When you apply for disability benefits through Social Security, if you have claimed any type of emotional problem (for example, anxiety, depression, or bipolar), you may be required to attend a consultative mental examination. However, if you have a current mental health treatment history (that is, you've been to the psychologist or psychiatrist recently), Social Security will not require you to attend a mental examination. Social Security considers any mental health treatment less than three months old to be current. 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.
Alternatively, if you claim that you have a learning disorder, you may have to attend a mental examination that involves intelligence quotient (IQ) testing. Sometimes, even if an individual has not claimed a mental impairment, a disability examiner might send him or her 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. Generally, however, disability examiners only send individuals to mental examinations only if there isn't enough medical information in the medical records and they need more medical information to make a medical determination.
The disability examiner schedules a mental consultative examination to ascertain the severity of the condition and to determine how the condition may limit an individual's ability to perform routine daily activities (driving, shopping, using money, making decisions, functioning in social settings including work settings) and work.
