From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):
...[T]he American Psychiatric Association revised the manual [DSM] used to diagnose and classify mental disorders, which it published in May 2013. However, SSA [Social Security Administration] had not updated the mental medical listing since August 1985. ...
[T]he mental medical listing represents the most used body system, and any proposed changes are usually controversial. SSA issued an NPRM [Notice of Proposed Rule-Making] in August 2010, and it had to address many public comments while considering changes in technology and medicine. SSA’s Office of Disability Policy addressed public comments and circulated the draft to other SSA components for review. According to SSA, these revisions were contentious, and the Office of Disability Policy received and addressed substantive comments then circulated a revised draft for comments. SSA needs to reach consensus among its various components. With all these issues, it has taken the Agency over 5 years to move the mental medical listing update from the NPRM to the final revision. SSA projects that the mental medical listing will be finalized in spring 2016 ...Why do I have a feeling that these mental Listings will get pushed back even further?
Americans, in general, prefer a visable disability to an invisible disability. They can understand blind, deaf, mobility impairments like paraplegic or quadraplegics, but once you move into invisible disability, people are viewed as frauds and fakes.
ReplyDeletePain, skeletal disorders, cardiac conditions just do not have the visual clues for American thoughts on disability. Mental illness is even worse. Depression is viewed as being sad, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or "Put on your big girl panties and move on." Bipolar disorder, personality disorders, schiz,and the rest are beyond understanding. They are crazy not disabled. The stigma is so deep that people prefer to think these people are faking symptoms to get a benefit more than they would a physical disorder.
Slow roll on mental conditions, you bet! No one in the country wants to deal with the mentally ill, in person, in legislation, or policy. We prefer they just go away someplace like we hope nuke waste, trash, sewage and other nasty things in life just go away from our view.
The democrats emptied the insane asylums in the past. What were they thinking??
ReplyDelete" The democrats emptied the insane asylums in the past. What were they thinking?? "
ReplyDeleteYou mean mentally disturbed people that were making $40000 a year now collecting $1500 a month on SSDI ?
Sounds reminiscent of black women and welfare queens driving around in Cadillacs.
Mentally disturbed handicapped people have less civil rights
than minorities have.
You are not only grossly misinformed you are also mentally retarded.
Why don't you get a foward lobotomy ?
Reagan started the war on those with mental illness. Please read your history from someplace not approved by Cruz or Trump.
ReplyDeleteI think Anonymous 11:56 may have been referring to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the 60's and later years.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to a description of the experience in Minn., with an overview of the national picture: http://www.crimeandjustice.org/councilinfo.cfm?pID=55
I meant Anonymous 12:11.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
I think Anonymous 11:56 may have been referring to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the 60's and later years.
Here is a link to a description of the experience in Minn., with an overview of the national picture: http://www.crimeandjustice.org/councilinfo.cfm?pID=55
3:13 PM, September 29, 2015
After 10 years doing this as an SSD/SSI rep, the majority of my cases are either back/lumbar and psychological cases. Why? My hunch is the medical community is below par in actually healing/treating these conditions.
ReplyDeleteListing 1.04 for the back is a perfect example. SSA always makes it harder on a disability when more people are filing. Look at the abolishment of the diabetes listing 9.08. More fat people get severe diabetes so let's make it harder.
Hope the new psych listings are somewhat fair. But the cynic in me knows they will not.
Agree that the lack of asylums is the result of a rising homeless population especially here in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the majority of those filing for SSD/SSI would not necessarily be candidates for asylums. In fact, I have seen many claimants become severely depressed after the recession in 2008 and just could not snap out of it.
Psych problems are real if not objectively provable unless getting a report from a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.
Doing this for 10 years, the majority of my cases are either 1. back 2. psych. Why? My hunch is the medical community has problems CURING these problems. They can TREAT it but not cure it.