SSD Disability: How Do You Pass a Social Security Mental Exam?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

How Do You Pass a Social Security Mental Exam?

I was recently asked this question so I thought I would address it here. There is no pat answer to this question. Consultative mental examinations (CE appointments) are often used if an individual has no current mental health treatment notes or no record of mental health treatment at all. As you might imagine, these types of examinations are typically a poor substitute for a documented history from a mental health professional with whom you have a longitudinal history of treatment.

However, if you are asked to attend a consultative mental health examination (a mental CE), you should remember that it is unlikely that you can fool the mental health examiner who administers the examination.

I only mention this because it has been the case, now and then, (probably a somewhat rare occurrence), that an applicant for disability benefits has tried to answer questions in such a way that the outcome of an examination or testing might be affected. I remember one specific individual for whom, on three separate occasions, the psychologist indicated in the CE (consultative exam) report that the results of the intelligence testing could not be considered valid as the claimant clearly gave less than his best effort.

Why was the claimant given "three shots" at testing? Because the claimant's educational history and medical record documentation pointed to a lifelong history of impaired cognitive function---something that might have been adequately substantiated by testing had the claimant not tried to "game the system".

It is simply a good rule of thumb to be truthful and give any mental health testing (IQ testing, memory scales, etc) your best effort.

As a disability examiner, I saw the reports generated by consultative physicians and psychologists. These reports, at times, contained references that an individual had not given their best performance or were even malingering (faking).

If you genuinely have a mental health impairment that prevents you from working at a substantial gainful work activity level and you have a consultative examination, give your best effort with no consideration as to the outcome of the testing. Because if a consultative physician or mental health professional suspects that you are not giving an honest portrayal of the limitations caused by your mental condition, your claim stands a good likelihood of being denied. And once there is a notation of malingering in your disability case file, it will be hard to win your disability claim if you have to use the Social Security disability appeal process.

So in conclusion, there is no sure way to "pass a Social Security mental health examination" in this sense. Claimants would simply better serve their disability claim by appropriately answering any questions asked of them during their mental consultative examination.