TPD Claims for Depression

Total and permanent disability (TPD) claims can be made against your superannuation fund due to an injury or illness that has left you unable to return to work. Psychological/mental illnesses and conditions are within the scope of TPD claims as well as physical ones, if they prevent you from being employed in your usual occupation.

Depression is among the most common mental illnesses experienced by many people at some point in their lives. Not every depression case can be considered a permanent disability, however, since depression can take many forms and emerge in different levels of seriousness. More severe versions of depression are generally diagnosed as major depression, psychotic depression and bipolar disorder. In order to be able to make a TPD claim for your depressive illness, you usually must be able to provide medical evidence by way of a medical report documenting its severity to the extent of preventing you from returning to work.

Before proceeding to make a TPD claim for depression, you should inquire into the details of your superannuation policy to see what exactly is covered and what other evidence you may need to provide. Each policy has different requirements and different definitions of how they categorise TPD. Checking your policy requirements will help you identify the grounds on which your claim can be refused.