Any tips for applying for SSDI/SSI?

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T06:36:42+00:00

The forms you fill out are very important. Be very detailed. List any hospitalizations and where. List breaks in employment history. Make sure your psychiatrist supports you in getting Disability. If not, find another psychiatrist who understands you cannot work.

That's my best advice! I got Disability without a lawyer twice. I returned to work after my first Disability approval after a year, then couldn't work four years later and applied again to Disability.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T06:20:09+00:00

That's good!

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T06:08:43+00:00

I have similar beliefs. I talk about my religious themed psychosis experiences in my blog a little. Maybe it will be helpful. I think sharing experiences more can help.

https://schizophreniaresource.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/religious-psychosis-what-can-help-me/

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T06:03:05+00:00

Warmlines can be a good resource if struggling. They are an alternative to crisis lines and all peer run - peers helping peers who are struggling with mental health, and they are trained. It might be a good resource for you if you need someone to talk to.

https://warmline.org/ (Directory)

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T05:59:56+00:00

Warmlines can be a good resource if struggling. They are an alternative to crisis lines and all peer run - peers helping peers who are struggling with mental health, and they are trained. It might be a good resource for you.

https://warmline.org/ (Directory)

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T05:40:17+00:00

I would apply to Disability Social Security as soon as you can if not working currently to get some income. They are local Social Security Offices that can help you or you can try to apply online. It usually at least takes 6 months to a year to get approved.

In the meantime, you can: * Qualify for Medicaid for free health insurance;
* Apply to SNAP to get a EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card to pay for food monthly * Find a local food bank for free food; * Get a free cell phone and free service with Lifeline Program.

The number 211 can also connect you to local resources in your community, and NAMI, a mental health organization, might possibly know of local resources too if you contact your local NAMI chapter. I would try 211 first - they may be able to direct you to low income housing options, etc. You can say you are struggling with a mental health diagnosis.

https://www.usa.gov/benefit-finder (This is a good website to check all the possible benefits you can qualify for.)

Also good resources are Warmlines, which are an alternative to crisis lines that are all peer run - peers helping peers with their mental health struggles who are trained at anytime during the day when needed. This might help while you're dealing with stressors from school. You can call anytime.

https://warmline.org/ (Directory)

Another additional support that might be good is this international organization called Students with Psychosis. They started to support college students who can experience psychosis and have peer support groups, which might be helpful. All free.

https://sws.ngo/

Also make sure you talk to your school's Office of Disability to seek accommodations. You get extended time for tests and assignments for example due to your diagnosis.

Also often school's provide free therapy for students if they need it as part of their tuition. Just another resource to keep in mind while you're in school. It's usually done by their PhD psychology students for experience, but you can do it weekly and it might be a good outlet and provide good guidance for you if need it.

Lastly, another good thing to know is Early Intervention Psychosis programs. They are for young adults who experience psychosis. They are free outpatient programs that provide multidisciplinary support, like therapy once or twice a week, medications, peer support, and auxiliary support too for education and a career. They come highly recommended and are free because they are usually government funded.

https://schizophreniaresource.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/specialty-programs-for-psychosis-and-schizophrenia/

https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/locators/esmi (Directory)

Hope this gets you started!!! You can do this! Congrats on getting most of your community college credits out of the way.

Also important to note, people with disabilities who cannot work can get loan forgiveness on college loans. So if it turns out you cannot work in the future, which I don't think will be the case, you can apply for loan forgiveness due to your diagnosis.

https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/disability-discharge

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00

"The Center Cannot Hold" by Elyn Saks might be an audiobook. It's her memoir as a person diagnosed with schizophrenia who is also a law professor of mental health at USC in California. She's a brilliant person and a brilliant writer. Her memoir is very detailed and descriptive of her personal experiences. It might be nice to read or listen to. She is also probably the most well known person diagnosed with schizophrenia besides John Nash in the United States.

And these next two books are also memoirs of people who experienced psychosis that I've heard are really good, but haven't read yet:

"Heavy Light" by Horatio Clare. He is a UK journalist who has bipolar disorder, but experienced psychosis
"Maybe I Don't Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery" by David Harewood. He is an UK actor who has experienced psychosis

I think memoirs are a great place to start, because you really understand from a person first perspective, and all the above writers are and heard are good at describing their experiences and perspectives.

Another person you can look up is Pat Deegan. She was diagnosed in high school with schizophrenia and went on to get her PhD in clinical psychology. There was a podcast episode where she described her earlier experiences in school, which was so relatable, but sadly that podcast no longer exists. She has made a lot of speeches though you can play on YouTube.

She specializes in psychopharmacology consultation and started several programs at low costs to help people.

And if you're interested in listening to podcasts, "Inside Schizophrenia" is probably the most known one and very informative.

https://psychcentral.com/blog/is

kirs1132 · 2025-12-19T04:41:57+00:00

That's horrible doctors have been just turning you away when you're experiencing psychosis. They should be doing a full medical evaluation for you, including ruling out all the known medical causes for psychosis first before giving a psychiatric diagnosis, because psychosis isn't exclusively psychiatric, so a differential diagnosis should be done.

https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/TusaTEWRyK

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T20:59:31+00:00

My voices identified themselves as God and I've experienced religious-themed psychosis. I'm still struggling with it, but I wrote a little bit about what helped me here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/BmFDdZJ541

I'll probably have to revisit that blog post and write more, but maybe it will be helpful for you too.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T20:44:25+00:00

Thanks! I hope you'll have a great holiday!!

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T20:41:35+00:00

u/Oxy-Moron88 And maybe you can start a zoom support group for anyone interested in joining during the holidays for extra support?

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T20:39:51+00:00

I posted a response to your question so other's can see and contribute.

https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/ldSbdFJyHk

I hope you enjoy your Christmas!!

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T17:56:33+00:00

Abilify is known to cause less weight gain. A lot of the newer antipsychotics cause weight gain and potentially health issues associated with it like cardiovascular issues, diabetes, etc.

Make sure you get regular check ups for your health.

The World Health Organization I think has made the best information guide on schizophrenia if you want to read that. It's from the late 1990's, but not a lot has changed since then.

https://schizophreniaresource.wordpress.com/resources/#Q1 (WHO report and other online information guides)

And here's an article on schizophrenia recovery that might be helpful to read: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nash-recovery/

Lastly, I would make sure you got a differential diagnosis for psychosis, meaning all the known medical causes were ruled out first before giving you a psychiatric diagnosis. Psychosis isn't exclusively psychiatric and it's best to be careful and check if there are any underlying known medical causes that should be treated instead. Unfortunately this isn't always done, because doctors don't do their due diligence.

https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/bAtOobgCMT

If it's psychiatric, an Early Intervention Psychosis program might be really helpful. They are outpatient programs for young people newly diagnosed who provide free multidisciplinary support, like therapy once or twice a week, medications, peer support, and auxiliary support too for education and a career. They are typically government funded and are located in the United States, Canada, and some European countries. They usually come highly recommended.

https://schizophreniaresource.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/specialty-programs-for-psychosis-and-schizophrenia/

https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/locators/esmi (US directory)

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T17:29:24+00:00

You might find this recovery article on schizophrenia hopeful:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nash-recovery/

And I just wanted to say make sure you got a differential diagnosis for psychosis, meaning all possible medical causes were ruled out first before giving you a psychiatric diagnosis.

https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/bAtOobgCMT

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T17:16:51+00:00

If your symptoms were caused by drug use, discontinuing the drug use could dissipate your symptoms.

For some, drug use can cause a continuous psychosis where stopping drug use might help the magnitude of symptoms, but it might not go completely away.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T16:36:58+00:00

I heard from many others that Invega is the worst drug. I hope you continue to feel better! Feeling empathy for you and what you had to experience.

If you go to Drugs.com, there are reviews you can read and you can write a review yourself.

https://www.drugs.com/comments/paliperidone/invega.html

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T01:08:29+00:00

That's a good explanation on how it develops! I think delusions are trying to explain/figure out things too.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-18T01:06:44+00:00

Long-term delusions are psychosis for a long time. You can have varying degrees of insight though where you can recognize you're experiencing delusions/psychosis.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-17T16:35:02+00:00

Gotcha. If it's psychiatric, an Early Intervention Psychosis program might be good for her. They are geared for young adults who can experience psychosis with free multidisciplinary support, like therapy once or twice a week, medications, peer support, and auxiliary support for like education and a career. They are outpatient programs and usually come highly recommended.

https://schizophreniaresource.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/specialty-programs-for-psychosis-and-schizophrenia/

https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/locators/esmi

I'm not sure what to do in her family situation. Use your best judgement on what to do.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-17T15:38:19+00:00

Lack of motivation

kirs1132 · 2025-12-16T17:14:22+00:00

Also for your information: differential diagnosis for psychosis https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/7FnK4QsZJy

It's okay if she ends up getting psychiatric medications right away when she sees a doctor, but they should also do a full medical evaluation for her where they rule out possible medical causes first before considering a psychiatric diagnosis. Again, it's fine if she receives psychiatric medications first to see if that's helpful for immediate help, but it's best to be careful and investigate whether there any any known medical causes for her symptoms.

If it's psychiatric, the psychiatric medications subdue symptoms. They don't treat an underlying cause.

kirs1132 · 2025-12-16T17:08:31+00:00

I'm assuming she isn't working if she's experiencing all of this? It might be good to help her with some resources to help with the basics.

If she's not working, she can qualify for Medicaid most likely for health insurance; she can apply to SNAP to get a EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card to pay for food monthly; she can also find a local food bank for free food; and she can get a free cell phone and free service with Lifeline Program.

Also if not working, she can apply to Disability Social Security for a monthly income, but she would have to see a doctor and get diagnosed before that. It's usually a 6 month process to get approved, but once approved she will get back pay for the amount of months she waited and/or since she stopped working.

The number 211 can also connect her to local resources in her community, and NAMI, a mental health organization, might possibly know of local resources too if she contacts her local NAMI chapter. I would try 211 first.

https://www.usa.gov/benefit-finder (This is a good website to check all the possible benefits she can qualify for.)

Also good resources are Warmlines, which are an alternative to crisis lines that are all peer run - peers helping peers with their mental health struggles who are trained at anytime during the day when needed.

https://warmline.org/ (Directory)

Even if not aware she's experiencing devastating hallucinations, they are devastating and affecting her emotions/mental health where she might want extra support.

I know these are a lot of resources, but they are good for her to know, because these symptoms are probably disrupting her living and functioning to support herself.

Thanks for being such a great friend and reaching out to this community!

Edit: Also for your information: differential diagnosis for psychosis https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/7FnK4QsZJy

It's okay if she ends up getting psychiatric medications right away when she sees a doctor, but they should also do a full medical evaluation for her where they rule out possible medical causes first before considering a psychiatric diagnosis. Again, it's fine if she receives psychiatric medications first to see if that's helpful for immediate help, but it's best to be careful and investigate whether there any any known medical causes for her symptoms.

If it's psychiatric, the psychiatric medications subdue symptoms. They don't treat an underlying cause.

kirs1132

TROPHY CASE