Many veterans are impacted by mental health conditions. While some conditions are well-known, for example, PTSD, there is a myriad of other conditions that are less acknowledged. Because many mental health conditions share similar symptoms, it can be difficult to determine a veteran’s diagnosis.
The most common mental health conditions that veterans are impacted by are:
How These Conditions Can Affect Veterans
When a veteran has a physical injury, they often are willing to get the proper treatment immediately. However, because of the combination of historical stigma & the military-supported “suck it up” mentality, many veterans do not promptly seek medical treatment for their conditions. This delay can cause the condition to worsen, sometimes severely impacting the veteran’s ability to work and function independently.
Symptoms can differ depending on the mental condition; however, they can include:
- Anger or hostility
- Confusion
- Delusions
- Excessive worrying
- Exhaustion or insomnia
- Extreme mood shifts
- Hallucinations
- Inability to concentrate
- Inability to cope with daily stressors
- Isolation from friends and or family
- Loss of interest in activities the individual used to enjoy
- Low energy
- Paranoia
- Prolonged sadness
- Substance use
- Suicidal thoughts
Mental health conditions can drastically flip an individual’s life upside-down, making it impossible to function day to day. Veterans with mental health conditions must get the treatment & benefits they need.
Why We Practice for Veterans with Mental Health Conditions
1 in 4 active duty veterans show signs of mental health conditions. Meaning, that although it used to be an unspoken topic, today mental health conditions are common. Mental health conditions can make even the simplest of tasks nearly impossible. Moreover, because diagnosing mental health conditions can be less exact, the VA can find excuses to deny claims. Veterans Help Group recognizes the need to help veterans get the benefits they deserve for their service-connected mental health conditions. Across the U.S., our team works with veterans to service-connect their mental health conditions, fight for the appropriate rating, and ensure the appropriate back pay is compensated.
Our Expertise
Veterans Help Group has been helping veterans get the benefits they deserve for over 15 years. Our experience working with veterans who have mental health conditions every day enables us to better communicate and obtain the information we need to win our client’s claim. We understand the distinctions between conditions and what secondary conditions to look for. For example, we know that many veterans with depression also have alcohol or drug-related disabilities because of their depression, not their willful misconduct. In that scenario, their alcohol or drug-related dependency should be secondarily service-connected, so we can help them also service-connect that condition.
We understand how often the VA errors and how frustrating it can be to be denied even if you’ve done everything right. If you have a mental health condition, you especially do not need to take on more stress and frustration working with the VA. We want to help. Our years of experience have taught us strategies to best hold the VA accountable and get our clients the benefits they deserve.
Steps to Take
- File a claim.
- Obtain a Diagnosis.
- Do you have proof in your military records of what you think caused your condition?
- If not, can you get a statement from someone you served with to support your story?
- If you had a pre-existing condition, you’ll want to explain how your time in service aggravated your condition.
- Obtain a medical opinion stating that your explanation supports your mental health diagnosis and that your symptoms are related to your explanation.
- Contact our team at 800-953-6224 or chat with us online.
Secondary Conditions
If you have a service-connected mental health condition it is important to consider if any of your other conditions were aggravated or caused by your service-connected condition.
See below for other conditions that are commonly connected to mental health disorders.
- Alcohol or Substance Abuse or Dependency
- Anxiety
- Bipolar Disorder
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Depression
- Erectile Dysfunctions
- GERD
- Hypertension
- Military Sexual Trauma
- Obesity
- PTSD
- Schizophrenia
- Sleep Apnea
- Substance Abuse/ Dependency
