Plan should help soldiers receive PTSD treatment

There is no doubt that the new rules for filing a PTSD claim will make it easier for our veterans to get through the process, but we cannot forget the Vietnam veterans. There is no way to make up for the time it took them to struggle needlessly to have their claims approved and we need to acknowledge that. Above that, we also need to let them know that had it not been for them, much of what the newer veterans are able to receive would not be there. Their struggle and long, hard fight, brought us to this point. Because of them, no other generation will have to suffer the way they did.

When you read the numbers, notice that there are 247,486 Vietnam veterans being treated. There are many more who have not sought help to heal. Many more have committed suicide.

Veterans' benefits process shortened
Plan should help soldiers receive PTSD treatment
BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • July 13, 2010

By the numbers
Veterans receiving care for PTSD with VA in 2009

World War II: 22,500
Korea: 12,360
Vietnam: 247,486
Peacetime: 12,875
Other/Gulf war: 91,661

It took Vietnam Veteran Larry Symington decades to get the help he needed when he returned home from war.


After struggling to prove he had post-traumatic stress disorder, Symington only recently began receiving treatment.

Although a new regulation making it easier to access healthcare for PTSD won't make a difference for him, his wife, Debbie, said it is a welcome change for veterans, especially those returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and for older veterans who have fallen through the cracks.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday a simplified process that should make it easier for veterans to receive benefits and treatment for PTSD.

Before this change, veterans who applied for disability benefits had to prove what caused their PTSD by providing evidence of a particular bombing or attack. Now, it will be enough to show that the conditions in which they served could have contributed to the diagnosis.

"It's a long time coming," said Scott Fairchild, a Melbourne psychologist who treats veterans with PTSD. "It really eases the process."

PTSD is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from experiencing an event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror. It is not uncommon among war veterans, even those who didn't directly see combat.
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Veterans' benefits process shortened

VA Simplifies Access to Health Care and Benefits for Veterans with PTSD
WASHINGTON (July 12, 2010) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced a critical step forward in providing an easier
process for Veterans seeking health care and disability compensation for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with the publication of a final
regulation in the Federal Register.

"This nation has a solemn obligation to the men and women who have
honorably served this country and suffer from the often devastating
emotional wounds of war," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki. "This final regulation goes a long way to ensure that
Veterans receive the benefits and services they need."

By publishing a final regulation in the Federal Register to simplify the
process for a Veteran to claim service connection for PTSD, VA reduces
the evidence needed if the trauma claimed by a Veteran is related to
fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and is consistent with
the places, types, and circumstances of the Veteran's service.

This science-based regulation relies on evidence that concluded that a
Veteran's deployment to a war zone is linked to an increased risk of
PTSD.

Under the new rule, VA would not require corroboration of a stressor
related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA doctor
confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a Veteran adequately
supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the Veteran's symptoms are related to
the claimed stressor.

Previously, claims adjudicators were required to corroborate that a
non-combat Veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile
military activity. This final rule simplifies the development that is
required for these cases.

VA expects this rulemaking to decrease the time it takes VA to decide
access to care and claims falling under the revised criteria. More than
400,000 Veterans currently receiving compensation benefits are service
connected for PTSD. Combined with VA's shorter claims form, VA's new
streamlined, science-based regulation allows for faster and more
accurate decisions that also expedite access to medical care and other
benefits for Veterans.

PTSD is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from
seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death
or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear,
helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon among war Veterans.

Disability compensation is a tax-free benefit paid to a Veteran for
disabilities that are a result of -- or made worse by -- injuries or
diseases associated with active service.

For additional information, go to www.va.gov or
call VA's toll free benefits number at 1-800-827-1000.