Opinion ID: 785363
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Snead's Alleged Mental Impairments

Text: 6 At the March 18, 1998 hearing before the ALJ, Snead asserted that his mental impairments, including depression and uncontrollable anger, prevented him from working, independent of any symptoms of alcohol abuse. To establish Snead's RFC, the ALJ inquired closely into both subjective and objective evidence of Snead's mental conditions. The ALJ found Snead's subjective complaints only partially credible because Snead's testimony regarding his conditions appeared evasive and self-serving. 3 See Polaski v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 1320, 1322 (8th Cir.1984) (describing factors affecting the credibility of claimant's subjective account of pain). The ALJ also discounted the objective evidence based on multiple contradictions among the medical records, some of which included Snead's own prior statements to a consultative psychiatrist that Snead suffered from no mental illness. Based on sound medical evidence, the ALJ also found that Snead's cerebral atrophy did not significantly limit his ability to work; psychological reports indicated that Snead's intelligence remained within normal to low-normal ranges. Consequently, the ALJ incorporated some, but not all, of Snead's alleged mental limitations in his hypothetical posed to the vocational expert (VE), and the VE concluded that a person with the stated limitations could still find work because jobs that do not require close interaction with others exist in significant numbers in the national economy. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520. 7 Substantial evidence in the record supports the ALJ's conclusion that Snead's mental impairments, viewed in isolation, would not suffice to render him disabled. Consequently, we affirm the district court on that limited finding. See Grebenick v. Chater, 121 F.3d 1193, 1197 (8th Cir.1997) (standard of review).