What about a “Mental Impairment Analysis”? What is it and what does a judge look for?
Commonly known as “B” Criteria Listings, with reference to the rating of functional limitations or “B" Criteria of the Listings, the reviewing physician may indicate that the degree that the Claimants functional limitations (which are found in paragraph B of listings 12.02-12.04, 12.06-12.08 and 12.10 and paragraph D of 12.05) exist as a result of the individual’s mental disorder(s) and can be found by a psychologist or psychiatrist or medical doctor to be of either Mild, Moderate, or Marked*,Extreme* difficulty or restrictions in: a claimant’s Activities of Daily Living, or in maintaining a claimant’s normal Social Functioning or maintaining Concentration, Persistence, or Pace.
*If these restrictions are Marked or Severe, a claimant may very well be disabled from a psychological standpoint. Moreover, if a claimant is determined to be
Suffering Repeated Episodes of Decompensation, each of extended duration measured more as to frequency than to duration two or more times per year, he or she may actually meet a psychiatric medical listing and be eligible for benefits.


