July 14th, 2010
PTSD Diagnosis “Changes” for American Vets
Military vets are exposed to trauma. No secret there. However, the rates of American vets suffering PTSD is skyrocketing because of repeated 1-yr. tours in war zones. Effective July 12, 2010, the VA has a new regulation (subject to termination after the Obama administration leaves office). Described as “relaxed rules,” the vet’s symptoms (irritability, flashbacks, deep depression, and other emotional or behavior problems) will be used by the military clinicians to diagnosis PTSD. The change drops the requirement that events that caused the symptoms be documented.
Just like the workplace, it’s the exposure to unremitting stress that injures. Writer Joshua Kors has been reporting since 2007 on the military psychologists’ reluctance to diagnosis PTSD, many electing to prostitute themselves by deceitfully employing the Chapter 5-13 discharge for having a “personality disorder.” A PD diagnosis deprives the warrior vet of post-discharge treatment and medical coverage by the Veterans Administration (VA) earned by her or his service to country.
Michael Wolcoff, VA acting undersecretary for benefits told the Washington Post, “We are acknowledging the inherently stressful nature of the places and circumstances of military service, in which the reality and fear of hostile or terrorist activities is always present.”
More good news: the change in rules apply to claims that are new or pending and previously denied claimants are invited to re-apply.
More than 400,000 veterans of all military operations receive benefits for the disorder, of which about 19,000 are women, according to the VA. VA compensation is about $27,000 per year.
What could possibly be wrong with the rule change? The private mental health clinicians who treat and diagnosis vets are excluded. The Army is confident that their clinicians are good (but read the Kors series about psychologists willing to lie when the lies and coverup go all the way up the ladder to Army surgeon general Gale Pollock).
Offering a warning is Richard Cohen, executive director of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates. In his legal advocacy role for vets, he has seen federal clinicians with minimal experience with PTSD who had rejected legitimate claims. Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a nonprofit group, said that federal clinicians and claims adjudicators were often adversarial in dealing with veterans seeking benefits. “V.A. needs to train their examination staff so that they understand that P.T.S.D. is associated with deployment,” Mr. Sullivan said. “It’s a cultural thing.”
The other shortcoming of the new regulation is its temporary status. An enacted law, however, would lock in the spirit of helping combat vets and the diagnosis of PTSD. Rep. John Hall (D-NY-19th District ) (and 17 co-sponsors) introduced HR 952 in the current Congress. Passing the bill would also allow non-military clinicians to diagnose.
Read the official VA memo announcing the new regulation. Turns out the start date announced was wrong and could screw up the filing process for some vets. Tip o’ the hat to VA Watchdog for catching the error.
What has this got to do with workplace bullying? Because any progress in recognizing traumatization from work could eventually make it easier for bullied individuals at work to be believed and taken seriously when their injuries interfere with living and working through PTSD’s debilitating emotional consequences.
Tags: American Army, Army, Chapter 5-13, diagnosis, Joshua Kors, military, National Organization of Veterans' Advocates, precipitating events, PTSD, symptoms, VA, VA Watchdog, Veterans for Common Sense
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Employer Action/Inaction, Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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I am happy to hear this, hopefully more can get the help they need and there will be less suicides, murder/suicides, and misery. I tried to get help for my PTSD for years. I was given all kinds of crazy and illogical diagnoses, borderline personality, paranoid with psychotic features(after a twenty minute intake interview and when I asked her what psychotic behaviors she noticed she replied,”It was the way your told that story”), a couple days after this I was told there was absoultely nothing wrong with me by a different practitioner, paranoid personality disorder(after a five to ten minute phone converstation),and bipolar due to complaints about insomnia. Each time I would explain that PTSD could look like a lot of different issues, but really none of these diagnoses were supported by what was going on with me anyway. The lack of knowledge about PTSD is widespread, there is a huge lack of knowledge about treatment, and there is also prejudice, especially against those who have it from workplace bullying.
I believe this is very good news. I am an OIF veteran and a MST victim diagnosed with PTSD. I was belittled, harrassed and assulted by my peers and command group to the point of requiring medivac from theatre. This is a step in the right direction for the other veterans like me who’s injuries are not from combat, but were caused directly by military service.