I'm working right now but have received a "closed period of disability" before. Same process. I got an attorney right away and I wasn't too pleased with him. He was very hard to reach and rarely called back. However he did have a lot of work to do getting my records. The process took over two years and I blame him for that. I actually didn't know I had BPD until I read my records. The reason I went for a closed period and not a monthly check is because I wanted to go back to work full time in the future. And he said I had a better chance. So they took the date of my IP up to the beginning date of my last job and paid me what I would of made in total if I was working. And yea the attorney got a chunk of it but it was worth it since he did most of the work really. The huge pile of files he had collected was huge! I thought about filing again last year after a huge breakdown but I couldn't afford to wait for the process and not work. And I also got a lot of crap from my family. They called me lazy and an embarrassment. Screw them.