Social Anxiety: Do I Qualify for Disability Benefits in Philadelphia?

Social Anxiety Disorder is a mental health condition in which sufferers have difficulty engaging and interacting with others, going to new places, and meeting new people. Social anxiety can be devastating to a medical career due to the associated limitations. When social anxiety derails medical careers, many rely on disability insurance benefits for financial security. Unfortunately, many insurance companies make it difficult to secure disability insurance benefits for mental health conditions such as social anxiety. Working with a Philadelphia long-term disability lawyer can help you safeguard your future.

At Seltzer & Associates, we understand how disruptive mental health disorders can be to daily activities, especially while practicing medicine. While our clients focus on the treatment and support they need to address social anxiety, we focus on presenting the claim to the insurance company to secure insurance benefits on behalf of the disabled.

Treating Social Anxiety in Doctors

Doctors and other medical professionals with social anxiety can experience great improvement with treatment.

Common treatments include:

  • Psychotherapy can help an individual address causes of social anxiety and develop skills for dealing with social anxiety.
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy can teach patients how to think in different ways that can improve their ability to interact with others and give them the confidence to engage with others and embrace new scenarios and experiences. 
  • Therapy in a support group setting can provide a safe place for people to practice overcoming aspects of their social anxiety, as well as provide a sense of community and belonging.
  • Medication, including antidepressants and anxiety medication to treat symptoms of social anxiety.

These common treatments may succeed in alleviating some symptoms of social anxiety.  However, these treatments may take considerable time to undergo, and may also take significant time to yield improvement. Also, medications such as antidepressants may cause impairing side effects to medical professional patients.

Social Anxiety Disrupts Medical Careers

Social anxiety can disrupt a doctor’s ability to maintain a career in the medical field. If you are currently facing such circumstances, a Philadelphia long-term disability lawyer at our law firm can help. Some of the common ways that social anxiety can disrupt your career include: 

  • Preventing advancement in medical research when doctors suffer anxiety about collaborating with medical research teams due to new individuals on the team, entering new research facilities.
  • Reluctance to attend medical conferences and aversion to participating in seminars and round tables. 
  • Diminished patient care due to social anxiety preventing thorough examination and observation of patients, or a lack of accuracy in these examinations due to disruptive social anxiety behaviors.

If social anxiety or generalized anxiety is affecting your ability to work in a collaborative environment and care for your patients, it is important to seek disability insurance benefits with the help of a Philadelphia long-term disability lawyer.

Schedule Your Free Consultation Regarding Your Social Anxiety with a Philadelphia Long-Term Disability Lawyer

If you are a medical professional suffering from social anxiety preventing you from maintaining your career, you should promptly contact a disability insurance benefits lawyer. Complete our online form or call us at 888-699-4222 to schedule your free consultation with the team at Seltzer & Associates.