I do think they look for degree of impairment and measure that in various ways, not just current diagnoses and not working. In my case, I got it immediately without a lawyer, just a good shrink and someone else writing a compassionate, slightly pleaful account of why I deserved a chance.

I think in my case it was the sharp decline from highly functional professional to complete inability to do much of anything at all that showed that I needed the assistance. I also showed that I had made attempts to work and had even gone to a career assessment rehab type place and was too depressed to even get through all the testing very easily.

But I didn't get SSI. I got SSDI. I think they are slightly different. When I started to recover and got married and went back to school, I went into social security to ask about the change in status. They told me that I would continue to get my checks and health care, even if I started earning a decent income. They said that they are careful and it is a 4 year process of checking before they allow someone to go off disability. I found them pretty supportive and not oppositional.