All of the decisions I got from SSDI trials were formal letters from SSA and they were very professional I think. I never heard of a Judge directly challenging a diagnosis as "less than credible". What is your Lawyer basing your SSDI application on? On documented mental health history and/or work history? My lawyer made a list of things that would qualify me for disability (under SSDI regulations) and he used the most credible one first (and so on). My Judge was a curmudgeon. In court he made a remark that my hospital records were voluminous (about 6" thick), that he couldn't read my Doctors notes and he questioned the accusation that I couldn't get along with co-workers - he said "Everyone has that problem". I had an excellent experienced lawyer from Princeton who didn't lose his cool.