I got my denial letter in March of this year. I immediately (the next day) appealed online. In two months (May), I got the letter that I was considered disabled and would be receiving monthly payments plus all the back payments for the previous year when I initially became disabled. The key is your doctors letters. If you have a good relationship with them (your therapist and your p-doc) you can tell them that when they write their letters for the appeal to include the four areas of functioning (it's a site called marthachurchill or something like that...I think you've probably seen it posted around here somewhere) and how your illness prevents you from leading a productive, normal life in these key areas. My docs wrote great letters and that's the only reason I got it. Like everyone says, they do automatically deny almost everyone on the first try. I don't think they even read anything in your file. They just gather the information in case you appeal. Hold on. It's worth the fight.