I brought the list of all psych docs that my insurance would cover to my doctor. She did not see any good psych docs on there. She advised i try to pay for 1. I couldnt !
As she knows all the docs in the area and also teaches at the hospital i am confident she knows what she is talking about. Her credentials are flawless ! Before i met her thru my parents i saw over 10 psych docs with horrible outcomes and unprofessinal ethics. I first saw a psych doc at age 12 , unfortuanatly ssi told me in phone interview they couldnt find many of the docs i saw as a kid. I never kept any records since i was 12 or older not in my adult years yet so i had no idea what i had or what was going on.
i have no money , bank account or other stuff, never had a bank account and never held down a job for longer than 2 weeks. My tax returns show this and were sent to ssi.

the last psych doc i saw was 2 years ago , i needed to have an interview to see if they would accept me , not sure why this was . In the interview the doctor was very mean and told me , that they do things around here like the show house ! Her exact words. i found this very odd ! She said i was accepted at end of interview. I told my main doc what happened and she advised i write the hospital head , she got into a phone argument with the psych office and me and her concluded that i would not go back to that place.
So my lack of psych evidence is a fault in the system not my record keeping.
I have been seeing psych docs since 12 ! After a while and after doc after doc and u have to tell and explain your history for most of your life u give up on psych docs , i did, My new doc was the only one who helped and ive been seeing her about 10 years.

thats all i got to say, thanx to everyone for trying to help!

Some docs will work on a sliding scale. My cleaning lady pays only $25 per session to a therapist.

You might also consider expanding the distance you're willing to travel to seek care. Or perhaps, you have a relative you could stay with that is close to better psych doc choices?

There are nonprofit advocacy groups that could help you. If you pm me your location, I can try and research this for you. If you attend religious services, ask your minister (or the equivalent) if they could help with the cost of your treatment... A local attorney might have a relationship with a psych doc that would allow for deferred payment as well.

I understand that it's difficult to find a therapist you're comfortable with. Having a psych doc that's competent enough to diagnose and document your issues is all you need to find, though.

The burden of proof is on the applicant for an SSD claim. And SS does not give much consideration to the opinion of Health and Wellness docs, in most cases.

If you just want to get an initial determination from SS first, I can understand that. Again, good luck.

Ravin,

We all wish you luck with your claim.

Many of us had to wait years for a favorable decision, not because we weren't disabled, but because our records did not PROVE that we were unable to participate in work/SGA to the SSA. Many docs think that if they write, "The patient is totally disabled due to diagnoses x, y, and z" that that will be sufficient.

That is NOT sufficient. A list of diagnoses doesn't prove disability. Your documentation and that doctor's documentation has to spell out how the signs/symptoms of the dx's and side effects of any meds make you unable to work.

Usually, with a psych dx, they will require documentation of disability from a practitioner licensed in that field. We all understand that lack of insurance, private funds, and recommended qualified professionals in your area can make it difficult to get regular care. We 'get' that. We want you to 'get' that if SSA requires documentation from a qualified professional in that field, and you don't have it, that makes it highly unlikely you would get approved.

I believe SSA's process will include sending you to a psych doc of their choice. That doc will not know you and understand all of your issues, as someone who was following you regularly would.

As an example, you have mentioned that you have gotten jobs, but have been unable to keep them. I'm assuming that means you can 'look together' enough to do an interview and get hired. The history of job failures helps with a SSA application. The fact that you can look fully capable of work can hurt you if you have a good day when you happen to see SSA's psych doc.

Someday, in a calm mood, you may want to review this thread. There are issues that you think you have been very clear on that you have not.

You said in your first post....."My main doctor is a health & wellness doc, who is in the top 100 doctors list, and her assistant. i have records with them from the last 8 years. I have 1 psychiatrist listed and a few more that cant be found cause i saw them in my teens and 20s. i am on a few meds ." That does NOT clearly spell out that you receive ongoing care on a regular basis from a psych doc. Getting mad at fellow posters because they can't understand what you meant because you didn't explain enough isn't effective.....although we all understand how stressful this process is and how easy it is to get irritated. The tendency to get frustrated over issues like that could be part of your disability. After correcting many, saying you do have a psych doc, you said, "the last psych doc i saw was 2 years ago" That is not the ongoing coverage with a psych doc that posters have been recommending.

I hope that news won't aggravate you. I hope that you will use it to reflect on how the whole SSDI/SSI application process goes. YOU know that you are unable to work. SSA doesn't KNOW that.....yet. You need to make sure they get enough of the specific info they need to come to that conclusion.

I think everyone has been trying to give you helpful advice and to try to explain to you how the process works, at least from their point of view. And, for SSI to find you disabled, the analysts have to evaluate the evidence with a very specific set of instructions and guidelines. And if you are missing a piece, the whole case can fall apart.

The medical evidence needs to be current. It sounds like you do not have much recent medical evidence even though you may have lots of evidence. The SSI analyst will be looking to see how you are doing today, not how you were doing as a child. What matters to the DDS examiners for an SSI claim is do you have sufficient medical evidence that demonstrates you have a severe psychiatric problem in the month of filing, in the last 12 months, or expected to be severe for the next 12 months.

The evidence from your current non-psych doctor can be considered, but has she made a psychiatric diagnosis and has done recent psychiatric examinations? We all think you are taking a big chance hoping that your non-psychiatric doctor's evidence will be sufficient for SSI, or that 10 year old evidence will show how you are doing today.

What about SSDI? What is your date last insured for SSDI? How old are you? What was the last day you worked? How many years did you work before that? Are either of your parents deceased or entitled to retirement or disability? These are important questions that might determine eligiblity for SSDI or auxilliary disability benefits based on a condition that was severe before age 22 and continues to be severe. You should understand my questions and if you don't, you need someone who can look at your specific case and can explain your insured status to you. It is also possible that all the two-week jobs that you had can be considered an unsuccessful work attempt, but there is a form that asks for the start and stop date of each job. That can be difficult to complete. But necessary.

Focusing on medical evidence from age 12 would probably only help an SSI claim if you were currently age 13 or 14. You may feel as disabled now as you did then. That is not considered current medical evidence.

Current psychiatric evidence that is sufficient to show that you are unable to work today and that this condition is so severe that you will continue to be disabled 12 months from now.