Opinion ID: 810965
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Panic Disorder

Text: Where the ALJ has found a severe medically determinable impairment at step two of the sequential analysis, “all medically determinable impairments must be considered in the remaining steps of the sequential analysis.” Orn v. Astrue, 495 F.3d 625, 630 (9th Cir. 2007) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(2)(B)). In this case, the ALJ found, based in part on Dr. Kuka’s opinion, that Hill had severe mental impairments that included bi-polar disorder, mixed personality disorder, anxiety, and borderline intellectual functioning. But Hill was also diagnosed with panic disorder. The symptoms of Panic Disorder include sudden attacks of intense fear or anxiety, usually associated with numerous physical symptoms such 12950 HILL v. ASTRUE as heart palpitations, rapid breathing or shortness of breath, blurred vision, dizziness, and racing thoughts. Often these symptoms are thought to be a heart attack by the individual, and many cases are diagnosed in hospital emergency rooms . . . . Left untreated . . . symptoms can worsen and Agorapho- bia can develop. In these cases, the individual has developed such an intense fear that leaving the safety of home feels impossible. Index of Psychiatric Disorders, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition 2000), §§ 300.21 & 300.01. Hill described symptoms just like these when she testified before the ALJ. But the ALJ excluded the panic disorder diagnosis and improperly limited the definition of panic attack to only those attacks severe enough to collapse someone to the ground. [7] Because the ALJ excluded panic disorder from Hill’s list of impairments and instead characterized her diagnosis as anxiety alone, the residual functional capacity determination was incomplete, flawed, and not supported by substantial evidence in the record.