Am I Qualified?

[chriscond]

Here's my issue..

I was discharged with the ever dreaded 'Personality disorder' DX in March of 08 and was informed that I was not eligible for Service Connection. I applied for SSDI in September of 2009 and was recently approved for Generalized Anxiety, Major Depression, and OCD. SSDI informed me that I should immediately apply for VA benefits because I most likely did qualify. Well, I followed their advice and just today had my C&P exam with someone from QTC. He asked me a lot of questions about my time in service, and about life before the service, etc. I explained that I have always been 'shy and introverted' but it was not until after service that I became unable to keep a job at all. He diagnosed me with Anxiety, Major Depression, OCD and Social Phobia AND then wrote that he cannot confirm the military Psychiatrists diagnosis of Personality Disorder because Social Phobia fit the description even more. I believe he also wrote that my time in service likely caused or aggravated my current problems. How much weight to the examiners give such a report?

[Pete53]

Welcome to Hadit. It looks to me like you were screwed by personality disorder as reason for discharge. Your current diagnosis should help.\ but you have to get the VA to Service Connect you. What kind of discharge did you get?

[LarryJ]

"....likely caused or aggravated....." , sounds good to me.

and, the rater (not the examiner, the examiner was the dude from QTC) has to put a lot of weight in what the examiner says............otherwise he (the rater) has nothing to work with. Your examiner did you some good, I'd say.

Edited September 15, 2010 by LarryJ

[carlie]

Ditto on Pete and Larry.

What type of discharge did you get ?

[john999]

You might want to challange your discharge if it was a general under honorable conditions. You should have gotten a medical discharge. The military has been using the personality disorder discharge for 40 years to avoid paying medical pensions. The military knows exactly what they are doing. It is a disgrace but they continue to do it.

[chriscond]

Thank you all for replying! I would have never even tried to get it because I was told that it would be a waste of time when I got out. When I was with the examiner he initially did write that I had a personality disorder because he read off the descriptions and I agreed, but then he read off Social Phobia which is an Axis 1 disorder and I agreed with that too...and then I said 'I don't understand, the Avoidant Personality Disorder has the same exact description as Social Phobia so which one is it?' and he stopped, looked at me, and said 'You know what, you're exactly right. I never would have noticed that. I'm going to delete the personality disorder diagnosis and tell them I cannot confirm it'. I was pretty taken aback that he was so helpful because I've heard horror stories about C&P exams.

To answer your questions though, I received an Honorable Discharge.

[chriscond]

I spent all day reading through the forums yesterday and it raised a question. I keep seeing that you have to find a way to 'Service Connect' your disability.... How are you supposed to be able to Service Connect an Anxiety Disorder and Depression? I didn't have anything traumatic happen to me while I was enlisted, it was just the daily grind that resulted in a mental snap. I was in good health when I joined and had no history of mental health issues. I had jobs before the military, but since I've been discharged I haven't worked at all (March of 2008) so it is pretty obvious where the problem stems from...I dunno, I'm sort of getting anxious about it now.