Can you get a partial disability for an anxiety disorder?

I have an anxiety disorder and suffer from panic attacks. I used to get them on a daily basis, until I was put on medication. Since then, they've become less frequent, but I do still get them a couple times a week. Mine are the debilitating kind where you nearly pass out.

Back when I was getting them daily, I wasn't able to work. Now that I'm medicated and they've become less frequent, I am working again. My problem is I can't work too many hours a day, or too many days in a row. I function better working short, 4-hour shifts and having 3 days a week off. I can't handle a full-time workload just yet, not when I'm still having attacks several times a week.

Is there some form of disability I could apply for to supplement my part-time job? I don't want full disability. I think not having anything to do all day would drive me up the wall. I want to work 20 hours a week, but it's not enough to pay my bills. Is there such a thing as partial disability you can get if you don't work part-time, and would they approve me for my reason?

Weighted Companion Cube, I have had bipolar since I was 15. Panic attacks are just something stemming from that and have developed more recently. I don't throw a pity party for myself and try to mooch off government money--I wouldn't be asking for it if I didn't honestly need help with it. Not everyone on disability has to be in a wheelchair or be mentally retarded. When you've been in the hospital because you want to kill yourself, I think that qualifies as being mentally disabled. The way you use "condition" in quotation marks is a little harsh, implying it's something I can just get over with ease. It's not, and I'm doing my best to cope. Normal people don't need to worry about having panic attacks at work all the time--get my drift?

I have a problem with this question. My mother worked for the Social Security Office in charge of disability claims and approval. You do not understand the real meaning of being disabled. Families who are taking care of mentally ill children and adults for the rest of their lives, other people who suffer in accidents because of others' negligence and wind up in wheelchairs and can't even feed themselves. Those people cannot work. Those people need help.

You can work. You need to be going to therapy, as well as taking your anxiety medicine. Your problem is partially mental, and it will be as bad as you allow it to be. Just because you feel anxiety when working does not mean you are exempt from having to earn a paycheck. Do not make yourself a victim when your problem is not even HALF as debilitating as those of the people who really need those disability checks every month.

If you can only work short shifts, get two separate jobs and alternate working throughout the week/day. Also, if you can't make ends meet, just shoot the horse and get food stamps and go on welfare. Also, try getting a roommate to split the bills.

Edit: And to answer your question...NO, you cannot get disability for your "condition".

If you are not going to therapy, then you are not taking every method of dealing with your disability. I used the "condition" in quotation marks because, as it seems to me, you are exaggerating your disability. And it's absolutely magical that you all of a sudden mention being bipolar once another poster with a serious mental condition mentions being a victim of the disorder. In my opinion, the only thing you're suffering from is a somatoform disorder. As I quote from the DSM-IV: "Somatoform patients often believe that they have something seriously wrong; this belief can cause them enormous anxiety and impairment. Without meaning to, they inflict great suffering on themselves and on those around them". The bottom line? See a therapist.

In the US, there is no partial disability, unless you had a disability insurance policy you purchased or was offered thru work. In the US, if you can earn $800 a month, you are not considered disabled by Social Security. I don't think there are many people on disability for anxiety disorders - it is mostly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and autism, I think. Some major depression, too.

PS instead of welfare, you could take advantage of a few supplements. Your state may offer medicaid for the working poor. You are probably eligible for a reduced price telephone and also fuel assistance. Also, maybe you are eligible for food stamps. These thing may get you thru until you can work out a way to work full time.

Weighted Companion Cube, I don't think you're contributing to this question very well. This poster didn't ask your opinion on his condition, he was asking about disability. You are not his doctor and don't know his medical history, so it's not right of you to shrug him off as an attention-seeker. Bipolar and anxiety attacks are related, it is very possible he has both. And therapy is only as good as the therapist providing it. In the meantime, you can suffer until you find something that works. And if the suffering in the interim causes you to lose out financially, then I do believe some assistance should be offered, if only temporarily. These things take time to resolve, and people do have bills and things to pay until they are, you know.

You would have to have been working full time when it hit and then be working somewhere that has disability insurance. Usually if you can work part time, you're not going to get disability. Why not try getting two part time jobs? One in the morning and then one in the evening just a couple nights a week. The change of scenery may be enough to ward off those attacks, especially if you go to work somewhere less stressful, in an area that you enjoy. Example, say you like animals, get a part time job in a pet store.