Mental Health Disability
VA Mental Disability Claims
For many veterans, symptoms of a mental health disability may first appear while on active duty. Veterans can experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder during their service, but might not be fully diagnosed until many years after.
The stress of service or particularly traumatic events may be triggering. Some mental health disabilities like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders may begin because of traumatic experiences a veteran had while in service.
Stressors or Traumatic Events
VA considers a traumatic event as an experience where you: suffered a serious injury, personal or sexual trauma, or sexual violation. VA also accepts events where you were threatened with injury, sexual assault, or death.
Often, veterans will not seek help or treatment for these problems because of the stigma involved. Some veterans are not even aware they have a problem, or may think their symptoms are “untreatable”. It can take years of convincing before a veteran actually makes it to a doctor to receive a diagnosis and treatment.
There are many reasons for the lapse of time between a veteran’s first symptoms appearing in service and the actual diagnosis of the psychological disorder. However, this gap in time usually makes a claim for service-connection quite difficult.
If you are one of the lucky few who have received service-connection for a mental health disability, your fight with VA may not be over yet. The VA often underrates mental health disability claims, mostly due to their lack of understanding. Your symptoms may be far more severe or increasingly worsen over time than VA currently recognizes. Let us help you explain to the VA all of your symptoms to get you the best rating possible for your current mental health condition.
VA Mental Disability Benefits
Legal Help For Veterans, PLLC has experienced professionals on staff who have worked in the mental health industry before. They are familiar with the symptoms of psychological disorders and are capable of handling difficult claims like these.
Our team also has access to psychologists and psychiatrists who are able to provide a medical opinion linking your current psychological disorder or mental health illness back to your time spent in service. Contact us online for a free claim evaluation and our team will evaluate what additional assistance we can provide towards gaining a service-connection for your VA claim, or call our office at (800) 693-4800.