For Oklahomans who believe they are suffering from mental illness and their issues are of sufficient severity that they warrant filing for disability benefits, it is important to understand their disorder and how it impacts their daily lives.
While many forms of mental illness will be relatively understandable to a layperson, some might be more complex. One that is often misunderstood is a somatic system disorder. Once this issue is known, having legal help can be useful to apply for disability benefits.
People who focus on their pain, fatigue and other physical symptoms and it leads to them being emotionally distressed and suffering from functional issues could have a somatic disorder. They do not necessarily need a separately diagnosed mental issue to be suffering from this. The person will think about their symptoms and go for medical treatment despite there being no diagnosis that anything serious is amiss. Their health could be the main object of their attention and they could have problems with living normally because of it. If this become severe enough, it could be disabling.
Those with somatic disorders can have the following: being short of breath, having pain, weakness or fatigue. There is the chance that the problem is not connected to a medical issue that physicians can identify or it could be connected to a condition but made worse than what it normally would be. There can also be behavioral problems including constantly being apprehensive or worried about becoming ill; seeing a normal physical feeling as a sign of illness; believing symptoms are serious when there is no evidence that they are; constantly checking for problems in the body and more.
This does not necessarily mean a person is simply being paranoid. It could be a legitimate mental illness for which Social Security disability for mental conditions could be obtainable. When a person believes he or she is suffering from a somatic disorder, the first step is for it to be accurately diagnosed. Then it is wise to contact a law firm experienced with Social Security disability to move forward with a claim to receive benefits.