I totally understand that. I have never been able to fake work, either. The most I could manage was very few hours part-time work, along with volunteering...but I've always worked with people who also have mental illness or who understand it and didn't expect more than I was able to give. For example, allowing me to work a night shift 3 times/week because no way have I ever been able to be at a job that starts in the morning. Meds make that impossible.

It seems to me that people who have a mental illness and cannot "fake" work are exactly the people who are eligible for SSDI.

A few years ago a pdoc suggested partial hospitalization, I was in agreement. Then he told me that the program started at 8:30 a.m. !!! I said, "How can you expect people who are on meds to show up that early?" I still don't understand that.