PTSD and Veterans’ Benefits in the United States: A Historical Backgrounder1
That war and psychological trauma go together has always been known but not always well understood or popularly accepted. More accepted, at least in US history, has been the notion that military veterans should be thanked for their service on a long-term basis, with a system of benefits that has historically included somecombination of compensation, pensions, and health care. How, though, has the veterans’ benefits system dealtwith veterans who suffer from war-induced psychological trauma—some version of what is today called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—over time? This report provides a brief overview of the history of how the US military and veterans’ benefits programs have approached war-induced psychological trauma, with the aimof raising questions about both the causes and the consequences of these changes.PTSD is a well-known illness today, thanks in part to the work of veterans’ groups, military medical practitioners, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA’s National Center for PTSD offers the following definition: “PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault.â€1
The diagnostic criteria for PTSD listed in the most recent version of the American Psychiatric Association’s primary reference text, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), include “the exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violenceâ€; the presenceof “distressing memories,†“dreams,†or “flashbacks†associated with exposure to traumatic events; “avoidanceof stimuli†associated with the traumatic events; “negative alterations in cognitions or mood associated withthe traumatic event(s)â€; and behavioral changes such as unprovoked “angry outbursts†or “hypervigiliance.â€
https://mwi.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PTSD-and-Veterans-Benefits-in-the-United-States.pdf