I'm on SSDI. I was actually approved in just 12 weeks (or 10?) through a thing where their computer screens everything and if there is no chance you won't be approved they don't make you go through all the hoops. It's apparently not common to be approved for this with mental health; my county had never seen it before.

What helped me I think was: 1) my psychiatrist had been seeing me for 9 years and had been documenting knowing this day was coming for years while supporting my working as long as feasible 2) my therapist was the same although a little less time. He also filled out a form about what I could and couldn't do that was pretty blunt. 3) There's a form that you fill out about what you can and can't do that you need to emphasize what you CANNOT do although it's natural to try to emphasize what you can do. I spent my career filling out Medicare/Medicaid paperwork and knew what that should look like (ie say things like "I am able to go to the store but I have to wear earplugs because it is too noisy, go at times it is less likely to be busy, limit how often I go to once a month, shop from a list although I still have difficulty following my list, and it usually exhausts me so much that I take a 3 hour nap upon returning home" or "I pay my bills but sometimes need assistance in understanding what is due and how the billing is supposed to read. I have a history of many late payments and bills going to collections when i did not have help". 4) I had tried hard to work but had changed jobs every 1-2 years and had been fired twice in 11 years. 5) I'd been through vocational rehab 4 or 5 years prior to disability application and they'd recommended I go on SSDI then. Since that agency is linked to the agency that makes disability decisions in my state that should have been fairly powerful. 6) My situation at the time I applied was really, really bad. I'd had 2 hospitalizations in the previous few months, one 2 weeks long over Christmas and I was on a suicide prevention plan that was pretty strict and still was not doing well at all so my level of functioning was very, very low.

I was shocked when I was approved but so glad. I think the system is so unfair because things like the computer scan that approved me may not pick up on people just as sick as I was if their paperwork doesn't have the right words in it or if there isn't as extensive a trail of paperwork.

My advice to help with that is send EVERYTHING, every medical record you can possibly come up with include in the application. They collect them all so you don't have to run around doing it and the more information the better. I listed every dr I'd seen as far back as they let me go.