Having my C&P exam for PTSD tomorrow

P

Peter.parker.gonzalez

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Registered Member
Greetings everyone after my doctor told me to put in a service connected claim for my ptsd, I am seeing the psychologist tomorrow. I have been seeing a therapist for the last two years for my depression, and I guess they now realized it is a symptom of my trauma. My doctor gave me a PCL-5 on May 28 and the results stated it was in the severe Category for ptsd.

Should I mentioned that to the psychologist that I also was given this exam by my va doctor, or should they already have all my Va medical Files already?

Also not sure what to expect tomorrow. Thank you for all the help that I always get on this forum
 
If you are having a C&P for PTSD, I can explain how mine went:

The examiner began with family history of medical and mental disabilities. Then I was asked about how my childhood progressed, relationships with family members school work and relations, friendships, sports or other extracurricular activities and such.

After the childhood was recreated we moved in to adulthood, where my service began with graduating high school, this part of the examination rolled right into my PTSD as I was deployed to OEF the day we declared war and 1 year in to my first enlistment.

Since this is the beginning of my PTSD inducing environments and events, we talked at length on stressors, events, actions and other things pertinent to my PTSD and OEF service.

After a little bit of questioning on the rest of my service we moved into to symptoms of PTSD and how I experience it, then in to how I was diagnosed and treated. I believe it all lasted a little over an hour and required some Kleenex and self soothing, its not "intense" so to speak but depending on what you maybe asked to recall and discuss will have an impact on how you respond.

My advice, is paint the clearest and most truthful reenactment of events, but keep in mind ratings and decisions are based on how bad you represent your PTSD. Describe you at your worst point of depression, not your best days or how you feel at the exact moment of examination. If you are having a good day during the examination then make sure the examiner understands how bad you are generally and the worst case scenarios you have experienced.

When in doubt, be truthful and emphasize how bad your PTSD can be.
 
heathro1281 said:
If you are having a C&P for PTSD, I can explain how mine went:

The examiner began with family history of medical and mental disabilities. Then I was asked about how my childhood progressed, relationships with family members school work and relations, friendships, sports or other extracurricular activities and such.

After the childhood was recreated we moved in to adulthood, where my service began with graduating high school, this part of the examination rolled right into my PTSD as I was deployed to OEF the day we declared war and 1 year in to my first enlistment.

Since this is the beginning of my PTSD inducing environments and events, we talked at length on stressors, events, actions and other things pertinent to my PTSD and OEF service.

After a little bit of questioning on the rest of my service we moved into to symptoms of PTSD and how I experience it, then in to how I was diagnosed and treated. I believe it all lasted a little over an hour and required some Kleenex and self soothing, its not "intense" so to speak but depending on what you maybe asked to recall and discuss will have an impact on how you respond.

My advice, is paint the clearest and most truthful reenactment of events, but keep in mind ratings and decisions are based on how bad you represent your PTSD. Describe you at your worst point of depression, not your best days or how you feel at the exact moment of examination. If you are having a good day during the examination then make sure the examiner understands how bad you are generally and the worst case scenarios you have experienced.

When in doubt, be truthful and emphasize how bad your PTSD can be.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I just had my exam.
I made sure to talk about how the trauma has affected my marriage, the two years of me seeing a therapist with taking medication. How it’s affecting my job and my social life. Etc the doctor said that it was a bit redundant that I had to do this because there’s obvious medical history here; and he said that he’s going to finish everything, and send it up, and that it should hopefully help with me getting better support to help me with Certain things I need help with in life ..not sure what that means?

He also said that it’s very obvious that your life was impacted in some severe negative ways that was outside of your control
 
The examiners have a preplanned examination report they evaluate you based on, in the report are key indicators that can be used to trigger certain gateways to the ratings, when you trigger so many of these gates you can deduce your rating, on the ratings, you can see VERY SPECIFIC wording will trigger a rating. You should see nearly word for word, these remarks on you C&P result for example:

***********************
100% ratings triggers:
The Ability to Care for Yourself: This individual cannot take care of himself at all. Constant or near-constant hospitalization and one-on-one supervision is required.

Medications: This individual requires psychiatric medication at all times.

Symptoms: Some or all of the following symptoms will be present.
– Regular or constant delusions or hallucinations and the inability to tell fact from fiction
– Completely inappropriate behavior (like drooling, mumbling, shouting, etc.)
– There is constant danger of hurting self or others (including suicidal tendencies)
– Significant memory loss, including not being able to remember names of close friends, family, or self, and other important information
– The individual cannot understand the idea of time or place
– The individual cannot properly reason, think or communicate logically
– Constant anxiety, fear, suspicion
Click to expand...
The Ability to Work: This individual cannot work at all.

Social Relationships: This individual cannot participate in any relationships. In other words, they cannot interact or build a relationship with another person. Family members may care for them, but it is only a one-way relationship. They cannot seek, invite, or encourage any relationships.
*********************

They find these specific triggers in your report than you take the average of the triggers to get a proposed rating. Such as "Service member has suicidal tendencies" would be a 100% trigger, but "Member can successfully take care of himself with minimal help" is a 10% trigger, which would average out to 50% rating.... there will be many of these statements on your report, so rate them and average them for your personal best guess. It will be a ballpark number until you get the actual preposed rating back from the VA which will clearly tell you why you received the rating you did, and reason why you didn't receive a higher or lesser rating.


What is PTSD? Military Disability Rating for PTSD <- Link for the gateways to be considered ratable PTSD

Military Disability Ratings for Mental Disorders <- Link to the ratings.
 
So I went to my healthy vet to see if I can see the c&p results; and I see the colomn that shows the provider that did my test

But where it says notes it says: there are no associated notes for this encounter

Does anyone know how long it takes before I can see the notes on my healthy vet?
 
I hope your C&P exam for PTSD went well. When you had your exam, it was a good idea to mention any relevant information, including the PCL-5 results, to the psychologist. Providing context during the examination can be helpful, even if they may have had access to your VA medical files.
For those who might be in a similar situation, C&P exams typically involve discussing your medical history, symptoms, and how your condition affects your daily life. It's an opportunity for the psychologist to gather information to assess your PTSD and determine its impact on your eligibility for benefits.
Remember, you're not alone in this journey, and there are resources like national mental health support available to assist you.
 
For your PTSD, the symptoms are the most important thing graded on the DBQ: your occupational and social impairment. I went through the IDES, 22-year PDRL, PT 100%, and now a VA Rater (new rater) I medically retired last year.
 
Also, you only get graded for one mental health condition. The one which is the most dominant
 
heathro1281 said:
The examiners have a preplanned examination report they evaluate you based on, in the report are key indicators that can be used to trigger certain gateways to the ratings, when you trigger so many of these gates you can deduce your rating, on the ratings, you can see VERY SPECIFIC wording will trigger a rating. You should see nearly word for word, these remarks on you C&P result for example:

***********************
100% ratings triggers:
The Ability to Care for Yourself: This individual cannot take care of himself at all. Constant or near-constant hospitalization and one-on-one supervision is required.

Medications: This individual requires psychiatric medication at all times.

Symptoms: Some or all of the following symptoms will be present.

The Ability to Work: This individual cannot work at all.

Social Relationships: This individual cannot participate in any relationships. In other words, they cannot interact or build a relationship with another person. Family members may care for them, but it is only a one-way relationship. They cannot seek, invite, or encourage any relationships.
*********************

They find these specific triggers in your report than you take the average of the triggers to get a proposed rating. Such as "Service member has suicidal tendencies" would be a 100% trigger, but "Member can successfully take care of himself with minimal help" is a 10% trigger, which would average out to 50% rating.... there will be many of these statements on your report, so rate them and average them for your personal best guess. It will be a ballpark number until you get the actual preposed rating back from the VA which will clearly tell you why you received the rating you did, and reason why you didn't receive a higher or lesser rating.


What is PTSD? Military Disability Rating for PTSD <- Link for the gateways to be considered ratable PTSD

Military Disability Ratings for Mental Disorders <- Link to the ratings.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. It answered a lot of questions I had.
 
C&P exams for PTSD typically involve discussing your experiences, symptoms, and how they affect your daily life. It's a chance for the psychologist to assess your condition thoroughly. Just be honest and open during the evaluation, sharing your experiences and feelings.
Remember, you're taking a positive step towards getting the help you need, and the forum community is here to support you. If you'd like more information or resources related to mental health, I've found some articles that might be helpful at MentalHealth.com.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top