Mental health conditions are common among Veterans who have been through challenges during their military service. Post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly shortened to the acronym PTSD, is a common mental health condition that can have both mental and physical symptoms. This condition affects around 3.5% of adults per year in the U.S. – but the Veteran population is more likely to develop it, for reasons we'll go into below. If you're a Veteran with symptoms of PTSD, it's possible to get VA disability benefits for your condition if you can prove service connection.
In this blog we'll go over everything you need to know about PTSD, and why Veterans are at a higher risk for developing it:
What is PTSD?
The Mayo Clinic defines PTSD as "a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event", which can be either experienced or witnessed. A lot of people associate PTSD with anxiety, because it causes intense stress, fear, and anxiety surrounding the triggering event. It's much more severe than day-to-day stress of anxiety though – often causing severe symptoms.
PTSD symptoms include:
How PTSD changes the brain
The experiencing or witnessing of a traumatic event affects the brain's ability to process fear, leading to a heightened state of sensitivity and alertness. While PTSD often occurs from a single traumatic event, it can also be more likely to develop due to genetics or other preexisting mental health conditions.
Related: Did you know sleep apnea and PTSD are connected? Read this blog to learn how.
Why are Veterans at risk for developing PTSD?
Unfortunately, Veterans are at a higher risk for developing PTSD compared to civilians due to traumatic events that can happen during combat. Experiencing or witnessing injuries, intense combat, long deployments, survivor's guilt, and a lack of mental health care can all contribute to PTSD or worsen it.
Findings from the VA's office of Research and Development estimate that somewhere between 10 to 20 percent of Veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan experience PTSD, compared to only 8 percent of the general population throughout their entire lives.
Get medical documentation for your VA disability benefits claim
At MRPY Professional Services, we help Veterans get the medical documentation they need for physical health conditions. With the right proof, VA disability benefits are much easier to attain.
Although we don't write documents for mental health claims (such as PTSD), many mental health conditions either cause or aggravate other medical conditions.
Whether you need a Nexus Letter, DBQ, chart review, or a consultation on where to start – we can help you get what you need to move forward with confidence. Get started and book a chart review, or view our full list of services here. VA disability benefits can be confusing, but they don't have to be. Work with our team to save time, money, and frustration.
Comments