Anxiety Short Term Disability
What can I to do to help my cousin? She is bipolar and has anxiety disorder.?
My cousin is just 35 years old. She has 4 children. She has been a stay at home mom for 16 years as they married very young. Her husband left her after 16 years of marriage. She has only worked sporadically as her husband felt very strongly that she stay home and raise their children and he made a very good salary to support them all. She gets only minimal child support and very little spousal support now.
She was diagnosed 5 years ago as Bipolar II and has an anxiety disorder. While she has been prescribed medication, she has problems with side effects of some of them and also has trouble affording them all each month.
Her disorders make it difficult for her to hold down a full time job. She IS NOT lazy. She wants to support herself and her kids but it is VERY difficult with her mental disorders. What kind of help might she qualify for? Either short term or long term. Can she qualify for SS disability? How much since she hasn’t worked much outside the home in the past?
Hmm well in order to apply for disability or something along those lines she needs to contact her state department of labor and usually what they do is if she qualifies will refer her for psychological testing. After that the report gets submitted back to the Dept of Labor and then they decide if she qualifies or not based on the report.
It’s tough to find jobs for people with Bipolar II but there are agencies in every state that cater towards people with certain personality types, try and look into that.
She has to also be consistent with her medication. If she doesn’t take it, it will probably harm her more than help her. Even though she has side effects, most medications have side effects. Thats really the only way she can help herself and her kids, is to take her medication. And does she go to therapy? That might be another option too. Usually medication is perscribed in conjunction with individual therapy.
Hope that helps some. Good luck!
Family Services of Central Mass Worcester, MA
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