How to Prove Your Depression for a Disability Claim

Filing a claim for long-term disability insurance is difficult enough. The company needs to see proof that you cannot work at your job because your injury is so serious, and sometimes, it seems they won’t accept anything, even x-rays of your femur sticking out of your leg in three places as proof. What can you do if your disability doesn’t even show up on an x-ray? Doctors cannot x-ray your brain and show the insurers your depression.

There are ways to get coverage for your depression, but it takes a little extra effort and an understanding of your illness and what your insurance will and will not cover. Contact us today, and we can get started representing you.

What Is Depression?

According to the World Health Organization, depression is one of the most common mental health disorders worldwide. It is estimated that more than 280 million people suffer from depression, many of them untreated. You are not alone, even if it feels like it sometimes.

Depression is not “feeling sad,” as everyone does from time to time, or the devastating but understandable grief that people experience after the loss of a loved one. Clinical depression is a serious psychiatric disorder characterized by a sad, irritable, or “flattened” mood, all day, every day, for a period of days to weeks. It is accompanied by poor concentration, loss of appetite, insomnia or excessive sleep, lack of energy or hyperenergetic feelings without focus, and extreme lack of self-worth or suicidal ideations.

Because of how American culture compartmentalizes society, it is possible for a depressed person to “power through” an eight-hour workday and appear normal for a long period of time. This can cause employers and fellow employees not to realize the extent of the problem until the depressed person is no longer able to cope.

How Your Depression Impacts Your Work

To obtain long-term insurance for depression, you need to show that your depression symptoms match your insurance policy’s requirements. This means carefully reviewing what exactly the policy says. For instance, if your policy says that to receive benefits, you must be unable to work at your job without reasonable accommodation, the insurers will need to know what accommodations are available and why they will not work for you. If the policy says you must be unable to work at any job without reasonable accommodation, you may need the help of a disability insurance attorney.

To make your case for the insurance company, you must be prepared to show what your work is and how the symptoms of depression impact your job.

• Keep a daily log or journal of your workday and your physical and emotional status. At some point, you will need to undergo a psychological evaluation, either at the request of your attorney or of the insurance company, and this will help explain what you are going through. This will keep you from saying, “I feel bad at work,” and instead say, “When I try to enter numbers into Excel, they all look the same, and I start feeling so anxious I want to cry.” It will also provide a timeline. “This has been going on for six months and fourteen days,” instead of “a while.”
• Seek medical treatment, even if you think it won’t help. There are effective treatments for depression, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), mood stabilizers, tranquilizers, therapy, and other new treatments. These all work in concert with one another, and it may take time for the effects to show. This is useful in several ways.
  • The doctor can provide notes on your progress, your state of health, and how your illness has impacted your ability to work.
  • Time will show the impact of the treatments and how you would benefit with more time for them to take effect.
  • You will learn specific details on factors regarding your course of treatment.
• Get witness statements and affidavits. Statements from friends and co-workers regarding your illness can be helpful in establishing the course of your illness. If you are someone who has difficulty explaining how you feel, a statement from a family member describing how you shut down on weekends and don’t eat for three days can be helpful.
• Seek legal help. Consulting a disability attorney can be of great assistance in getting your claim through. The attorney can explain what the insurance companies are looking for and help you put together the documentation they need.

How We Can Help

Insurance companies admit that more than half of all long-term disability claims are rejected when they are first filed. The most common reasons are not because the insurer disbelieved the patient. It was because the claim failed to meet the policy requirements or there was a lack of medical documentation. The two most common reasons for rejection are both problems with paperwork.

At Capitan Law, we understand that depression makes it difficult for you to deal with paperwork and company representatives on the phone. Contact us, and we can handle those problems for you. Our legal team will review your policy, make sure your claim meets their requirements, and ensure that you have all the documentation necessary to substantiate your claim.

Contact the mental health disorder long term disability claims attorneys of Capitan Law at (267) 419-7888 today. Let us help you file your long term disability claim for depression and give you one less thing to worry about.