The SSA will send you to a psychiatrist of their own choosing, who is on contract to do assessments for them. I thought that pdoc would be the "devil's advocate" looking to cast doubt on my claim. Like Disorder, I found the pdoc they sent me too very supportive, much to my surprise.

As I was leaving the office of the pdoc working for the government, that pdoc said, "I'm going to do my best for you." I never expected that. So the process can play out very different from how you might expect.