Post-traumatic stress disorder is a recognized condition by the Social Security Administration. People who have PTSD can be eligible for disability benefits, but having that claim approved can be challenging. There are plenty of options for New Orleans PTSD disability attorney services, and it’s crucial for those experiencing PTSD to find the help they need. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the process for filing a disability claim to getting in front of an administrative law judge can take nearly two years. Therefore, having an experienced attorney to navigate the arduous process is a necessity. Let’s take a look and some vital information you may need.
Why should I hire a disability attorney?
It takes an average of almost two years for a disability claim to get to a hearing. Along the way, a person will need to file dozens of pages of various forms. Additionally, those forms need to be filed on strict timelines. A missed deadline can result in a person needing to start the entire process over from the beginning.
While a person filing for disability income isn’t guaranteed a lawyer (like in criminal cases), there are limits to how much an attorney can charge a person for handling disability cases. For example, no more than 25 percent of payments received or $6,000 (whichever is less) can be collected by an attorney working on your disability claim.
How do I qualify for PTSD disability benefits?
The mental health disorder known as PTSD has been observed in people going back at least 100 years. However, the Social Security Administration only added it to eligibility documentation in 2017. For a person to qualify for disability income due to PTSD, they must have medically documented evidence of each of the following situations:
- Exposure to death, threatened with death, serious injury, or violence
- Involuntarily re-experiencing the traumatic scenario through intrusive memories, dreams, or flashbacks
- Avoiding potential external reminders of the trauma
- Drastic changes in average mood or behavior
- Increases in “arousal and reactivity”
As though those elements were not enough to prove, a person looking to claim disability benefits for PTSD must also document extreme limitations or severe limitations in at least one of the following areas:
- Regulating emotion or adapting to changes
- Ability to care for one’s self on a day-to-day basis
- Socially appropriate interactions with others
- Ability to finish tasks (or work) at a reasonable pace
- Learning, retaining, and recalling information
Unfortunately, this is nowhere near an all-inclusive list of situations and conditions that need to be documented. An experienced disability attorney will provide the kind of compassionate guidance necessary to claim essential SSDI benefits successfully.
Disability income is available for people who need it to live. However, there are so many hurdles to clear before collecting a dime that hiring a caring, experienced and compassionate attorney is a must. Schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys today.
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