Recognition of a Mental Disorder as a Cause of Disability

Facts

This decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal concerns the case of an insured person who claimed a right to a disability pension from the Disability Insurance (AI) due to a mental disorder. The lower court had rejected his claim, considering that the disorder was not disabling as it was treatable through appropriate measures (psychotherapy, antidepressants). The insured person appealed against this decision. The main factual elements are as follows: - The insured person stopped working in September 1993 and began psychotherapeutic treatment in April 1998. - The medical and psychiatric reports indicate various personal, family, and origin-related difficulties, as well as unspecified mental/psychosomatic disorders.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal clarifies the case law on whether the possibility of treating a mental disorder excludes its disabling nature: a) The possibility of treating a mental disorder is not in itself a decisive criterion for denying its disabling nature. The law does not make the existence of a disability dependent on the stability or chronicity of the disorder. b) What matters is the existence of a work incapacity of at least 40% for one year, regardless of the origin of the disorder. The fact that a disorder is treatable does not mean that it cannot lead to a disability. c) However, for a…