How can I connect my PTSD to my military service for veterans' disability compensation?

In order to receive veterans’ disability compensation for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), you must prove that the disorder is connected to your military service. Doing so means that you need to have a VA psychiatrist or psychologist confirm that your military experience is the stress that caused the PTSD. Essentially, it is not your job to create the connection between the two things; it is the job of the doctor. It is your responsibility, however, to speak with that doctor and give him the information required to make the determination. 

Up until July 2010, the process of claiming PTSD for veterans’ benefits was a great deal more complex. In the past, most veterans failed to receive compensation for this disorder; the existence of PTSD was denied, and when the VA did finally accept its existence, they put requirements of proof in place that were nearly impossible to meet. Specifically, the veteran was required to prove a connection between a specific stressful military event in the past, and illustrate its correlation to current PTSD symptoms. Because PTSD is rarely so specific as to be tied to a single event out of an entire stressful or traumatic time period, this resulted in most veterans being denied the help they needed.

 The Obama administration changed this with a new process in place that merely requires the examining doctor to vouch for a connection, in a general sense, between the PTSD and the veteran’s experience in the military service environment.

To get help filing a claim under the new rules for proving your PTSD is connected to your military service, you may wish to hire a lawyer.