What is your risk of disability? How will it affect you? What is most likely to cause disability? If you become disabled, will you be able to receive disability payments? Will I qualify for workers’ compensation if I become disabled? These questions and more will be answered in this article and the accompanying informational …
Category: Disabling Conditions
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Inspirational People With Disabilities
According to the U.S. Census, about 49.7 million Americans have a disability. While the challenges of living with a disability can be immense, there are many who have overcome the odds. And through disability denial, hospital visits, therapy and more, they are hugely successful in what they do. Here are 10 truly inspiring examples of …
Winning Long Term Disability Insurance Benefits for Factitious Disorder
If you file a claim for long term disability, one of the things the doctors and insurance representatives look for is whether or not the issues that you are suffering from are real or falsified – and if they aren’t real, if the falsification constitutes factitious disorder.
What is factitious disorder? This is a real psychological condition where someone is driven to fake the symptoms of an illness, either in themselves or another person, even when there is no logical reason to do so, such as to gain a monetary award.
Can You Win Social Security Disability Benefits for Pervasive Developmental Disorders? Try using SSA Listing 12.10
Autism and other pervasive developmental disorders can cause people who suffer from those conditions to have severe difficulties interacting in a social manner, developing interests, and even communicating in a normal way. Because of this, these individuals often have trouble forming relationships, reading social cues, and surviving in the work environment – especially if it requires them to interact with others to do their job.
If you or someone you loves suffers from a pervasive developmental disorder that makes it difficult to keep a job, it might be possible to qualify for disability benefits through Social Security. The Social Security Administration offers two methods by which people can prove their eligibility:
Can You Win Long Term Disability Insurance Benefits for Conversion Disorder? Yes you can!
In updating the listings of certain disorders for the DSM-5, a number of changes were made to the definitions and what doctors should look for when attempting to diagnose a patient. One of the disorders that significantly changed in the latest iteration of the DSM is conversion disorder, or functional neurological symptom disorder.
So, what exactly are they going to be looking for if you file a claim saying that you suffer from this disorder?
Altered motor or sensory function. You’ll need to display at least one symptom that shows that your voluntary motor or sensory functioning has been altered.
Does Illness Anxiety Disorder Qualify You for Long Term Disability Insurance Benefits?
Illness anxiety disorder, previously known as hypochondriasis, has gotten a facelift of sorts in the DSM-5. The portrayal of hypochondriacs in media was so pervasive (and typically negative) that experts found both laymen and professionals approaching the disorder and those who seemed to have it from a place that was less than objective, resulting in confusion and misdiagnoses.
The DSM-5 attempts to rectify that problem by both changing the name of the disorder itself and further clarifying the kind and degree of symptoms that professionals should look for when trying to diagnose it. Those filing claims for hypochondriasis – or, now, illness anxiety disorder – need to know these new guidelines so that they don’t neglect to bring up symptoms that doctors will be looking for.
What are a Forensic Psychiatric Experts and How Can They Effect Your Claim for Long Term Disability Insurance Benefits?
Last time, we talked about how courts were starting to view the findings of treating physicians less favorably due to independent medical evaluations conducted by insurers and “reviewing” physicians calling their opinions into question. This, however, isn’t the only reason why your doctor’s medical opinion may not be given as much weight as one from someone who has never seen you before: quite simply put, the job of a treating physician is a lot different from that of a forensic psychiatric expert, or FPE.
Long Term Disability: Don’t Ignore Severe Headaches
Everyone gets a headache now and then. For most of us, they mean little more than taking aspirin and waiting for the annoyance to go away. But for an unfortunate few, that’s not what happens.
These are people who suffer from regular headaches which often are so strong that they can’t work while they’re dealing with them. Bright lights, loud sounds, and other triggers can set off a wave of extreme, debilitating pain. But even with these kinds of symptoms, many people struggling with severe headaches simply soldier on because our society says that headaches aren’t a big deal.
The Pains of Proving Fibromyalgia
While the disease is identifiable medically, it can be difficult to prove legally in a Social Security Disability case. Anyone who comes in contact with patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) knows its disabling effects. However, much about the disease remains unknown. One Social Security Judge referred to it as a “pervading mystery – its cause, duration and functional limitations.” These cases can be won as Social Security claims if the symptoms and the functional effects are made clear to social security.
Fibromyalgia cannot be established by an objective test such as X-ray, CT Scan or MRI. There is no lab test to demonstrate it, though there are promising breakthroughs on brain imaging. FMS is only diagnosed by documenting the patient’s pain at certain “tender points” on the body, and correlating this information with reports of depression and sleeplessness. It is important to record how this debilitating disease impacts the ability to perform ordinary tasks.