Cognitive impairment in mental illness: An SSA blind spot?

摘要

The field now recognizes that our patients, particularly those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, have significant co-occurring cognitive impairment (1). Unfortunately, in our experience at Thresholds, the disability determination process used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) often does not recognize cognitive impairment of individuals with schizophrenia and similar conditions otherwise considered stable (the exception is for the category of patients with dementia, delirium, or amnestic disorders, for whom cognitive impairment is taken into account). SSA does not recognize the importance of cognitive impairment in most mental disorders as a vocational impairment in determining disability.