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CRACKDOWN BEGINS ON "PERSONALITY
DISORDER"
DISCHARGES -- DoD has imposed a more rigorous
screening process on the services for separating
troubled members due to "personality disorder."
For more about the "personality disorder"
discharge, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.p
hp?q=personality+disorder&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.stripes.com/a
rticle.asp?section=104&article=58802
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of page.
-------------------------
Crackdown begins on 'personality disorder'
separations
By Tom Philpott
Special to Stars and Stripes
Under pressure from Congress and following the Army’s lead, the Department
of Defense has imposed a more rigorous screening process on the services
for separating troubled members due to “personality disorder.”
The intent is to ensure that, in the future, no members who suffer from
wartime stress get tagged with having a pre-existing personality disorder
which leaves them ineligible for service disability compensation.
Since the attacks of 9/11, more than 22,600 service members have been
discharged for personality disorder. Nearly 3400 of them, or 15 percent,
had served in combat or imminent danger zones.
Advocates for these veterans contend that at least some of them were
suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain
injury but it was easier and less costly to separate them for personality
disorder. By definition, personality disorders existed before a member
entered service so they do not deemed a service-related disability rating.
A disability rating of 30 percent or higher, which most PTSD sufferers
receive, can mean lifelong access to military health care and on-base
shopping.
Over the last 18 months, lawmakers and advocates for veterans have
criticized Defense and service officials for relying too often on
personality disorder separations to release member who deployed to Iraq,
Afghanistan or other another areas of tension in the Global War on
Terrorism.
A revised DoD instruction (No. 1332.14), which took effect without public
announcement August 28, responds to that criticism. It only allows
separation for personality disorder for members currently or formerly
deployed to an imminent danger areas if: 1) the diagnosis by a
psychiatrist or a PhD-level psychologist is corroborated by a peer or
higher-level mental health professional, 2) if the diagnosis is
 endorsed
by the surgeon general of the service, and 3) if the diagnosis too into
account a possible tie or “co-morbidity” with symptoms of PTSD or
war-related mental injury or illness.
Sam Retherford, director of officer and enlisted personnel management in
the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said adding “rigor and discipline”
to the process when separating deployed members for personality disorder
is “very important,” considering what is at stake for the member.
Last year several congressional hearings focused on overuse of personality
disorder separation after The Nation magazine exposed apparent abuses in a
March 2007 article. It described the experience of Army Specialist Jon
Town. In October 2004, while Town stood in the doorway of his battalion's
headquarters in Ramadi, Iraq, an enemy rocket exploded into the wall above
his head, knocking him unconscious.
When he came to, Town was numb all over, bleeding from his ears, and had
shrapnel wounds in his neck. For two years he struggled with deafness,
loss of memory and depression before the Army, in September 2006,
separated Town after seven years’ service. He was separated for a
pre-existing personality disorder and without disability benefits. Writer
Joshua Kors suggested there might be thousands of veterans like Town,
separated administratively to save the services billions of dollars in
benefits.
Last year, moved by this story and others, the Senate adopted an amendment
to the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill from now president-elect
Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Joseph Liberman (ID-Conn.). It
directed Defense officials to report on service use of personality
disorder separations, and the Government Accountability Office to study
how well the services follow DoD own rules for processing such
separations.
The Army meanwhile reviewed its own use of personality disorder
separations for more than 800 soldiers who had wartime deployments. That
review quickly found some “appalling” lapses, said an official, including
incomplete files and missing counseling statements. A few months ago the
Army tightened its own rules for using personality disorder separations.
In June, the Defense Department reported to Congress that it would add
“rigor” to its personality disorder separation policy, previewing the
changes implemented in late August. The Navy strongly had opposed the
changes because it frequently uses personality disorder separations to
remove sailors found too immature or undisciplined to cope with life at
sea.
Requiring their surgeon general to review every personality disorder
separation from ships deployed in combat theaters would be too burdensome,
the Navy argued. But Defense officials insisted on the changes.
The DoD report in June showed the Navy led all services in personality
disorder separations. For fiscal years 2002 through 2007, the Navy total
was 7554 versus 5923 for the Air Force, 5652 for the Army and 3527 for the
Marine Corps. The Army led in personality disorder separations to members
who had wartime deployments, with a total of 1480 over six years. The Navy
total was 1155, the Marine Corps 455 and the Air Force 282.
DoD said it found “no indication” that personality disorder diagnoses of
deployed members “were prone to systematic or widespread error.” Nor did
internal studies show “a strong correlation” between personality disorder
separations and PTSD, brain injury or other mental disorders.
“Still, the Department shares Congress’ concern regarding the possible use
of personality disorder as the basis for administratively separating this
class of service member,” the report said.
In late October, GAO released its findings based on a review of service
jackets for 312 members separated for personality disorder from four
military installations. It said the services were not reliably compliant
even with the pre-August regulation governing separations. For example,
only 40 to 78 percent of enlisted member separated for personality
disorder had documents in their files showing that a psychiatrist or
qualified psychologist determined that their disorder affected their
ability to function in service.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
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