I Just Received My Copys From Bva Appeal Remand From Psychologist?

[les]

I have a BVA appeal remand and my claim started in 2006. The bva appeal remand sent me to the Lebanon Pa. Med center. I had my c&p remand on on 2/14/2014. I will try to keep this short as possible. I picked up my c&p appeal today 2/28/2014. This is what the c&p says: Symptoms For Va. rating purposes, Check all symptoms that apply to the veterans diagnoses: X depressed mood, x anxiety, xchronic sleepimpairment x mild memory loss, x disturbances of motivation and mood, x suicidal ideation. Then it goes on to the opinion. Veteran meets diagnostic criteria for unspecified depressive disorder. It is further the opinion of the examiner, that the unspecified depressive disorder is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or more) had its clinical onset during the veterans period of service and was in response to military stressors. I have been going thru this claim and now Appeal for a long time and If anyone knows what may happen please give me some insight. One thing the bva judge wanted to know from the psychologist if this was an in service stressor. As I read this she said it is a service stresser. Please let me know what your thought are. Thanks so much. Allso can anyone guess at what percent I might get if I get one. On more thing I never heard of a unspecified depressive disorder. What does that mean.

Edited March 20, 2014 by les

[john999]

I think the C&P doctor is saying your depressive disorder is service connected. Can you scan the whole C&P without your name and SSA number so we can look at it. The question now would be what your percentage of disability would be? Are you able to work? I bet if you are not able to work this would make a grant of TDIU pretty easy considering you are 60% already. What is the 60% for in terms of mental or physical disability? I think the VA will grant service connection for the depression. You don't need a stressor for a depression claim. That is for PTSD. Most doctor's can't distinguish very well between PTSD and chronic depression since they go hand-in-hand. If you have psychotic depression or bipolar disorder they can distinguish that from PTSD sometimes. Were you treated for depression in-service? I don't think with that C&P it is going to matter.

John

[les]

Hi John, My scanner does not work. I am on ssdi since 2002 and one reason is deppression, Hearing loss, shoulder surgeries, spine condition, I am now rated at 60% for the reasons I listed. except depression. I am not able to work acording to the ssdi. The va is aware of the ssdi. I was not treated for depression in sevice. one more thing that is on my c&p is: Veteran scored 70 on the pcl-c which is indicative of ptsd. I had to change my claim from ptsd because the va denide it. I was then told by my dav rep to change it to gad. If my dav rep was on the ball I was told I would have won it. By the way GAD is generalized angziety disorder. So It has been a long war with the Va. Thanks john.

[john999]

Les

I don't think the VA can distinguish between PTSD, GAD and depression. If you have some event or events like combat exposure where you can identify a stressor or stressors then it is PTSD. If it just happens in service it might be GAD or panic disorder. If it is in response to your physical injuries or chronic pain then it is depression. I think I had all three and you probably did as well. It is only the VA that makes a big deal of it since you can be out of service 20 years and still file and win a claim for PTSD. With the others the farther away from your service dates and the onset of GAD or depression the harder it is to get SC'ed. I do tell those who have physical disabilities and/or chronic pain from in-service injuries to check themselves for signs of depression. For instance, I don't know many who have your physical disabilities who don't get depressed. Hearing loss isolates people and back problems and failed shoulder surgeries(I have both myself) are depressing due to pain and loss of function and activities. Now that your depression looks like it will be SC'ed you should be able to get TDIU. How long have you had the depression/ptsd claim in appeals? I wonder at the rating percentage and your EED. When they denied your PTSD was it because no confirmed stressor? Now you don't even need a confirmed stressor just a DX of PTSD and a plausible stressor story. You might run this whole thing by a VA lawyer to see if there is anyway you can get at a EED. Did you ever file for TDIU before?

If you did and got denied I bet they said you could not work due to depression and ruled out the physical conditions that were SC. I was 70% and the VA denied my TDIU because they said I was unemployable due to opiates and my reaction to them rather than my SC condition. Now the physical conditions that require opiates are all SC with lots more over the last 12 years. I got my TDIU using a good IME.

[les]

My stressors that the Va law judge said at my vidio conference he said he wanted from my c&p is if I had a stressor related to my military service. and the phychologist opined that I had its clinical onset during the veterans period of service and was in responce to millitary stressors. My stressor was being at a c 130 plane crash site were 68 people plus crew were all killed in a terible crash. I never filed for tdui. I been at this for over 8 years. I hope I get rated and get this bs off my back! Thanks John