Military using personality disorder diagnoses to cheat soldiers out of lifetime benefits
March 23rd, 2007
Just when you think you’ve heard everything rotten about this administration comes a new one. Joshua Kors, in the Nation reports that the military are using discharges for so-called personality disorders to force out wounded soldiers and deprive them of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits. As a researcher who has studied personality disorders, I find this especially appalling. Perhaps the personality disorder research community will take this cause on.
A six-month investigation has uncovered multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits. The conditions of their discharge have infuriated many in the military community, including the injured soldiers and their families, veterans’ rights groups, even military officials required to process these dismissals.
They say the military is purposely misdiagnosing soldiers like Town and that it’s doing so for one reason: to cheat them out of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits, thereby saving billions in expenses.
In the Army’s separations manual it’s called Regulation 635-200, Chapter 5-13: “Separation Because of Personality Disorder.” It’s an alluring choice for a cash-strapped military because enacting it is quick and cheap. The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have to provide medical care to soldiers dismissed with personality disorder. That’s because under Chapter 5-13, personality disorder is a pre-existing condition. The VA is only required to treat wounds sustained during service.
Soldiers discharged under 5-13 can’t collect disability pay either. To receive those benefits, a soldier must be evaluated by a medical board, which must confirm that he is wounded and that his wounds stem from combat. The process takes several months, in contrast with a 5-13 discharge, which can be wrapped up in a few days.
If a soldier dismissed under 5-13 hasn’t served out his contract, he has to give back a slice of his re-enlistment bonus as well. That amount is often larger than the soldier’s final paycheck. As a result, on the day of their discharge, many injured vets learn that they owe the Army several thousand dollars.
The military doctors are deliberately lying to soldiers, telling them that this discharge will be to their benefit:
One military official says doctors at his base are doing more than withholding this information from wounded soldiers; they’re actually telling them the opposite: that if they go along with a 5-13, they’ll get to keep their bonus and receive disability and medical benefits. The official, who demanded anonymity, handles discharge papers at a prominent Army facility. He says the soldiers he works with know they don’t have a personality disorder. “But the doctors are telling them, this will get you out quicker, and the VA will take care of you. To stay out of Iraq, a soldier will take that in a heartbeat. What they don’t realize is, those things are lies. The soldiers, they don’t read the fine print,” he says. “They don’t know to ask for a med board. They’re taking the word of the doctors. Then they sit down with me and find out what a 5-13 really means–they’re shocked.”
Veterans groups have seen this scenario repeated many times:
Russell Terry, founder of the Iraq War Veterans Organization (IWVO), says he’s watched this scenario play itself out many times. For more than a year, his veterans’ rights group has been receiving calls from distraught soldiers discharged under Chapter 5-13. Most, he says, say their military doctors pushed the personality disorder diagnosis, strained to prove that their problems existed before their service in Iraq and refused to acknowledge evidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and physical traumas, which would allow them to collect disability and medical benefits.
“These soldiers are coming home from Iraq with all kinds of problems,” Terry says. “They go to the VA for treatment, and they’re turned away. They’re told, ‘No, you have a pre-existing condition, something from childhood.’” That leap in logic boils Terry’s blood. “Everybody receives a psychological screening when they join the military. What I want to know is, if all these soldiers really did have a severe pre-existing condition, how did they get into the military in the first place?”
It appears that psychologists are among those lying to the wounded soldiers:
Town says Fort Carson psychologist Mark Wexler assured him that he would receive disability benefits, VA medical care and that he’d get to keep his bonus–good news he discussed with Christian Fields and Brandon Murray, two soldiers in his unit at Fort Carson. “We talked about it many times,” Murray says. “Jon said the doctor there promised him benefits, and he was happy about it. Who wouldn’t be?” Town shared that excitement with his wife, Kristy, shortly after his appointment with Wexler. “He said that Wexler had explained to him that he’d get to keep his benefits,” Kristy says, “that the doctor had looked into it, and it was all coming with the chapter he was getting.”
In fact, Town would not get disability pay or receive long-term VA medical care. And he would have to give back the bulk of his $15,000 bonus. Returning that money meant Town would leave Fort Carson less than empty-handed: He now owed the Army more than $3,000….
Wexler denies discussing benefits with Town. In a statement, the psychologist writes, “I have never discussed benefits with my patients as that is not my area of expertise. The only thing I said to Spc. Town was that the Chapter 5-13 is an honorable discharge…. I assure you, after over 15 years in my position, both as active duty and now civilian, I don’t presume to know all the details about benefits and therefore do not discuss them with my patients.”
It seems likely that the military psychologists and psychiatrists are diagnosing PTD-like conditions as a “personality disorder”:
Wexler did not reply to repeated requests seeking comment on Town’s diagnosis. But Col. Knorr of Fort Carson’s Evans hospital says he’s confident his doctors are properly diagnosing personality disorder. The colonel says there is a simple explanation as to why in so many cases the lifelong condition of personality disorder isn’t apparent until after serving in Iraq. Traumatic experiences, Knorr says, can trigger a condition that has lain dormant for years. “They may have done fine in high school and before, but it comes out during the stress of service.”
“I’ve never heard of that occurring,” says Keith Armstrong, a clinical professor with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Armstrong has been counseling traumatized veterans for more than twenty years at the San Francisco VA; most recently he is the co-author of Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning From Iraq and Afghanistan and Their Families. “Personality disorder is a diagnosis I’m very cautious about,” he says. “My question would be, has PTSD been ruled out? It seems to me that if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, let’s see if it’s a duck before other factors are implicated.”
And:
The Army holds soldiers’ medical records and contact information strictly confidential. But The Nation was able to locate a half-dozen soldiers from bases across the country who were diagnosed with personality disorder. All of them rejected that diagnosis. Most said military doctors tried to force the diagnosis upon them and turned a blind eye to symptoms of PTSD and physical injury.
One such veteran, Richard Dykstra, went to the hospital at Fort Stewart, Georgia, complaining of flashbacks, anger and stomach pains. The doctor there diagnosed personality disorder. Dykstra thinks the symptoms actually stem from PTSD and a bilateral hernia he suffered in Iraq. “When I told her my symptoms, she said, ‘Oh, it looks like you’ve been reading up on PTSD.’ Then she basically said I was making it all up,” he says.
The military psychologists are also getting very good at diagnosis. It only takes 30 minutes for them to diagnose personality disorder:
Wooldridge says his psychologist, Capt. Patrick Brady of Baynes-Jones Army Community Hospital, saw him for thirty minutes before making his diagnosis. Soon after, Wooldridge was discharged from Fort Polk under Chapter 5-13.
In my experience, you could hardly inquire about the PD symptoms in that time.
If true, these accounts are an abomination. The APA and the American Psychiatric Association’s ethics committees should investigate. Notice that the articles gives plenty of names and facts with which to launch an investigation.
Meanwhile, these reports are relevant to the issue of psychologists’ participation in interrogations. If military psychologists and psychiatrists are willing to accede to situational pressure and give a false diagnosis that can cause irreparable damage to their soldier-patients, who were wounded fighting the country’s wars, how in the world can one expect an isolated psychologist-interrogator to withstand the intense pressure of an intelligence system dedicated to using abusive techniques to break down alleged “enemy combatants?” It strains credulity, doesn’t it? But the, many of the pro-interrogations arguments of the APA strain credulity.
Entry Filed under: APA, Guantanamo, Iraq, Psychology, Social Change, Veterans, War and Peace
23 Comments
1. Spin Boldak | April 3rd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Don’t expect the personality disorder research community to help wounded soldiers or veterans. Like most professionals in America today, they tend to lean left. They’ll never publicly state, but they do privately believe that the soldiers of today have all this misery “coming to them”. After all “they volunteered” is the sneering catch-phrase used.
2. Chris in Portland | April 5th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
You have no idea what you are talking about Spin, how do you know what people privately believe but don’t publically state?
Actually - I happen to have these same mystical powers of mind reading as Spin has. While it might appear to the casual observer that he is just a right wing wacko trying to misrepresent the opinions of people who oppose disasterous and unnecessary wars, he is actually an Al Quaida operative who is trying to sow division where none exists.
3. Dr. White | April 11th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Spin=Flame….
Those of us who are in academic fields researching the relationship between Chapter 5-13 discharges and in-the-field wounds will support the rights of these soldiers because it is the JUST thing to do. Speaking for myself only, I DO lean left in my political world, and I DO NOT support the war, but that does not prejudice my feeling towards the soldiers who are risking their lives in the field, no matter what the foudation for the war. They served, they did their job, and for the Government to find “loopholes” to deny these soldiers their needed benefits just to “maximize profits” is UNCONSCIONABLE.
4. s patrick coyle | May 11th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
sadam was a ruthless leader of iraq but that was no reason to launch a preemptive war on iraq using the pretext of lies that he was responsable for 911. treaties that we have signed makes such preemptive wars to be international crimes against peace and war crimes same as the leaders of germany were guilty of in ww two. our ucmj states that soldiers have the DUTY not to follow illegal orders and if they do they are as guilty as their criminal leaders both in the executive and legislative branches of government and all citizens that are not actively trying to stop such a war. the soldiers that have been missled into believing that they are fighting for our country are now paying the consequences for following such lying decrepid criminals into the hell of war in a foreign country. they were missled like many americans and even if they were wrong they do not deserve such treatment from those who have sent them into an illegal war that they were led to believe was for the good of our country. i challenge those military officers and civil or federal law officers to present our criminal leaders with arrest warrants to be followed by swift trials with evidence brought to bear upon the constitutional and international laws that have been so flagrantly violated….our oath in the military is to defend and protect the constitution and the united states of america from all enemies …foreign and DOMESTIC. GO TO USSLIBERTY.COM and see how the past treasons of 40 years ago has led to the quagmire of the present and still the truth is largely hidden from most americans to the present day. Let that truth be known and the truth of how we have been led to invade iraq will be also known. may our soldiers and others who find the truth finally rise up and do the right thing by making those responsable pay the price for their crimes.
5. s patrick coyle | May 11th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
i am adding to my previous comment the additional observation concerning the definition of anti-social personality disorder that many soldiers from iraq have been discharged with as the reason for their discharge. ” CHRONIC DISORDER THAT MANIPULATES, EXPLOITS, OR VIOLATES THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS. “……. G E E ! sounds an awful lot like how we got tricked into the iraq war …doesn’t it. I wonder who at the top might have such a condition? I guess that could be a novel defense at an international war crimes trial! BETTER THAN HANGING I GUESS.
6. Amy | May 22nd, 2007 at 12:27 am
Um, the original post only quotes one questionable and definitely left-leaning author in a questionable and left-leaning publication, which means the claims made have absolutely no proof whatsoever.
I have friends who have served in Iraq, and others who are military doctors. None of them have heard or seen anything that correlates to these charges.
I’d like to remind folks that whatever your opinion or how good your intentions, slander is never an acceptable means to an end.
If you truly had an argument, you’d have provable facts. Since you don’t, you’ve lost all credibility.
7. Amy | May 22nd, 2007 at 12:31 am
s patrick,
I’ve started a list for you. Enjoy.
“Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime … He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation … And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction … So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real…”
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003 | Source
“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 | Source
“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
- President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 | Source
“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
- President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 | Source
“We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.”
- Madeline Albright, Feb 1, 1998 | Source
“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
- Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 | Source
“[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.”
Letter to President Clinton.
- (D) Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, others, Oct. 9, 1998 | Source
“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 | Source
“Hussein has … chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.”
- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 | Source
“We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them.”
- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 | Source
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source
“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source
“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002 | Source
“The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons…”
- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002 | Source
“There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years … We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002 | Source
“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members … It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002 | Source
“We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002 | Source
8. annoyed former sailor | May 28th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
The military uses personality disorder as a way to get rid of people they don’t want to deal with (for a number of reasons) by other means. They don’t do proper evaluations or make proper diagnoses and as such anyone with a PD diagnosis in the military should not believe it unless it is confirmed by a professional opinion, not the hacks they have in the military. I know of *many* people who have been discharged with PD and they are fully functioning people, not history of or signs of PD. It is a terrible thing that the military can do this is such immunity from being held accountable from their mistakes.
9. Psyche, Science, and Soci&hellip | May 28th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
[...] from comments on my March 23 post on the military’s use of personality disorder diagnoses to avoid paying benefits to [...]
10. rt | June 2nd, 2007 at 9:48 am
wHERE CAN WE FIND HELP TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM AND FIGHT THIS UNJUSTICE.
11. BECK | June 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I actually can vouch for this I was a soldier who was discharged 2 times first for 5-17 and second for a 5-13. The first time I was discharged I was discharged for a fake diagnosis (Narcasistic Traits) which is not a clinical diagnosis. And can also be seen as motivation. But because the regulation AR 635-200 states that any soldier that is not recomended an honorable discharge or has not completed 6 years of active military service, to include National Guard, or Reserve shall not be granted a court case of their peers. It is a loop hole that not even your congressman can help you with.
My example goes like this. My ex-wife gets me so absolutely mad using my son against me and tells me to kill my self and me at my not machure age of 21 get this Ideal in my head that just because she says that Im gonna try to set it up to make her feel jealous and guilty. Which I know is stupid and Imachure. after the fact I explained that I knew everything I was doing and it was not an act of an psychological disorder. well this doctor took me in and talked to me for 3 minutes did not test me with an mmpi or mmci and claimed I had dependant personality disorder.
12. BECK | June 3rd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I actually can vouch for this I was a soldier who was discharged 2 times first for 5-17 and second for a 5-13. The first time I was discharged I was discharged for a fake diagnosis (Narcasistic Traits) which is not a clinical diagnosis. And can also be seen as motivation. But because the regulation AR 635-200 states that any soldier that is not recomended an honorable discharge or has not completed 6 years of active military service, to include National Guard, or Reserve shall not be granted a court case of their peers. It is a loop hole that not even your congressman can help you with. as long as they recomend an honorable discharge and you have not been in 6 years your S.O.L
unless you change that regulation I have spoke to marine airforce and navy commanders and all of them give every soldier with any psych incident a case and a way to fight to stay in or a chance to change there chapter.
My second time being chaptered I was given a diagnosis by a DR Carchetti at ft hood who did not use any propper testing just took me in a room for 3 minutes and wrote down a recomendation.
but on my side I had two doctors one military, and one civilian stating that I had no Personality Disorder diagnosis and I had a MMPI that was deemed valid by both doctors. And on the final call the only explanation I was given is that I should of gone to a psychiatrist instead of a psychologist like there was that much difference.
Listen to this guy he is for real it is happening all the time and it is not a conspiracy. Thanks Beck
13. DR. Joe | June 5th, 2007 at 1:57 am
This is a bunch of boloney. Of course the personality disorder discharges complain about it. They have personality disorders!!
I was a Navy psychiatrist. There never was any pressure to discharge people for financial reasons. It tis true that there was pressure to discharge poor performers who did not really have personality disorders.
The idea that this is done for financial reasons is simply not true.
14. ashley | June 25th, 2007 at 2:27 am
In addition to what has already been said in the above column, I would like to mention my experience. I have also gone through a similar situation. However, I was trying to stay in the service. I am a physically fit, healthy, and educated individual with no criminal history or medical conditions. I enlisted with every intent on doing what I volunteered for. However I was discharged based on an evaluation that lasted about ten minutes. Two days later another Psychiatrist told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with me and I was to return to active duty. I was happy that the truth was told. I reported to my first sgt. who the took my laces, belt, and canteen strap. She also sold me not to worry the “report clearing you will be taken care of.” She proceeded to tell me that she liked me “so much that I am going to keep you until the eigth week and recycle you several times.” I continued to train with no laces determined to graduate. I knew that this wasn’t going to be an option for me. I was denied a lawyer, and a doctor several times. I was a PFC in a network of people who outranked me and disliked me. Why is it that a strong and hardworking private was put through this? It wasn’t sexual orientaion, gender, race, skill, or any other typical discriminatory factors. I was simply barrated, belittled, and kicked aside because I have permanent cosmetics on my face and could not take it off in training. This did not have any impact on my determination, but it did prevent my sucess. In addition to the falsified documents, I obtained a document from a Major that was treating me for Hyperthyroidsm which turned to hypothyroidsm a few weeks later. At the time the behavioral assessment was given. He made it clear that no diagnosis could have been made at that time because Thyroid disorders in fact mimic many of the symptoms of a personality disorder. At a time of war and low recruitment levels and retention rates, why is it that so many qualified people are discharged because they are simply not like by the chain of command. I was not the only soldier at my company going through this. I finally was able to see a lawyer. Demotions were habded out to a few of my drill sgts. One wqas even demoted to a specialist. This wasn’t for the fake report, just what they did to us and how they treated us. I saw firsthand several soldiers sent home becuse they simply didn’t want to deal with us or to punish and humiliate us. I have also seen many people leave on a 5-13 simply because they didn’t want to train anymore. Why didn’t they recieve failure to adapt instead? Good luck to all. I hope I provided some insight!
15. school | July 26th, 2007 at 10:56 am
send to Dr. Jean Strand
16. school | July 26th, 2007 at 11:09 am
MS. STRAND PLEASE REVIEW THIS ARTICLE
17. Psyche, Science, and Soci&hellip | October 5th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
[...] have reported previously on the military’s use of personality disorder diagnoses to deny claims from [...]
18. Mr. Guapichon | November 17th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Dr. Joe you are a gung-ho navy bastard. you’re just like the guy who discharged me for personality disorder. I hated my navy experience and would take any discharge to get off my assigned ship, so when my psychiatrist gave me a personality disorder, I asked why? Now I know why, and this conspiracy is absolutely true. Many in the military are being discharged for personality disorders so they receive no benefits after their term of service, and being that it is such a simple and easy diagnosis, many doctors give this discharge freely. Very sad and unbeleivable but true. This has to be stopped.
19. Beck | February 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hey im back again just to add it has been 7 months since I last wrote on this blog. Among one of the army excuses used to put me out of the army was Doctor wrote down you cant take the stresses of war. Sounded like what Dependant personality disorder entails. But to that I have to say it is quite funny and I can prove evidence that in my case it is wrong Since april 7th 2006 I have spent 330 day’s in Iraq with bullets flying at all times of the night. Rockets being fired on occasion, Coworker’s who are sexually frustrated griping constantly( NO PORN, GO-1), and oh yeah Mortar’s landing 3 football fields away. Then being ragged on by the marines for being Army prior service, God bless the Marines. thanks for the shirt lol
By the way I work 84 hour’s a week, Do full time college by correspondence all from Iraq. I have been put on a fast track to promotion, I am a safety rep for my contract group and the army unit in my area. And I am in charge of inventory plus my regular mechanic job. That is stress but I think if I was so bad I couldn’t take stress of war I probably would have gone crazy by now. This is far more fatiguing than anything I ever did in the army just because of the 84 hourweeks with only R&R’s and 6 day’s holiday a year. No weekends here, But besides that Im fine.
So I wonder what The DOC would say to this.
Its my beleif that Marines and Army, are tought to psyche out their selves and deal with the pain. A thought process I think stem’s as far back as the romans. The movie sparta shows this. The big boy’s don’t cry thing. So the way we greave is different than normal people. Because that thought process is engraned in us more than just our fathers ragging on us to make us tough. The navy is more technical, and if you can get over being home sick your good. very seldom does a ship take on fire like a soldier on the battle field in the modern day fleet. (Not saying it disrespectfully) because I know it used to happen, in WW1 and WW2. I plan on fighting this and pursuing the Officer side of the military. Sorry to be so long just bored in Iraq and 2 hours to spare between work and bed.
BECK
20. billy tibbs | February 28th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I was a victim of the personality disorder trend way back in 1972.I had alot of problem, but the air force just didn’t want to deal with it, neither did the v.a. In 2000 I was finally able to get the v.a. to diagnois me. They said I was bipolar and suffering from severe ptsd from my abuse as a child. They didn’t mention the time I spent in the stockard where I was sexually assulted by 4 fellow inmates, they just discharged me. I tried to file a claim of misdiagnosis which was turned down when I sent for a transcript and found they had the dates of my psyche, but no transcripts of our sessions in the jail. I requested them from the st. louis record place twice and was finally told the v.a. had all the paperwork they had on me. Thank you for the article, I was wondering if you might be able to email me a copy of it.
21. Jane Doe | July 15th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I have severe delayed onset PTSD of many situations during sleep deprivation… that happened 12 years agao in the military. I was removed and given limited duty for PTSD. A year later it was charged to adjustment disorder with no psychopathy or abnormal thinking traits what so ever.
Then the flashbacks started happening again… I was being seen for another year and a half of therapy for I was in a triggering environment; I deteriorated even with therapy to the point I was out of control with my speech…sometime yelling and talking crazy. Many times I could not remember what I was saying. My doctor wrote my paperwork asking that I be discharged for PTSD and that my work environment was triggering my delayed onset PTSD. Since I was at a remote location and my doctor (psychiatrist) was not my branch of service…It took 2 weeks for them to get me an emergency evaluation from my own branch. Sick days oddly enough were not authorized for PTSD and I continually had to leave work for flashbacks…what ever I could do to avoid being around people. I was so scared I was going to get a bad discharge for my out of control speech and crazy words. I go to this emergency appointment with my own military branch evaluating psychologist…she gives me those MMPI’s, two computer tests…she basically tells me after taking them that my PTSD with anxiety is out of control but that since limited duty and med boards take so long, she constantly apologized that she had no authority to remove me from my triggering environment and that I needed to take the administrative discharge to get myself to immediate safety. She said that was her recommendation she was sending up. I pleaded and pleaded with her that if she did that there would be no medical help for me; I couldn’t take that route…I was already overdosing on medications when flashbacks got out of control and I was reliving events that I’d rather be dead. So she sent me back to my triggering work environment and told me to think about it and caller her back when I’ve made up my mind…Maybe a week later I was in a waiting room filling out a questionier in a doctors office and totally fell apart…I was admitted to a civilian hospital 5 days for PTSD. Two hospitalizations later…over a month after my own branch tried to force my hand offering immediate safety taking the admin discharge, paperwork finally came in saying that I was to stay at my work place but that I was now on limited duty…paperwork stated: anxiety disorder, personality disorder…nothing saying I had PTSD. Being hospitalized inpatient with militarty care was like being in a personality disorder concentration camp. I’d be going through horrific flashbacks, crying while reexperiencing memories…and they would not asking what I was remembering just saying showing me the DSM personality disorders, “do you see all hystronic traits you’re exhibiting right now, borerline traits your showing…They tried multiple times throughout the two weeks for me to say things that I had been injured in my childhood and that is why I was like this…by my evals have been exemplorary for my time in, not to mention I worked in a service oriented job and love people. What ended up happening was my own branch sent up a summary to my med board saying I had nothing but personality disorders with my MMPI scores showing that as well (criminal!), and a really high up doctor, my psychiatrist’s supervisor (whom I’m never met) summerizing the same thing, and my CO backing it all up using against me that I allionated myself from the duty staff I worked with ( isn’t that “avaoidance” symptoms too?)…insinuating malingering even putting me down in the medical report for refusing the admin discharge. How crazy is that…actually using against me that I was fighting for my rights. After that I was no longer able to use that pychiatrist who treated me for PTSD….anyway…this is the first part of my story…. give me a few more months and I’ll post the rest….I am seeing a civialian doctor now and I’m doing really well. My brain shows severe tauma had been done…yes there is some good testing out there….it’s just not given prior to handing out personality disorders…
22. Beck | October 5th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Hey Just to spread my mochary of this situation. It is 19 & a 1/2 month later still in IRAQ still in a combat zone. I guess that I can’t handle a combat zone. LOL
This just goes to show it is just bull. the 635-200 5-13 loop hole exhists. I guess It is not so bad I do make almost double what that doctor does.
But what do I know I’m just a 22 year old male with out a Docorate Degree who makes almost $100,000 a year. so I couldn’t possibly know anything about this.
If I have a Personality Disorder now it Is arrogance because I don’t have to listen to doctors who know so much more than I do but my question is do they really?
23. Christie Erwin | October 28th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I was a good marine. Guide of my platoon and had a perfect PFT score, even when doing the male exercises. Within a year everyone who gained weight was made fun of, and called nasty names, especially the females. So, I didn’t want that and became anorexic and bulimic. I worked out like mad if I ate, and then sometimes was so weak that I could barely keep my eyes open at work. I started having medical problems due to this. I asked the Marine Corps for help and they said that they don’t have clinics that deal with my issue. So then I asked to take leave so I could get some help in the civilian world, and I was refused. So then I wrote congress. It was then that the Corps listened to me. Within 3 days I was discharged from the Marine Corps and given a personality disorder discharge. Now, free from my eating (not personality) disorder, my husband, who was discharged for cocaine, is trying to take away my child due to my horrible mental condition. I don’t know who to turn to to get the truth. I don’t care about benefits, I just need someone official to say that this disorder is a bunch of bunk. Does anyone have any advice? Erwin_christie@yahoo.com