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Home :: FAQ :: Issues - Social Security Disability Hearing

What good can a psychologist or psychiatrist be in proving my disability case?

Even if the strongest an in the world had a serious psychological illness, he might not be able to do even simple repetitive tasks or remember simple one or two part steps of production and as a consequence, would probably be disabled. Often we hear, “I see him and he doesn’t look disabled”. This is often true with those with psychological afflictions.

A psychiatrist or psychologist can identify the Claimant as having the following signs and symptoms of anhedonia or pervasive loss of interest in almost all activities, appetite disturbance with weight change, decreased energy, thoughts of suicide, blunt, flat or inappropriate affect, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, impairment in impulse control, poverty of content of speech, generalized persistent anxiety, somatization unexplained by organic disturbance, mood disturbance, difficulty thinking or concentrating, recurrent and intrusive recollections of a traumatic experience which are a source of marked distress, psychomotor agitation or retardation, pathological dependence, passivity or agressivity, persistent disturbances of mood or affect, persistent nonorganic disturbance of vision, speech, hearing, use of a limb, movement and its control, or sensation, change in personality, apprehensive expectation, paranoid thinking or inappropriate suspiciousness, recurrent obsessions or compulsions which are a source of marked distress, seclusiveness or autistic thinking, substance dependence, incoherence, emotional withdrawal or isolation, psychological or behavioral abnormalities associated with a dysfunction of the brain with a specific organic factor judged to be etiologically related to the abnormal mental state and loss of previously acquired functional abilities, bipolar syndrome with a history of episodic periods manifested by the full symptomatic picture of both manic and depressive syndromes (and currently characterized by either or both syndromes), persistent irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation which results in a compelling desire to avoid the dreaded object, activity or situation, intense and unstable interpersonal relationships and impulsive and damaging behavior, disorientation to time and place, perceptual or thinking disturbances, hallucinations or delusions, hyperactivity, motor tension, catatonic or other grossly disorganized behavior, emotional lability, flight of ideas, manic syndrome, deeply ingrained, maladaptive patterns of behavior, inflated self-esteem, unrealistic interpretation of physical signs or sensations associated with the preoccupation or belief that one has a serious disease or injury, unrealistic interpretation of physical signs or sensations associated with the preoccupation or belief that one has a serious disease or injury, loosening of associations, illogical thinking, pathologically inappropriate suspiciousness or hostility, pressures of speech, easy distractibility, autonomic hyperactivity, memory impairment - short, intermediate or long term, sleep disturbance, oddities of thought, perception, speech or behavior, decreased need for sleep, loss of intellectual ability of 15 IQ points or more, recurrent severe panic attacks manifested by a sudden unpredictable onset of intense apprehension, fear, terror and sense of impending doom occurring on the average of at least once a week, a history of multiple physical symptoms (for which there are organic findings) of several years duration beginning before age 30, that have caused the individual to take medicine frequently, see a physician often and alter life patterns significantly, involvement in activities that have a high probability of painful consequences which are not recognized. So, if you find that you have one or more of these symptoms, you might want to get checked out by a good professional, not only for your own good, but it may be helpful in proving your disability case.