Many Social Security Disability applicants are unfamiliar with the program and often begin by asking the wrong questions.
How much disability pays for mental health disorders is one such query.
Your diagnosis has everything to do with whether you qualify for benefits. However, your condition does not determine the size of your monthly check, while the current year has only a modest impact!
Instead, the amount you contributed to the system via FICA taxes, family composition, and residence state could go into the calculation of your monthly benefit.
On the other hand, we can make rough estimates of how much you might receive by associating several diagnoses with FICA contribution levels.
How Much Disability Pays
How much will your Social Security monthly disability check be for a specific mental health disorder? To arrive at a reliable answer, you must first consider the parameters for two programs.
- Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) pays benefits to you and some family members if you worked long enough and paid FICA taxes
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI) covers disabled adults and children who have limited earnings and resources
SSDI
Your work history and family composition drive how much Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) pays to approved recipients with mental health disorders such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Autism, PTSD, Depression, or Anxiety.
Use this online calculator to estimate benefits, as we did when researching this article. SSDI pertains to applicants meeting minimum work history requirements.
Family Composition
An SSDI recipient with a mental illness could receive more than the national average monthly amount of $1,258 based on family composition, age, and possible caretaking duties.
Each qualifying family member can receive an additional 50% of your check, up to 150% to 180%.
- Your spouse is over 62
- Your spouse cares for a child younger than 16 or disabled
- Your unmarried child relies on you for support
- Younger than 18
- Younger than 19, still in high school
- An older child whose disability began before 22
Work History
An SSDI recipient with a mental illness should receive a monthly amount close to the average of $1,258 because diagnoses do not impact benefit levels.
Create a Social Security account to view your earnings record and correct any mistakes, as the entries kept by the government affect the size of your monthly check.
Your previous total contributions to the system determine whether your future checks will be below or above the average. Your earnings history is a proxy for the total FICA taxes paid, a function of annual contribution times the number of years. As you can see, the sums can be very different.
Number of years: The more years you work before filing a claim, the higher your total FICA contributions
SSI
Three factors determine how much SSI pays for a mental health disability. However, FICA contributions do not enter the equation for individuals who never worked because of their impairment.
- The federal monthly maximum benefit of $841.00
- Minus: total income counted by SSA
- Plus: state SSI supplemental benefits ranging from $10 to $400, depending on marital status, living arrangements, and other factors
For instance, my disabled stepson receives $44.31 from the state of New Jersey, and Social Security subtracts $280.33 as “total income we count,” which is defined as the value of food and shelter provided by his parents. His total monthly check is $604.98
Pay by Mental Health Diagnosis
Even though your earnings and work history determine how much Social Security Disability pays each month, your mental health diagnosis can have an indirect effect based on the onset age of symptoms.
Consider some of these condition-based factors that might influence the size of your check. Likewise, two related programs have other caveats to keep in mind.
- Short-term disability covers mental illness differently
- Individual
- Group
- State-based
- Collecting unemployment for mental health reasons rarely works
- Able to work
- Actively seeking new employment
Depression and Anxiety
Likewise, there is no typical amount that Social Security Disability pays each month for depression or anxiety because your diagnosis does not determine the size of your check. Therefore, begin with the two average figures and add or subtract accordingly.
- SSI average of $794 (less common for depression or anxiety) plus the supplemental payments provided by the state where you live
- SSDI average of $1,258 goes higher or lower based on previous FICA contributions: annual amount times number of years
Mood disorders can affect people at any age, making it challenging to break down estimates based on FICA contributions meaningfully.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Specific Phobias: average onset age 7 years old
- Stress
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: average onset age is 19
- Major Depressive Disorder: average onset age is 32
- Persistent Depressive Disorder: average onset age of 32
- Situational Depression: can happen any time
- Death of a loved one
- Divorce
- Unemployment
Bipolar Disorder
The estimated monthly amount that Social Security Disability pays to recipients diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder is below the national average because of the relatively young onset age.
The median age of onset for Bipolar Disorder is 25, although it can occur during teen years and childhood.
- Bipolar onset during childhood or teen years leads to SSI benefits because the individual might not work and pay FICA taxes, yielding the typical $794 base monthly amount.
- Bipolar onset during your early twenties could lead to SSDI benefits, translating into a payout below the $1,258 monthly average because of short work history and low earnings.
Many Bipolar individuals can work, but both mood extremes interfere with their ability to perform job duties well – possibly impacting wages and annual FICA contributions.
- Manic episodes can include impulsive behaviors, reckless decisions, and unusual risk-taking
- Depressive episodes can include difficulty sleeping or just getting out of bed to function
Autism
The estimated amount that Social Security Disability pays to recipients diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is typically the smallest because the condition manifests in childhood and continues through adulthood.
The three clinical levels of autism provide insights into reasonable projections of possible work history, FICA contributions, and resulting monthly benefits.
Level-3
ASD Level-3 individuals require extreme support because of severe deficits in social communication skills and difficulty changing action or focus. These needs become apparent early and can make the person unemployable.
Many level-3 autistic recipients qualify for SSI rather than SSDI because they never work and pay FICA taxes. Therefore, the average SSI monthly amount of $794 applies.
Level-2
ASD Level-2 individuals require substantial support to help with their limited social interactions, narrow interests, and repetitive behaviors. Many level 2 people can hold down a part-time minimum wage job.
Level-2 autistic recipients might become eligible for SSDI after meeting a three-part earnings test.
- Recency of work before age 24: 1.5 years over the previous 3 years
- Duration of work before age 28: 1.5 years of work total
- Unable to perform Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)
Suppose an individual with autism began working at age 18, earning just below the SGA maximum ($1,310 monthly in 2021), or $15,600 annually. The SSDI benefit amounts would gradually increase each year as FICA contributions accumulate.
| Onset Age | Years Paying FICA | SSDI Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 2 | $779 |
| 25 | 7 | $1,049 |
| 35 | 17 | $1,185 |
| 50 | 32 | $1,400 |
Level 1
Level 1 ASD recipients require support to help overcome their difficulty initiating social interactions or planning and organizing activities. They may be capable of full-time employment.
Level 1 autistic individuals are not eligible for SSDI or SSI if they earn above the SGA monthly limit. Therefore, their monthly amount would be zero in this case. Otherwise, consult the chart above for an estimate.
Schizophrenia
The estimated amount that Social Security Disability pays to recipients diagnosed with Schizophrenia is lower for men than for women because of the typical age of onset for each gender.
Men
The average age of Schizophrenia onset for men is the late teens and early twenties, meaning that their work history may be non-existent or extremely short, and their earnings may be meager because of lack of experience.
- Males with onset during their teen years might qualify for SSI with an average monthly base of $794 because they never work and pay FICA taxes.
- Men with onset in their early twenties could be eligible for SSDI but at lower benefit levels because of a brief work history in entry-level jobs.
For example, consider the possible SSDI monthly payouts for a man earning $25,000 annually whose Schizophrenia began shortly after entering the workforce and before winning meaningful raises due to job experience.
| Onset Age | Years Paying FICA | SSDI Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 2 | $1,021 |
| 24 | 4 | $1,261 |
Women
The average age of Schizophrenia onset for women is the late twenties to early thirties, meaning they might accumulate 10 to 15 years of work history and FICA tax payments before symptoms make it impossible to hold a job.
Therefore, women diagnosed with Schizophrenia will more frequently receive SSDI benefits at higher levels than men because they pay FICA taxes for more years and earn more each year via experience-based raises.
For example, consider the possible SSDI monthly payouts for a woman earning $35,000 annually whose Schizophrenia began close to a decade after entering the workforce and winning meaningful raises due to job experience.
| Onset Age | Years Paying FICA | SSDI Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | 10 | $1,527 |
| 31 | 13 | $1,691 |
| 34 | 16 | $1,774 |
PTSD
The estimated amount that Social Security Disability pays for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) depends on when the harrowing event happened relative to when you began and stopped working.
Because there is no typical age of onset for PTSD, it is impossible to break down the benefit levels to provide a meaningful estimate.
- People with PTSD victimized during childhood might receive SSI and the typical $794 monthly amount.
- PTSD recipients of SSDI might receive more or less than the average $1,258 monthly check if the trauma occurred later or earlier in their adult life.
