ptsd New Ptsd Claim

[ATVer]

I posted this in another forum, no response, so I figured i'd post here too. I'm going this week to file a PTSD claim. I was never treated for anything while on active duty. What all do i need to get the ball rolling, DD-214 and what else? I also want to file for TBI and tinnitus, but PTSD is my main concern. Do i file them all at the same time i'm guessing?

[Berta]

With the CAR- if you have it now or expect it-you might not even need to take the JSRRC route- one can never tell what VA will do-but they should concede you experienced a stressor with the CAR on your DD 214.

[Commander Bob]

Welcome aboard, ATVer. You should receive a VA doctor's "Compensation & Pension" Exam ( C&P ), after you file your claim.

DSM-IV-TR criteria for PTSD

In 2000, the American Psychiatric Association revised the PTSD diagnostic criteria in the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). The diagnostic criteria (Criterion A-F) are specified below.

Diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event meeting two criteria and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms. A fifth criterion concerns duration of symptoms and a sixth assesses functioning.

Criterion A: stressor

The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:

1. The person has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others.

2. The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: in children, it may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.

Criterion B: intrusive recollection

The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in at least one of the following ways:

1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: in young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.

2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: in children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content

3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: in children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.

4. Intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

5. Physiologic reactivity upon exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event

Criterion C: avoidant/numbing

Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by at least three of the following:

1. Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma

2. Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma

3. Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma

4. Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities

5. Feeling of detachment or estrangement from others

6. Restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings)

7. Sense of foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span)

Criterion D: hyper-arousal

Persistent symptoms of increasing arousal (not present before the trauma), indicated by at least two of the following:

1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep

2. Irritability or outbursts of anger

3. Difficulty concentrating

4. Hyper-vigilance

5. Exaggerated startle response

Criterion E: duration

Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in B, C, and D) is more than one month.

Criterion F: functional significance

The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify if:

Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than three months

Chronic: if duration of symptoms is three months or more

Specify if:

With or Without delay onset: Onset of symptoms at least six months after the stressor

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV-TR ( Fourth ed.). Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.

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TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF

CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PART 4--SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES

Subpart B--Disability Ratings

4.129 Mental disorders due to traumatic stress.

General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders:

Total occupational and social impairment, due to

such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought

processes or communication; persistent delusions

or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior;

persistent danger of hurting self or others;

intermittent inability to perform activities of

daily living (including maintenance of minimal

personal hygiene); disorientation to time or

place; memory loss for names of close relatives,

own occupation, or own name............. 100%

Occupational and social impairment, with

deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school,

family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due

to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation;

obsessional rituals which interfere with routine

activities; speech intermittently illogical,

obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or

depression affecting the ability to function

independently, appropriately and effectively;

impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked

irritability with periods of violence); spatial

disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and

hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful

circumstances (including work or a worklike

setting); inability to establish and maintain

effective relationships............... 70%

Occupational and social impairment with reduced

reliability and productivity due to such symptoms

as: flattened affect; circumstantial,

circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic

attacks more than once a week; difficulty in

understanding complex commands; impairment of

short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of

only highly learned material, forgetting to

complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired

abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and

mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining

effective work and social relationships....... 50%

Occupational and social impairment with occasional

decrease in work efficiency and intermittent

periods of inability to perform occupational tasks

(although generally functioning satisfactorily,

with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation

normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood,

anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or

less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory

loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent

events)...................................... 30%

Occupational and social impairment due to mild or

transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency

and ability to perform occupational tasks only

during periods of significant stress, or; symptoms

controlled by continuous medication............ 10%

A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but

symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere

with occupational and social functioning or to

require continuous medication................... 0%

Edited November 19, 2009 by Commander Bob

[Vync]

As info only...

The DSM-IV-TR is currently in the process of being updated. The next release is due out in 2011. We probably can expect the criteria for PTSD to remain current until then.

[ATVer]

TTT B)

Ok, went to the VA the other day and met with the VSO of the american legion. Got all the paperwork out of the way. Doing a tinnitus claim first. Going to defer the PTSD and TBI claims until my evidence is in. So i need to get on that. And put in for the DD-215, that will probably take forever. The VSO seems to know his stuff real well, and told me what to do when i get in the system for health benefits and all, and told me to send all my papers to him and he'll make sure they'll get it on file. Makes me feel better anyway. I actually have an appointment with a doctor this week.

[Pete53]

Good Luck on your claim

[Commander Bob]

TTT B)

Going to defer the PTSD and TBI claims until my evidence is in.

Makes me feel better anyway.

Why did you not file for the PTSD/TBI, the other day when you filed your VA claim?? What evidence are you waiting for?

Edited November 30, 2009 by Commander Bob