Military Sexual Trauma: Evidence & VA Disability Ratings
By Jessica M. Friedman of Friedman Law Firm, P.C.
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
What is MST?
PTSD
Depression
Anxiety disorders
Substance abuse
As a result, these conditions associated with MST may be connected to military service.
MST VA claims are evaluated in the way all other mental disorder claims are, using a rating formula that references degrees of occupational/social impairments. In other words, the VA pays disability benefits for the conditions and symptoms resulting from the MST. Most often, these are PTSD claims.
Proving Military Sexual Trauma
The most common reservations survivors have about filing a claim for MST are:
They did not come forward when the event occurred
They feel that they do not have the standard of evidence associated with filing criminal charges against the perpetrator
That the VA will expect an unreasonable level of proof that the MST incident(s) occurred
They fear having to face the perpetrator
Fortunately, these are not obstacles to filing a VA disability claim for MST. An official report can help prove the incident occurred, but the absence of a report will not be counted against you. Mental health and medical experts have understood for some time now that it can take years or even decades for symptoms of PTSD to manifest to the point of disrupting veterans' basic functioning. The VA has taken heed of the fact, as reflected in the changes they've made across the last ten years, specifically in the relaxing of the evidentiary standards associated with MST-related claims. This can be seen in the increased rate at which the VA accepts MST-based claims. While MST-related PTSD claims were successful 50% of the time in 2012, that number has increased to 76% in 2022.
To prove a claim for MST, you need credible evidence that the event occurred and medical evidence diagnosing the condition, as with any mental health related claim.
Credible evidence that the event occurred
In most cases, there is not direct evidence of the incident. The VA accepts corroborating evidence such as a request for transfer, changes in behavior, or statements from family or friends. While you are encouraged to submit any evidence you do have available, it is no longer required in order to file a successful MST-related disability claim. Because direct or circumstantial supporting evidence is unavailable more often than not, they will accept a mental health provider's opinion that your current diagnosis is related to MST, in which case, it is considered service connected.
If you're trying to figure out what evidence might already exist for use, you can start by asking yourself these questions:
Did you request a transfer to another unit? Was there a potential decline in your job performance? Changes reflected in your service record can be very useful for proving your claim.
Did you get tested or test yourself for a pregnancy/STD? This is a common behavior that can leave a paper trail. If you were tested by a medical professional or clinic, there is documentation of your visit and the purpose of your visit. If you tested yourself, you might have a receipt, may have told someone, or even sent a picture.
Did you share the event or the suffering you experienced following with anyone?Did you possibly write about it in a journal or personal diary? If not, have they noticed changes in your behavior? Personal statements from family, friends, and military peers aware of the traumatic incident, or its effects, can be corroborating evidence, as well as personal records you made for yourself. When trauma affects our behavior, those effects are often more visible to those around us than ourselves. For this reason, "buddy statements" can be particularly useful to your case. For example, frequent night terrors tend to stand out more to those who wake up to the screaming and flailing than even those who are experiencing them firsthand. When thinking of your trauma, this might be the first thing that comes to your spouse's mind.
Have you spoken to counselors, clergy, or therapists about it? Did you ever contact police or a rape crisis center about the incident? If so, a record of that communication likely exists and can be used as supporting evidence of your MST event.
Has there been a visible impact on your personal life? Proof of changes in your job performance, social behavior, or finances can help verify the situation and the struggles you face.
Have you experienced mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, mental health incidents, or substance abuse? These conditions have been found by government-funded research to be associated with MST and are/support the medical basis of your claim.
The hard part
As we mentioned before, the biggest obstacle is often assumed to be the evidence, but what most only realize once they're going through the process is that it will require a reasonable amount of thinking and talking about traumatic experiences you had. In any setting, this can be a lot to survivors of trauma. It can help to bring emotional support in the form of a spouse/partner, a friend, or a family member. If needed, you can request that they speak about your symptoms as they've witnessed them, including ones that you might struggle addressing on your own.
Out of social habit, you may feel compelled to answer questions about your wellbeing in a polite way. We have a tendency to describe our ideal days or our good days instead of the hardest ones. This can be a result of sincere optimism, or an attempt to show that we are undamaged by what we've experienced, but it does your disability a disservice unto itself. It is often, at best, an average that doesn't represent the days that have the more resounding effect on your quality of life and ability to consistently work.
Disability Ratings For MST
Disability ratings for MST (or, rather, the medical conditions associated) are evaluated by the same criteria as mental health conditions not linked to MST. The assigned percentage is based on the severity of the symptoms, as described by the VA schedular rating system.
As an example, a survivor of MST who is struggling with one or more mental heath conditions might receive the following ratings:
50 percent rating| Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as:
Flattened affect
Circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech
Panic attacks more than once a week
Difficulty in understanding complex commands
Impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g. retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks)
Impaired judgment
Impaired abstract thinking
Disturbances of motivation and mood
Difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships
70 percent rating | Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood due to such symptoms as:
Suicidal ideation
Obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities
Speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant
Spatial disorientation
Near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively
Impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence)
Neglect of personal appearance/hygiene
Difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting)
Inability to establish and maintain effective relationships
100 percent rating | Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as:
Gross impairment in thought processes or communication
Persistent delusions or hallucinations
Grossly inappropriate behavior
Persistent danger of hurting self or others
Intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene)
Disorientation to time or place
Memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation or own name.
"Can I get 100 percent disability for MST?"
In certain cases, the symptoms of one's MST-linked mental health condition may be severe enough to receive a 100% VA disability rating as based on the VA schedular rating criteria listed above. A survivor of MST can also receive TDIU (Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability), which is equivalent to a 100% disability rating.
Temporary 100 percent disability rating based on medical emergency
In a situation where a veteran required hospitalization due to a mental health condition, a temporary VA schedular rating of 100% is available. The two conditions are that (a) treatment must be received at a VA or VA-approved medical facility, and (b) hospitalization must occur for 21 or more days.
The rating is effective beginning from the first day that the veteran is hospitalized and extends to the last day of the month they are released.
Get Help With Your VA Claim for MST
When you choose to come forward, the possibility of VA benefits and a community of fellow survivors becomes available to you. Even if you choose not to file, counseling for MST is offered to survivors at no cost. At the bottom of this piece, you'll find informational, health-related, and emotional resources intended for survivors of MST.
We have experience helping people with MST claims and we understand. If you suffer conditions resulting from MST and would like help filing or appealing a VA claim, please give me, Jessica Friedman, a call at 205-879-3033 or reach out to us through our Contact page.
Resources For Victims Of MST
VA Fact Sheet: Disability Compensation for Conditions Related to MST
MakeTheConnection.net is a website where veterans share stories of overcoming mental health challenges, including those related to MST.
Protect Our Defenders is a national organization dedicated to ending the epidemic of sexual violence in the military.