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Actually, any physical or mental impairment may be considered a disability for the purposes of being awarded social security disability or SSI disability benefits. The reason for this is due to the fact that the social security administration defines disability in terms of functional limitations. In other words, the specific condition that a claimant may have is somewhat irrelevant. What is relevant is the extent to which the condition prevents the individual from being able to work, either at one of their former jobs (referred to by social security as past work) or at some form of other work. Having said that, though, bipolar disorder is one of those mental conditions that is given more consideration than many other mental or physical impairments. Bipolar disorder is actually included in the blue book, otherwise known as the impairment listing manual. This is the manual that lists a number of medical and mental conditions and the criteria that must be met in order for an approval to be made for disability benefits. Bipolar Disorder is not given its own listing (an example of a listing would be listing 12.07, somatoform disorders). However, Bipolar disorder is given consideration as a subset of listing 12.04 Listing 12.04 covers affective disorders, a mental impairment category that also includes dysthymia and major depression. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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