under Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI. For instance, in some cases a schizophrenic patient may not become well even after one year treatment or may face the condition worsening after adverse effects to his medical conditions prescriptions.

Filing for Social Security Disability for Schizophrenic patients

In order to qualify for SSDI for Schizophrenic patients, the patient must be able to prove through his psychiatrists or SSA's examiner reports through direct consultation with the patient's doctors that:

  • He/she faces delusions or hallucinations;
  • Disorganized or catatonic behavior;
  • Emotional and physical withdrawal from the society;
  • Incoherent or illogical thinking or behavior such as hypertension, anxiety, panic attacks etc;
  • Your medical records show that your condition lasted at least two years without improvement;

Although, proving disability for a schizophrenic alone on medical records basis could be tough and difficult to qualify, your application would have a higher chance of acceptance under the SSDI if you work closely with a Social Security Disability Attorney or Advocate and your medical doctor or psychiatrist to present your case in the best way through filing the paperwork properly and exclusively.