In the just-released book "Breaking Free," former NFL running back Herschel Walker delves into his excruciating struggles with dissociative identity disorder, saying he tried to manage a dozen alternate personalities and that the condition nearly drove him to suicide.
According to the National Mental Health Association - www.nmha.org - 7% of the American population may have suffered from a dissociative disorder at some time in their life. But the disorder is difficult to identify and may go undiagnosed for many years. Additionally, mild dissociative disorder experience can be very common, despite the relatively low number of people that are continuously treated through a mental health provider.
In the realm of Social Security Disability, very few practitioners will encounter a potential client with a severe Dissociative Disorder on a regular basis. It is important to remember that many clients will have wide and varied symptoms. To be sure, whatever symptoms the claimant is having and documented by medical records, the symptoms must interfere with their ability to perform full-time competitive work. Dissociative Disorders are analyzed under 12.08 of the Adult Listings. For more information about Dissociative Disorders, look at www.nmha.org.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
so would you say being approved for disability for mental health reasons is more difficult than physical illnesses? i know the process takes forever either way unless one is terminal, blind, is HIV + or age 65 (what else?), which after reading ur most recent blog it may end up taking even longer.
the thing i have noticed is that alot of times, if a person could stay on medication then they could work, but with our healthcare system and their lack of insurance not many people can afford medical care or the presriptions needed to remain stable. that is what frustrates me, so many people are in a catch 22. maybe one day it will get better and healthcare will not be so much about money. i saw alot of people not get the opportunity for better care due to the fact that they did not have insurance. and the whole waiting 2 years for medicare to kick in (if they have worked and have enough monies built up for SSD)is a huge disappointment to people and set back for their treatment. Yeah, they get more money monthly but it is still very difficult to get advanced treatment or to be put on a transplant list for example. it is sad really!
Its hard to say really if mental disorders are more difficult than physical illnesses. Symptoms of mental illnesses will differ among patients and those symptoms will differ in severity. Another road block is, as you said, the claimants functioning while on the medication prescribed. If it restores some functioning, SSA will quickly hang its decisional hat on the claimants ability to work.
hmm, ur right. i could see that, i guess that is where the appeals process steps in and u as an attorney can help? because if a patient goes to the hospital, gets a temporary fix/prescription, they do okay for a while. then when they dont have money for dr appts and follow up prescriptions they end up back in the hospital. its a cycle like so many things in life.
Post a Comment