What Can I Do to Help My Mental Health? Understanding the Long-Term Disability Process

Some of the worst and most traumatic disabilities are those that can’t be seen physically, but rather mentally.

Mental disability is often brought on by high-levels of stress. Whether this originates from your workplace or a specific horrific experience, there are some challenges when filing for a long-term disability claim.

Mental illness is a significant and ever growing problem that affects many Canadians, which is why it’s important to seek legal advice in this process.

Personal suffering from mental illness

Mental Health Stats

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), provides the following facts about mental illness:

  • 20 % of Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime.

  • Over 500,000 Canadians will be absent from work in a given week due to mental reasons.

  • By 2020, depression will be the second largest cause of disease in the world.

  • An estimated 5% of the household population suffers from anxiety.

  • In Ontario alone, mental illness is 1.5 times higher than all cancers combined.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), states that 1 out of every 3 Canadians filing for disability is a result of mental illness.

MHCC also states that 80% of employers rate mental health as the number one top cause of both long-term and short-term disability claims.

According to all these statistics, mental illness is a growing concern nationwide.

Woman suffering from mental health issue

Top Mental Health Diseases

Mental illness comes in all shapes and sizes. Here is a list of the most common diseases:

1.Depression

The most popular mental illness is depression. This is a severe disease that affects your overall mood and perspective on life. It can leave you feeling a deep sadness and loss of interest in things you once enjoyed. Depression can also stem as far as causing thoughts of suicide.

2.Bipolar

This disease is characterized by having two split personalities causing manic and depressive episodes. It’s going from one extremity to the other.

3. Anxiety

Anxiety is brought on from a deep sense of worry or unease when attempting to complete a task. This nervous behaviour can escalate in compulsive behaviour and/or panic attacks.

4. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Similar to anxiety, PTSD is a nervous behaviour resulting from experiencing or witnessing a horrific event. It is brought on by a feeling of intense fear, that can result in a panic attack.

5. Schizophrenia

This is a chronic and severe mental disorder that results in hallucinations and delusions affecting how you think and feel.

6. Eating Disorders

Eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia and binge eating are mental illnesses resulting in dramatic disturbances to your eating habits. The desire to purge, or restrict your body of food, or even eat excessively, are all warning signs.

7. Personality Disorders

Personality disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) are patterns of behaviour and cognition that affect one’s culture.

Illustration of brain with bandages on it

The Challenges Of Filing A Long-Term Disability Claim

Due to the nature of the vast amount of volume insurance companies get of mental health claims, there are some setbacks you should be informed of during this process.

The number one challenge lies in the fact that mental illness is almost invisible to the naked eye. It’s unfortunate but insurance companies require such evidence to prove signs of disability. This is why it’s important to seek any medical documentation you can get.

Mental health in general gets overlooked in society in terms of severity. This can be why insurers tend to trivialize the urgency of your claim. This is also why sometimes they are more likely to approve short-term claims over long-term ones. Sometimes they will even go to the lengths of hiring private investigators to scope you out.

Insurance claim for long-term disability

Tips On Filing A Successful Long-Term Disability Claim

If you are suffering from a mental disorder, it’s important to get help and seek compensation for your losses. Mental illness affects every aspect of your life, making it crippling to deal with.

While there are some challenges in getting approval, filing for a long-term disability claim is a necessity to improve the quality of your life and seek reimbursement for your losses.

Get Assessed

If your illness if enabling you from working, you should get proper medical assessment and treatments. These papers will help in procuring proper documentation and evidence to hand in with your application. It’s proven that your claim will be stronger if you also show a commitment to a treatment plan.

It’s also recommended to keep a diary of your everyday thoughts and feelings. This will help serve your doctor in providing you proper care, and also can act as evidence in your claim as well.

Teenage Girl Visits Doctor's Office Suffering With Depression

Don’t Suffer Alone

It’s important you tell a loved one what you’re going through, throughout the entire process. Not only will you have someone that cares for you to lean on, but they can help you file your claim.

This point goes hand in hand with not giving up or losing faith along this process. While it can be lengthy and extensive, it’s important to try and see the benefits it will provide.

Group of friends standing with arms around each other

Keep A Low Profile

As mentioned previously, some insurance companies will even hire private investigators to try and prove you guilty of filing for a claim. It’s important in this regard to refrain from pushing your body to do any strenuous activities, as it may appear bad against you.

It’s also encouraged to keep a lower profile on social media, it terms of the frequency and nature of your posts.

Man alone on tablet

Conte Jaswal Can Help

We understand the severity of mental health and how it can affect your day-to-day life.

An experienced insurance policy claim lawyer can help get you the benefits you are legally entitled to.

Book a free, no-obligation consultation with us to discuss your options. Accidents happen, but we can help you get the compensation you need to recover.

Contact Conte Jaswal now to start getting your life back on track!

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