a lot of good advice here. i'll just say that i relate... i worked hard from just over 15 years old until i was 25 or so before that bottom just fell out and i wasn't able to function anymore. sobbing and outbursts in the office. psych ward. lost job. tried another. couldn't cope with the commute, couldn't cope with the job, couldn't cope with the people and the way they talked about things... just gave up, tried to end it one morning before work but was found before the damage became irreversible. lost girlfriend of 7 years. down to $0.34cents in my bank account. after the subsequent hospitalization, i started getting some help through the state... nice old lady/therapist wrote a letter for me detailing my inability to function, mom wrote one as well, gathered all of my hospital paperwork and sent it in to the social security administration. the process was long and tedious but i did end up getting approved a little over 2 years ago. my life is still a wreck and i honestly can't see/have no desire for a specific kind of future outside of just passing the days as stress-free as possible but i'm no longer emotionally unstable and have no desire to harm myself.

disability is there for people like you and i, it doesn't matter if the thing that interferes with our ability to work is invisible or not. it's there. the people who yell and scream the loudest about lazy people and how everybody and their mother are scamming the system are usually miserable in their own right, i think, and so they pick easy targets to let the **** roll down hill. ignore them. in one ear, out the other. your mental health and safety comes before gaining the approval of anybody, family or otherwise.

i know i found through the process the small handful of people who cared for me as a person and don't push or judge since things fell apart. the others... well, we fell out of touch for lack of effort/caring on both of our parts. and i'm much healthier for it.