Psychological Illness and Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits

admin May 5, 2015

While most people think of physical disabilities in the context of Social Security Disability benefits, a sizable number are incapacitated as a result of psychological illness.

According to a recent news report from Medical News, the Institute of Medicine is calling for use of standardized psychological testing protocols for claimants applying for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. It has been suggested these standardized methods will improve accuracy of claim determinations relating to mental health issues.

However, those who favor this approach tend to believe it would save the United States Social Security Administration money, because it would reduce the number of people receiving Social Security disability benefits for reasons of mental illness. This, of course, assumes there are many people who claim to have severe mental health issues and cannot work who are essentially faking their illness to avoid working, or “malingering,” to use a term favored by SSA. It should be noted, the organization behind this initiative believes further study would be necessary to see how standardized psychological testing methods would affect the number of Americans claiming disability, but the organization’s report includes methodology for determining the financial impact of standardized testing protocols.

These standardized testing methods are what is known as a validity testing and would be used in conjunction with standard psychological diagnostic tools already used by most mental health professionals. Proponents also claim validity tests can be used to see how much effort a claimant is putting into the process of performing tests, or if they are trying not to do well on cognitive ability assessment exercises.