The thing that tends to block many attempts by victims with a mental illness from winning a long-term disability claim is a single document. It is the actual application for the long-term disability coverage. That application should state clearly has the victim’s disabling condition affects his or her work performance.
In Canada, victims can claim development of a psychological disorder. Those most often mentioned in victims’ applications are anxiety, depression and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). An anxiety can take many forms, such as phobias, panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Any one of those could affect a worker’s performance.
Mental health professionals use a variety of psychotherapeutic techniques, in order to treat such problems. Few of them use a standard approach. Typically, a mental health professional will tailor his or her approach, so that it matches with the personality and needs of the patient. Too often, insurance companies and health care plans limit the duration of any attempt at psychotherapy. For that reason, victims often get treated according to a time-limited format. It makes the most of every single session, even short ones.
Steps to proving a claim
Victim must show that she or he will be under the care of an expert. That expert should be either a psychiatrist or a psychologist. The application should include information on how the claimant was affected by the disorder. The patient/victim must follow the doctor’s orders. To help them with a claim, the services of a personal injury lawyer in Sherwood Park needs to be hired.
If the administered treatment proves ineffective, the victim is expected to seek an alternative source, in hopes of achieving recovery. This fact helps to explain the way that insurance companies have played a role in creation of the time-limited format, which was mentioned earlier.
The assessment of a victim’s recovery
Traditional psychotherapy seeks immediate treatment of a problem. If an accident has altered someone’s behavior, psychodynamic psychotherapy may be tried. That takes into account the role of the patient’s past experiences and unconscious influences. Such treatments seek to bring about a behavioral change.
Sometimes an accident causes a victim to develop a phobia. It is possible that such a phobia might affect the same victim’s ability to perform his or her previous job. In such a situation, the person with the phobia would have a sound reason for claiming a long-term disability. The victim would be declared recovered when he or she had lost the unfounded fear, phobia that had been directing his or her behavior.
Long term disability benefits can go to someone with a mental condition, if that same condition keeps the affected man or woman from carrying out a specific, job-related function. It does not normally get used to correct behaviors such as excessive on-the-job anger.