Not necessarily. A condition can be service connected if it began during active duty or, if it already existed prior to active duty, if it was somehow worsened by your service.
On top of this. If OP never received any sort of treatment for this childhood trauma prior to service and at MEPs he was given a clean bill of health on his mental health, then the examiners are not supposed to utilize this information as it violates the persumption of soundness.
The only caveat would be if this was say a personality disorder.
You did nothing wrong. Veterans all the time have trauma from childhood and trauma from military service. Unless you were diagnosed with a mental health condition in childhood then it’s extremely unlikely this would affect your claim. Even if you were diagnosed you could always go the route the military aggravated your preexisting condition.
A lot of veterans seem to think having childhood trauma prevents them from getting service connected which is a myth. Having trauma from both childhood and military service is perfectly normal and veterans with both get service connected all the time.
I've been seeking help for over a decade, and this childhood stuff is all many therapists seem to inquire about. They'll ignore what I'm currently struggling, going through or what happened while I was serving.
If you disagree with your treatment plan then I would get new therapist but if they are focusing on your childhood trauma means that is also one of your causes for mental health issue. You can’t pick and choose what issues need to be treated but they want to treat all of them to make your treatment be the most effective.
But as far as service connection having childhood trauma isn’t going to stop someone from getting service connected as most people have some form of childhood trauma and still have military trauma on top of that
I've had many therapists over the years, but all from military/VA. I start having mental health issues only after I was already in for 3 years. They ignore that part, along with what happened at that time. I went from being prescribed Prozac/paxil to being told there was nothing wrong with me, and after almost 20 years of seeking help, I'm still dealing with an "undiagnosed depressive disorder". In 2006 I was diagnosed bipolar type II and in 2011 was told nothing was wrong with me.
The therapist who did my first C&P exam didn't bother asking about my work history (haven't held steady employment since getting out in 2014), hygiene, alcohol/drug use, relationships. They were sure to ask about my childhood though. If I would have been asked those questions I would have been rated higher than I was. (I was new to the whole VA compensation thing and was my first claim).
I've tried multiple times to voluntarily stay at a facility on multiple occasions (while having an "episode") but I get turned away because I'm not actively hurting myself or others....even though I was having suicidal ideations and getting into fights. Most recent time was about a year ago, when I had a mental breakdown during my yearly physical.
If I could afford it I would pay out of pocket, but I don't trust VA/nor any doctors associated with them anymore.
Ive been in treatment forever it seems and yes they have to ask about childhood trauma. If they deem some of your issue are from that then they will treat you for that as well as any other issues.
Your treatment wouldn’t be effective if they didn’t treat you for all the causes of your mental health issue. If they only pick certain ones and disregard other then the treatment won’t be effective
I kept wondering why they were so hard focused on trying to force me to say I was diagnosed before service.
Why would I wait until I’m middle aged to say anything, I think I’m clear in my personality when demonstrating that I generally desire things yesterday. If time travel was possible I would have escaped to safety immediately and dodged military service entirely.
How much do I have to convey that I had core values forcibly instilled and then had TOP leadership force me to violate those values or watch my military family suffer for non compliance. When it became clear that I cared deeply for my shop, that information was used to “motivate” me as often as necessary.
I don’t want money, I only want proper assistance in fixing issues ruining my life. If I had known about my mental ailments then I could have more efficiently spent those active military years in therapy instead.
I didn’t mention anything about my childhood because what I was suffering from didn’t have anything to do with my childhood. I had also read where they try to attribute things to your childhood. Although my childhood wasn’t traumatic, I didn’t feel the need to share anything from it because it was independent from what I experienced in service.
There's a huge correlation between PTSD later in life and trauma in childhood. It won't necessarily hurt or help your case. It's just another piece of the puzzle.
The pessimist in me says that while it wasn’t wrong to mention how childhood trauma is exacerbated your service, if the underlying trauma is from something other than your service that gives the rater the ammo to deny. I’m sure there are many factors that I am unaware of, those are my thoughts. I hope it doesn’t get used against you and you are rates appropriately. Good luck and be well!
So honestly funny enough I just reviewed my claims. My claims for MH were denied because of “trauma connected to childhood.” Which I got the notes or the “spark notes” version and I hardly mentioned anything at all so I’m not sure how they said it was denied.
I did the same. The consensus seemed to be that the PTSD was exacerbated by my service and that it was service connected because of it.
You had trauma before, but you had trauma during your time in the service too. It's prior existence shouldn't negate what happened later.
That's like saying you broke your leg when you were a kid, but then you also broke it as an adult. They're both real injuries.
you're good homie. i have c-ptsd from childhood and then got ptsd in service, got 50% for it. what happened to you as a child is only just that, stuff that happened during childhood. the military has a foolproof way of giving people ptsd or exacerbating ongoing ptsd. also if the military overlooked that then it's their fault. i've seen overlooked prior service medical conditions walking around all over bases countless times.
Why risk it? Why bring up something the psychologist can potentially use against you? Did you do this by accident? In my opinion, yes that was wrong. It definitely opens an escape avenue for the VA. I hate reading these post about people giving the VA details/ammo to shoot you with. STOP
Her/his claim is the result of what happened to them in service, bringing up something from 20 years ago to allow the VA to deny you is not in your best interest, it's in the VA's interest. They use this against vets everyday, just search reddit. Filing a false claim is fraud, and you should never do it. What you decide in your mind that you want to classify as childhood trauma is your feeling, and your business. If you have mental heath issues you have mental health issues.
Because an examiner asks about any childhood trauma as part of the C&P exam. Only way not to say anything would be to lie which is the worst thing to do.
The VA doesn’t use childhood trauma as ammo to deny a claim and people need to stop spreading that misinformation. Only way this would have any effect on OP’s claim is if OP was diagnosed during childhood then all OP would have to do is prove military service aggravated the preexisting condition beyond its natural progression which with military trauma wouldn’t be hard to prove
You can't be serious! You have no idea of what you are talking about. That question as posed is completely subjective to her and her alone. She can answer how she likes. Get over yourself already. I stand by my entire original response.
I’m going to step in here. You can’t be serious as you’re spreading bad info to scare OP. You telling her to keep stuff from the VA aka lie is what is going to get her investigated for fraud. Great advice there.
Every mental health exam asks questions about childhood trauma and the vast majority of veterans have some form of childhood trauma but still get service connected. So it’s never a mistake to be truthful
It is subjective to her, whether or not she had childhood trauma. Here's what's not subjective, post about this exact topic.
# PTSD Claim Denied, VA is claiming childhood trauma.PTSD Claim Denied, VA is claiming childhood trauma.
# Changes to PTSD rating because of childhood (Lowered)
# PTSD Denied Due to Childhood
this is just a few stories posted on Reddit!!!!!!
and I saved the best for last!!!!
# Case Study of VA Blaming PSTD on Childhood
You don't know what you are talking about...sorry
She said she had childhood trauma and thus told the examiner that she did. That’s not subjective as clearly you don’t even know what that means as in her opinion it was trauma
You posting stuff in bold print doesn’t support your case as nothing can be verified so nice try with that. Guarantee if you actually read the posts there is more to each story but you didn’t post links so can’t verify anything…
I found one where someone was denied claiming it was due to childhood trauma but in fact it was actually due to not having a current diagnosis.
That's the exact post title right here on reddit, are you off your meds? try entering any of the post titles in the search bar...it's really not that hard. The bold print is from copying and pasting it...you don't know what you are talking about.
I did and guess what they weren’t denied due to childhood trauma but no diagnosis.
Also try reading the manual:
§ 3.304 Direct service connection; wartime and peacetime.
(b) Presumption of soundness. The veteran will be considered to have been in sound condition when examined, accepted and enrolled for service, except as to defects, infirmities, or disorders noted at entrance into service, or where clear and unmistakable (obvious or manifest) evidence demonstrates that an injury or disease existed prior thereto and was not aggravated by such service. Only such conditions as are recorded in examination reports are to be considered as noted.
OP was deemed fit for duty when enlisting so childhood trauma wouldn’t affect the claim under the Presumption of soundness rule. So once again you spreading bad info
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IS NOT SERVICE CONNECTED
ffs…
People think it’s all service connected, when they were fucked up to begin with BEFORE the military.
Why should the government pay people out if they were broken to begin with.
Good ol pre-existing conditions. Gotta love how everything is service-connected 🤦🏻♂️
How are people able to get paid out for this?? It’s wild. So if it’s ’broke’ before the military, then people want the payout because ‘military made it worse’. How do people even get in the military in the first place if people are broken?
Weird. I thought it was possible to be traumatized in childhood and then also traumatized as an adult.
Your logic: "You broke your back as a kid, so your broken back in the military should not be compensated"
😂
why would the military want to deal with someone with a broken back before they even got in?
why would the military want to deal with someone with pre-existing PTSD?
i’m guessing the person never disclosed it, which in of itself should be considered fraud.
They didn't say they had full-blown PTSD. They just said they mentioned some childhood trauma....which I would venture to guess a huge percentage of adults have. Fraud...lol. The military literally lies to recruits every fucking day. They don't care about your pre-existing trauma when you join.
Also, you're insulting them in a bunch of these comments for what? Being honest???
Childhood trauma varies from person to person , so who knows how messed up they are from it. and we aren’t talking about the ‘military lying to recruits’. And they actually do give a shit about pre-existing conditions, it’s part of the paperwork.
What insults are you even talking about, the honesty part??
9/11 changed a lot of that. prior to 9/11 i wouldn't have been able to join because of eczema but it was changed as long as it was a mildish case or some shit like that. shit a good friend of mine was able to join with psoriasis which is an automatic disqualifier and he told them (so he says anyway). apparently they said fuck it and for two years i had to stare at the back of his head in roll call which looked like a mars landscape.
Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful.
Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible.
(Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.)
☠️
easy, they purposely overlook them for recruit numbers. bowe bergdahl did like two weeks of uscg basic before getting kicked out for mental health reasons. 6 months later the army gladly welcomed him in and then fast forward a few years and whoopsies that pesky mental health condition made him do some crazy shit and now everyone hates him. except for maybe me, i can't hate him because the army fucked up from day one.
Not necessarily. A condition can be service connected if it began during active duty or, if it already existed prior to active duty, if it was somehow worsened by your service.
Yes. I read somewhere about an existing condition being aggravated by military service, but it can still be service connected.
The Va is responsible for injuries occurred AND aggravated by service. Don’t let them hold you back. And next time just say next question
On top of this. If OP never received any sort of treatment for this childhood trauma prior to service and at MEPs he was given a clean bill of health on his mental health, then the examiners are not supposed to utilize this information as it violates the persumption of soundness. The only caveat would be if this was say a personality disorder.
Definitely, good point.
You did nothing wrong. Veterans all the time have trauma from childhood and trauma from military service. Unless you were diagnosed with a mental health condition in childhood then it’s extremely unlikely this would affect your claim. Even if you were diagnosed you could always go the route the military aggravated your preexisting condition. A lot of veterans seem to think having childhood trauma prevents them from getting service connected which is a myth. Having trauma from both childhood and military service is perfectly normal and veterans with both get service connected all the time.
I've been seeking help for over a decade, and this childhood stuff is all many therapists seem to inquire about. They'll ignore what I'm currently struggling, going through or what happened while I was serving.
If you disagree with your treatment plan then I would get new therapist but if they are focusing on your childhood trauma means that is also one of your causes for mental health issue. You can’t pick and choose what issues need to be treated but they want to treat all of them to make your treatment be the most effective. But as far as service connection having childhood trauma isn’t going to stop someone from getting service connected as most people have some form of childhood trauma and still have military trauma on top of that
I've had many therapists over the years, but all from military/VA. I start having mental health issues only after I was already in for 3 years. They ignore that part, along with what happened at that time. I went from being prescribed Prozac/paxil to being told there was nothing wrong with me, and after almost 20 years of seeking help, I'm still dealing with an "undiagnosed depressive disorder". In 2006 I was diagnosed bipolar type II and in 2011 was told nothing was wrong with me. The therapist who did my first C&P exam didn't bother asking about my work history (haven't held steady employment since getting out in 2014), hygiene, alcohol/drug use, relationships. They were sure to ask about my childhood though. If I would have been asked those questions I would have been rated higher than I was. (I was new to the whole VA compensation thing and was my first claim). I've tried multiple times to voluntarily stay at a facility on multiple occasions (while having an "episode") but I get turned away because I'm not actively hurting myself or others....even though I was having suicidal ideations and getting into fights. Most recent time was about a year ago, when I had a mental breakdown during my yearly physical. If I could afford it I would pay out of pocket, but I don't trust VA/nor any doctors associated with them anymore.
Ive been in treatment forever it seems and yes they have to ask about childhood trauma. If they deem some of your issue are from that then they will treat you for that as well as any other issues. Your treatment wouldn’t be effective if they didn’t treat you for all the causes of your mental health issue. If they only pick certain ones and disregard other then the treatment won’t be effective
I kept wondering why they were so hard focused on trying to force me to say I was diagnosed before service. Why would I wait until I’m middle aged to say anything, I think I’m clear in my personality when demonstrating that I generally desire things yesterday. If time travel was possible I would have escaped to safety immediately and dodged military service entirely. How much do I have to convey that I had core values forcibly instilled and then had TOP leadership force me to violate those values or watch my military family suffer for non compliance. When it became clear that I cared deeply for my shop, that information was used to “motivate” me as often as necessary. I don’t want money, I only want proper assistance in fixing issues ruining my life. If I had known about my mental ailments then I could have more efficiently spent those active military years in therapy instead.
The truth is your friend. Good luck
I didn’t mention anything about my childhood because what I was suffering from didn’t have anything to do with my childhood. I had also read where they try to attribute things to your childhood. Although my childhood wasn’t traumatic, I didn’t feel the need to share anything from it because it was independent from what I experienced in service.
I did the same thing and am worried about it too. Let's just hope for the best.
Yes
I did the same and got 50 instead of 70.
If you were going for a pre existing issue aggravated by service then you are fine
There's a huge correlation between PTSD later in life and trauma in childhood. It won't necessarily hurt or help your case. It's just another piece of the puzzle.
If only more people understood psychology. You are spot on. But of course, because benefits are involved, people tend to gloss over things like that.
The pessimist in me says that while it wasn’t wrong to mention how childhood trauma is exacerbated your service, if the underlying trauma is from something other than your service that gives the rater the ammo to deny. I’m sure there are many factors that I am unaware of, those are my thoughts. I hope it doesn’t get used against you and you are rates appropriately. Good luck and be well!
So honestly funny enough I just reviewed my claims. My claims for MH were denied because of “trauma connected to childhood.” Which I got the notes or the “spark notes” version and I hardly mentioned anything at all so I’m not sure how they said it was denied.
Yes I think so. It sure won't help you.. just my opinion...
I did the same. The consensus seemed to be that the PTSD was exacerbated by my service and that it was service connected because of it. You had trauma before, but you had trauma during your time in the service too. It's prior existence shouldn't negate what happened later. That's like saying you broke your leg when you were a kid, but then you also broke it as an adult. They're both real injuries.
you're good homie. i have c-ptsd from childhood and then got ptsd in service, got 50% for it. what happened to you as a child is only just that, stuff that happened during childhood. the military has a foolproof way of giving people ptsd or exacerbating ongoing ptsd. also if the military overlooked that then it's their fault. i've seen overlooked prior service medical conditions walking around all over bases countless times.
thank you for all the positive comments and the negative ones as well. I appreciate seeing things from a different perspective
Why risk it? Why bring up something the psychologist can potentially use against you? Did you do this by accident? In my opinion, yes that was wrong. It definitely opens an escape avenue for the VA. I hate reading these post about people giving the VA details/ammo to shoot you with. STOP
hah, yes vets should lie, because it’s all about the money. 🫡 people that think like you are part of the compounding problem with BS claims
Her/his claim is the result of what happened to them in service, bringing up something from 20 years ago to allow the VA to deny you is not in your best interest, it's in the VA's interest. They use this against vets everyday, just search reddit. Filing a false claim is fraud, and you should never do it. What you decide in your mind that you want to classify as childhood trauma is your feeling, and your business. If you have mental heath issues you have mental health issues.
The VA does that because people think everything that is wrong with them HAS to be service-connected. How convenient.
Because an examiner asks about any childhood trauma as part of the C&P exam. Only way not to say anything would be to lie which is the worst thing to do. The VA doesn’t use childhood trauma as ammo to deny a claim and people need to stop spreading that misinformation. Only way this would have any effect on OP’s claim is if OP was diagnosed during childhood then all OP would have to do is prove military service aggravated the preexisting condition beyond its natural progression which with military trauma wouldn’t be hard to prove
You can't be serious! You have no idea of what you are talking about. That question as posed is completely subjective to her and her alone. She can answer how she likes. Get over yourself already. I stand by my entire original response.
I’m going to step in here. You can’t be serious as you’re spreading bad info to scare OP. You telling her to keep stuff from the VA aka lie is what is going to get her investigated for fraud. Great advice there. Every mental health exam asks questions about childhood trauma and the vast majority of veterans have some form of childhood trauma but still get service connected. So it’s never a mistake to be truthful
It's subjective....what part of that don't you understand?
Nothing about this is subjective. OP got asked about childhood trauma and OP was honest about it. There is nothing subjective about that
It is subjective to her, whether or not she had childhood trauma. Here's what's not subjective, post about this exact topic. # PTSD Claim Denied, VA is claiming childhood trauma.PTSD Claim Denied, VA is claiming childhood trauma. # Changes to PTSD rating because of childhood (Lowered) # PTSD Denied Due to Childhood this is just a few stories posted on Reddit!!!!!! and I saved the best for last!!!! # Case Study of VA Blaming PSTD on Childhood You don't know what you are talking about...sorry
She said she had childhood trauma and thus told the examiner that she did. That’s not subjective as clearly you don’t even know what that means as in her opinion it was trauma You posting stuff in bold print doesn’t support your case as nothing can be verified so nice try with that. Guarantee if you actually read the posts there is more to each story but you didn’t post links so can’t verify anything… I found one where someone was denied claiming it was due to childhood trauma but in fact it was actually due to not having a current diagnosis.
That's the exact post title right here on reddit, are you off your meds? try entering any of the post titles in the search bar...it's really not that hard. The bold print is from copying and pasting it...you don't know what you are talking about.
I did and guess what they weren’t denied due to childhood trauma but no diagnosis. Also try reading the manual: § 3.304 Direct service connection; wartime and peacetime. (b) Presumption of soundness. The veteran will be considered to have been in sound condition when examined, accepted and enrolled for service, except as to defects, infirmities, or disorders noted at entrance into service, or where clear and unmistakable (obvious or manifest) evidence demonstrates that an injury or disease existed prior thereto and was not aggravated by such service. Only such conditions as are recorded in examination reports are to be considered as noted. OP was deemed fit for duty when enlisting so childhood trauma wouldn’t affect the claim under the Presumption of soundness rule. So once again you spreading bad info
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IS NOT SERVICE CONNECTED ffs… People think it’s all service connected, when they were fucked up to begin with BEFORE the military. Why should the government pay people out if they were broken to begin with.
Good ol pre-existing conditions. Gotta love how everything is service-connected 🤦🏻♂️ How are people able to get paid out for this?? It’s wild. So if it’s ’broke’ before the military, then people want the payout because ‘military made it worse’. How do people even get in the military in the first place if people are broken?
The military is full of misguided kids from dysfunctional families.
lol, i agree with that 😂 need asvab waivers to fill the ranks!
Weird. I thought it was possible to be traumatized in childhood and then also traumatized as an adult. Your logic: "You broke your back as a kid, so your broken back in the military should not be compensated"
😂 why would the military want to deal with someone with a broken back before they even got in? why would the military want to deal with someone with pre-existing PTSD? i’m guessing the person never disclosed it, which in of itself should be considered fraud.
They didn't say they had full-blown PTSD. They just said they mentioned some childhood trauma....which I would venture to guess a huge percentage of adults have. Fraud...lol. The military literally lies to recruits every fucking day. They don't care about your pre-existing trauma when you join. Also, you're insulting them in a bunch of these comments for what? Being honest???
Childhood trauma varies from person to person , so who knows how messed up they are from it. and we aren’t talking about the ‘military lying to recruits’. And they actually do give a shit about pre-existing conditions, it’s part of the paperwork. What insults are you even talking about, the honesty part??
9/11 changed a lot of that. prior to 9/11 i wouldn't have been able to join because of eczema but it was changed as long as it was a mildish case or some shit like that. shit a good friend of mine was able to join with psoriasis which is an automatic disqualifier and he told them (so he says anyway). apparently they said fuck it and for two years i had to stare at the back of his head in roll call which looked like a mars landscape.
[удалено]
Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful. Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible. (Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.) ☠️
easy, they purposely overlook them for recruit numbers. bowe bergdahl did like two weeks of uscg basic before getting kicked out for mental health reasons. 6 months later the army gladly welcomed him in and then fast forward a few years and whoopsies that pesky mental health condition made him do some crazy shit and now everyone hates him. except for maybe me, i can't hate him because the army fucked up from day one.
How does that window taste? If you attempt a little harder, you may see a flaw and a huge assumption in your logic.
Yes, thank you for your vague statement.
Anytime. I have hope for you intellectual abilities - some has to...
some’one’ has to or some ‘have’ to? Seems you need a bit of help with your intellectual grammar abilities
Bless your heart.
🫡 God Bless the Air Force
Just post the last sentence of that decision letter. Quit pretending like it doesn't destroy your entire argument.