Will I be Sent to a Mental Examination for Social Security Disability or SSI?

If you have alleged any type of mental impairment (anxiety, depression, bipolar, manic depression, etc.) you may be required to attend a consultative mental examination. Bear in mind, Social Security disability is based upon residual functional capacity (what you are capable of doing despite the limitations imposed upon you by your condition) rather than specific conditions.

So how does Social Security make decide if you need to attend a mental examination? Generally, Social Security will not require you to attend a mental examination if you have a current mental health treatment history. Social Security considers any mental health treatment less than three months old to be current, consequently even if you have been treated for your mental health conditions for years but have not been within the past ninety days you may be required to attend a mental examination to ascertain your current mental health status.

Additionally, if you allege that you have a learning disorder, you may have to attend a mental examination that involves intelligence quotient (IQ) testing. Sometimes disability examiners send individuals who have not alleged a mental impairment to a mental examination. In these cases, the disability examiner has concluded, through other medical or educational information, that an individual has some mental limitations, consequently the examiner schedules a mental consultative examination to ascertain the severity of the condition and to determine how this may limit an individual's ability to perform routine daily activities (driving, shopping, using money, making decisions, functioning in social settings including work settings).

Generally, disability examiners only send individuals to mental examinations if they need more medical information to make a medical determination. So there is no guarantee you will be sent to a mental examination for Social Security disability or SSI.

However, if there are any indicators or allegations of mental health problems and you have no mental health treatment notes, or your mental health treatment is older than three months old, it is likely that you will be sent to a mental examination.

This examination, depending on your impairment, could be psychological or psychiatric in nature. Psychological exams are basically IQ testing and testing for memory for memory loss. And the exams administered will tend to be a weschler IQ test that provides verbal, performance, and full scale scores, a weschler memory scale, or a simple MSE, or mental status exam. Psychiatric conditions can require a full psychiatric exam, but sometimes just a mental status exam.









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