Can You Get Higher Ptsd Rating if Your a Dv Victim

We've been looking at the requirement for a PTSD merits of an in-service stressor. We know that generally, y'all need evidence to approve your stressor, but that in that location are certain situations where it is easier. The first situation we looked at was when a veteran is diagnosed with PTSD in service. The second type of stressor we looked at was for veterans who were in combat. The third scenario is for stressors related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activeness. Today nosotros will wait at in-service personal attack.

An in-service stressor has to be corroborated. The general rule is that the VA will not have your statement equally proof that the in-service stressor occurred, and that you will need evidence that the stressor occurred. Merely because this often proves very difficult, the VA has provided sure situations where it is easier to prove your stressor. I of those situations is for in-service personal assault.

In-service Personal Assault as Stressor for PTSD

Personal assault is "an event of human blueprint that threatens or inflicts impairment."

Some examples are:

• Rape
• Physical assault
• Domestic battering
• Robbery
• Mugging
• Stalking
• Harassment

These incidents practise not only apply to female veterans, male veterans may likewise be victims of personal assault.

The VA has acknowledged that personal assaults are ofttimes not officially reported and victims may find it difficult to produce evidence to back up that the assault actually happened. In that location are, therefore, two rules in identify the VA must follow: 1) When the veteran states that he or she did non report an in-service sexual assault, the VA cannot rely on the absence of service records documenting the assault to conclude that information technology did non happen, and 2) the VA may non rely on a veteran'south failure to report the attack as evidence that it did not happen. The VA has recognized that alternative evidence can establish an in-service set on even if military records don't document that it occurred. This makes finding alternative sources critical and the VA has a special obligation to assist in cases where the veteran is challenge personal assault.

The VA has to tell the veteran that show other than that found in service records can exist submitted, and the VA has to permit the veteran the opportunity to submit such evidence. Some types of evidence that tin be used to back up a PTSD claim based on a personal attack are:

• Records from law enforcement regime
• Rape crunch centers
• Mental health counseling centers
• Hospitals or physicians
• Pregnancy tests or tests for STDs
• Statements from family members, roommates, fellow service members or clergy.

In whatsoever of these sources, yous are looking for evidence of behavior changes post-obit the claimed assail, equally this is one blazon of relevant evidence that can be institute in these sources.

Examples of behavior changes that may institute credible evidence of the stressor include:

• A request for a transfer to another armed forces duty assignment
• Deterioration in piece of work performance
• Substance abuse

Other examples of what you could use as evidence are:

• Personal diaries or journals
• Visits to a medical or counseling clinic or dispensary without a specific diagnosis or specific ailment
• Lay statements indicating increased apply or abuse of leave without an apparent reason
• Lay statements describing episodes of depression, panic attacks, or anxiety but for no identifiable reasons
• Episodes of low, panic attacks, or anxiety without an identifiable cause
• Unexplained economical or social behavior changes
• Increased apply of over-the-counter medications
• Evidence of substance abuse such equally drugs or alcohol
• Increased disregard for military or civilian authority
• Obsessive behavior such as overeating or undereating
• Increased interest in tests for STDs
• Unexplained economic or social behavior changes
• Treatment for physical injuries effectually the time of the claimed trauma just not reported as a result of the trauma
• The breakup of a master human relationship

Some other sources of information include:

• Rape crisis center or center for domestic corruption
• Vet center
• Counseling facility
• Health clinic
• Family unit members or roommates
• Faculty members
• Civilian police officers
• Medical reports from noncombatant physicians or caregivers who may accept treated the veteran either immediately after the incident or sometime after
• Boyfriend service persons
• Chaplain or clergy

Whatever show yous have, submit information technology to the VA and the VA tin so submit any testify it receives to an advisable medical or mental health professional for an stance as to whether information technology indicates that a personal assault occurred. In PTSD claims based on personal assault, medical opinions that happened subsequently the stressor tin approve the claimed stressor and must be considered by the VA in determining whether the evidence establishes that the stressor occurred. But this does non mean that the VA must take a medical examiner's opinion as credible prove of the claimed in-service stressor. Instead, the VA must counterbalance the medical examiner'southward stance confronting other show of record and determine whether it corroborates the claimed stressor.

Melanie Franco, Attorney

Melanie is an Attorney with Hill & Ponton, P.A. Melanie was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She earned her undergraduate and law schoolhouse degrees from the University of Florida in Gainesville. She majored in English, minored in French, and is fluent in Spanish. In police schoolhouse, Melanie adult a passion for advocating for underprivileged populations. The desire to abet for those in need is what led her to veterans' inability constabulary. She wanted to use her law caste for the skilful of others and she found that representing our nation's veterans at Colina & Ponton.

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Source: https://www.hillandponton.com/ptsd-personal-assault/

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