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Ptsd Claim

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Petty Officer W

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I just recently put a claim in for PTSD, my VA rep told me I would probably here from them in a month, and I have not so I called him today and he said oh give them another couple of weeks,

I have not been able to submit my paperwork I have proving my PTSD or been ask to see a Dr. yet to be evaluated. I have been being seen for close to 10 years at the VA hospital near here for depression, anxiety and panics and doctors at the VA have put in the reports that they felt I had PTSD in fact they were the ones that brought it to my attention, now I feel after all these years

that I should submit a claim. Is it normal to sit around and wait a month before they ask you for your paper work and to see a doctor, can someone tell me the proper steps I should take with

all of this?

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Welcome aboard veteran-

Join us up in the Claims Research Topic for a more detailed assessment of what you need to do-

I dont know what RO your rep deals with but it is usually 6 months before a vet gets a VCAA letter telling them what evidence that VA needs to have.

They are working faster -however-on OIF-OEF vets cases.

Didn't the rep have you fill out a 21-526 application for comp yet?

For PTSD compensation you will need

1. medical diagnosis of PTSD.

2. Proof of inservice stressor

3. medical nexus of 1 and 2 with no other etiology for the PTSD but for the inservice stressor.

Unless you have the PH, or the CIB or CAR on your DD 214 you will need proof of your stressor.

There ois a topic here I wrote available under the hadit search feature as to what a stressor is defined as for VA purposes.

Many vets have multiple stressors.

I suggest focusing on those stressor which are easiest to prove.

The VA will send your stressor info the JSCCR for verification so be sure to give VA details as to time and place etc.

Also you might need buddy statements ,etc-it all depends on the DD 214 citations and /or whether JSRRC will find proof of stressor in unit reports, etc.

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Welcome aboard veteran-

Join us up in the Claims Research Topic for a more detailed assessment of what you need to do-

I dont know what RO your rep deals with but it is usually 6 months before a vet gets a VCAA letter telling them what evidence that VA needs to have.

They are working faster -however-on OIF-OEF vets cases.

Didn't the rep have you fill out a 21-526 application for comp yet?

For PTSD compensation you will need

1. medical diagnosis of PTSD.

2. Proof of inservice stressor

3. medical nexus of 1 and 2 with no other etiology for the PTSD but for the inservice stressor.

Unless you have the PH, or the CIB or CAR on your DD 214 you will need proof of your stressor.

There ois a topic here I wrote available under the hadit search feature as to what a stressor is defined as for VA purposes.

Many vets have multiple stressors.

I suggest focusing on those stressor which are easiest to prove.

The VA will send your stressor info the JSCCR for verification so be sure to give VA details as to time and place etc.

Also you might need buddy statements ,etc-it all depends on the DD 214 citations and /or whether JSRRC will find proof of stressor in unit reports, etc.

I was already diagnosed by a doctor that works for the VA hospital 5-8 years ago I will have to

check, and it is in my VA information in the computer, also I have been working with a social worker(VA employee) who has been really good about helping me get the ball rolling. I just do not like the feeling

of not know exactly what paperwork I have to fill out to make sure that I am getting all my paper work in and complete. As far as the stressor goes for proof I have a page that is out of my dependents records (I am a widow of a veteran as well) that was written and signed by a psycologist back years after the stressor happened but in this paper work he describes some of the stressors that I had to deal with but the paper is dated after the time I was out of the service so I will have to see how this all turns out, I have years of proof of emergency room visits and many doctors notes saying that I have PTSD, depression, anxiety ...... I think the main thing is proving my stressor. I might have to find a few buddies from the Navy and ask them to do a letter.

What is the nexus? Please explain, thank you so much for your information and I will go to the other board to fnd out more info about pursueing a claim, my VA rep filled out some kind of application for me and said that I should hear from them asking for the paperwork for my proof of PTSD they should be able to pull of my records in the VA and see everything as well. Thank you for the welcome.

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I can try and give you some advice. This is what I did and was successful. I must warn you that this can sometimes be a long arduous task. You mentioned that this has been about 10yrs? Am I wrong for assuming you are a desert storm vet? I am an OIF vet, so luckily for me, they want to push those cases through the quickest. Have you been in treatment? if so, get all the notes from all the VA clinics you have been to. Do you have your military medical records? you will need these as well. Have you filed a formal appeal yet? you can set one up on VONAPP yourself. This will set your effective date for when and if your claim is approved, you will be back dated to.

  1. get copies of all notes (VA related, not all have each others notes, so you must request them).
  2. get your current doctor to give you a diagnoses and copy of such.
  3. sign up for a veteran service rep (VFW, AMerican Legion, DAV etc), they will help you out and do the leg work, but don't expect it to be super fast. If you want super fast, you do the running around and requesting.
  4. make sure a claim was filed and get the date.
  5. if claim not filed, use VONAPP system online yourself. Get the claim filed while you are gathering your information.
  6. write a stressor letter (say what sysmptoms you have, what the severity of each symptoms are and the effect they have on your life and ability to work.
  7. get family members or buddies that served with you that can talk about in a letter how you've changed before service and after becuase of ptsd.
  8. VA will acknowledge your claim has be rec'd and will tell you what is expected next.
  9. VA will schedule a C&P exam. (this takes a while, use the inquiry system to find out when the appt is), this appt carries most of the weight in your case. the c&P interviewer will review your case and then ask you predtermined questions.
  10. After you exam, it takes about week or less, although some cases could be more, for the interviewer to submit a formal report and diagnosis, whether you have ptsd or not and depending on what they say is how they put you into the categories (0,10,30,50,70,100 %). I must say it is very hard to get the higher percentages. You must show prolonged problems which are chronic.
  11. depending on your VARO it may take a few months for them to issue a decision. the key is once you get that c&P exam submitted you'll be much closer.
  12. Do research through this site and any other sites you can. Look up criteria for ptsd, symptoms etc. Do your homework so you don't get screwed.
I hope this helped a little
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To win a PTSD-based claim, you need (1) a diagnosis of PTSD and (2) evidence of a stressful event during your military service. Even if you convince 10 VA and 10 private psychiatrists that you have PTSD, the VARO can still deny your claim if it does not accept your evidence about the stressful event that caused the PTSD.

The Stressor you experienced needs to be documented. If your Stressor was related to combat while engaged in action with the enemy, your testimony alone should convince the VA that you experienced the event. The VA should not even question your statement if you had a combat MOS or you received a Purple Heart or other award indicating combat service.

On the other hand, if you did not have a combat MOS and simply state that you were often under mortar and rocket attacks, the VA may simply say that your experience was not stressful enough to have caused PTSD since nearly everyone stationed in Vietnam came under such attacks. If, however, you were next to a buddy who was killed or injured, the fact of the death or injury is something that can be confirmed.

If you are a Vietnam vet and you provide the VA with enough details about stressful events in your service, the VA will contact the U.S. Army and Joint Services Environmental Support Group and ask it to review records of the Vietnam war to try to corroborate your experiences. Your representative should be able to show you the guide for the Preparation of PTSD Research Requests that the Support Group offers to reps to help them make a request that the Support Group can work with.

To understand what evidence the VA already has collected, get a free copy of your VA claims file from the VARO. If you need to document your service in Vietnam, get a free set of your complete military personnel records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis using a Standard Form 180, Request Pertaining to Military Records. This form is available from your representative or any VA office.

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I'm just curious...is there a reason you started a new thread with the same questions as the other thread you started? Were you hoping for a different response? Either way...it is not going to be an automatic win...no matter who suggested you file a claim.

Edited by luvHIM
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