Minnesota Disability for Mental illness Disorder

Disability for Mental illness Disorder MN

Disability benefits for mental illness disorder are available from the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you are prevented from working due to limitations caused by your disability. For mental illness benefits you need to consider several important things when you are initially applying or appealing a denial for disability benefits for mental illness.

Tips for Winning Disability Benefits for Mental illness

1. Acceptable Documentation: SSA considers medically acceptable diagnosis and documentation for mental illness disorder from psychologists and psychiatrists to have the greatest weight. Records and reports from hospitals, clinics, nurses and other treatment providers are also considered in their evaluation but are not enough to establish a claimant’s disability for mental illness disorder without proper medical documentation.

SSA also needs to have documentation over an extended period of time. What Social Security refers to as “longitudinal evidence”. Because a person’s functional limitations from mental illness can vary over time it is vital to have documentation over a sufficiently long period of time when you are presenting your disability for mental illness case.

2. Non-medical Documentation: Documentation from mental health centers counselors, social workers, nurses, family members, co-workers and others who have specific knowledge of your functional limitations due to your mental illness disability is also helpful in providing examples of the effect of your illness in the areas of: activities of daily living, social functioning, concentration, persistence and pace, or tolerate increased mental demands.

It is very important to have as specific and detailed information as possible from people such as family members and counselors concerning what specific tasks you are able to do and what you cannot do.

Many people suffering from a mental illness are not able aware of their behavior and symptoms caused by their disorder. That is why documentation in the form of reports from people such as family and friends is so helpful in providing SSA with the best examples of how your disability specifically affects you and limits your ability to work.

3. Psychological Testing: Medically acceptable standardized tests are additional evidence that helps establish your disability for mental illness. Results on tests such as Intelligence tests (IQ tests), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Rorschach and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) can provide evidence of abnormalities causing your mental illness.

4. Loss of Function Evidence: This is one of the most important factors SSA looks at to determine your disability benefits for mental illness. Functional loss refers to a restriction of your daily activities (cooking, cleaning, paying bills), social functioning (interacting with others, concentration, and episodes of decompensation. Social Security is more concerned with how your disability with mental illness affects and limits your ability to work rather than your diagnosis.

Detailed information about your activities of daily living and functional limitations is very helpful in documenting your disability for mental illness. This is an area that many people disregard which leads can lead to improper denials for their disability case when they are truly limited by their mental illness and unable to work. Claimants should complete what are referred to as residual functional capacity (RFC) forms.

Another important point is to include documentation any episodes of decompensation outside of a protected environment where you are subject to stresses. This will give Social Security a more realistic picture of your limitations in a more realistic work setting.

Residual Functional Capacity Forms (RFC): Residual functional capacity forms can also provide strong evidence for Social Security when they are evaluating your claim of disability benefits for mental illness. At the initial, reconsideration or CDR level, the SSA will have a psychologist or psychiatrist do a mental RFC assessment.

However, you can have your own treating psychiatrist or psychologist fill out a mental residual functional capacity form. This form can then be used to show the limitations caused by your mental illness. Specific examples of your limitations in relation to work are important in supporting your disability case.

5. Medication Side-Effects: This is another very important factor that can provide additional evidence of your disability for mental illness. Many people who suffer from mental illness have to take medication to help manage their symptoms. Side-effects of pain medication can interfere with a claimant’s daily activities. Examples of medication side-effects include drowsiness, nausea, fatigue and blunted emotions.

Documentation of these adverse effects from a medical doctor and also from non-medical sources such as family and friends is important because it provides additional evidence of the severity of your mental illness disorder and functional limitations and will be included in SSA’s assessment of your residual functional capacity. This documentation needs to come from a medical doctor rather than a psychologist in order for Social Security to properly evaluate it. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (M.D.) and can provide this type of documentation.

Fields Law disability for mental illness lawyers will assist you in getting your disability benefits for mental illness. If you are unable to work because of mental illness disorder we can help you apply for social security disability benefits for. If you have been denied disability benefits we can appeal your case.

We offer a Free case review. Our Minnesota disability lawyers understand how frustrating it is to suffer from a mental illness disorder and be denied disability benefits when you are prevented from working. There are never any fees unless we win your disability case.