The nightmare didn’t end just because you left the service. For many Veterans who experienced military sexual trauma (MST), the battle shifts from external threats to an internal war that follows them home. Sleep becomes elusive. Relationships feel impossible. Simple daily tasks trigger overwhelming responses that others can’t understand. Sound familiar?
The trauma response extends far beyond the PTSD diagnosis that most people recognize. At the Law Office of Sean Kendall, we understand that MST survivors often face a complex spectrum of trauma symptoms that can profoundly impact every aspect of life. Our Boulder Veterans MST lawyers work with women and men nationwide to secure the comprehensive benefits they deserve for the full range of their service-connected disabilities.
Understanding the complete picture of trauma responses can help you identify symptoms you might not have connected to your military sexual trauma. This knowledge becomes crucial when pursuing VA benefits that accurately reflect your condition’s true impact. We’ll explain more when you schedule a free consultation, but here are some valid points to consider.
What Are Some Common Myths About Military Sexual Trauma Response?
Many misconceptions surround MST and its effects on survivors. These fallacies prevent Veterans from seeking help and receiving appropriate benefits.
Myth: PTSD Is the Only Trauma Response to Military Sexual Trauma
This belief severely limits understanding of the condition’s impact. While PTSD remains common among survivors, military sexual trauma also triggers other psychological and physical responses. Complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, anxiety disorders, and personality changes are also valid trauma responses that deserve recognition and treatment.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) often focuses on PTSD symptoms, potentially overlooking other significant conditions that stem from the same traumatic experiences. Survivors may struggle with emotional regulation, chronic pain, sleep disorders, and relationship difficulties that don’t fit neatly into a PTSD diagnosis. Each of these symptoms can be service-connected and warrant separate consideration in your benefits claim.
Myth: Trauma Symptoms Should Improve Over Time Without Treatment
Many people believe survivors should “get over” traumatic experiences naturally as years pass. This dangerous misconception ignores the reality of how trauma affects the brain and nervous system.
Without proper treatment, MST symptoms often worsen over time rather than improve.
The brain’s stress response can remain hyperactive for decades after traumatic events. This constant state of alertness exhausts mental and physical resources, leading to additional health problems, including autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain conditions.
Professional treatment provides a tool for processing traumatic memories and developing healthy coping strategies. Without intervention, many survivors develop increasingly restrictive lifestyles. This isolation often leads to depression, relationship problems, and reduced quality of life that could be prevented with appropriate care.
Myth: Physical Symptoms Aren't Related to Military Sexual Trauma
The mind-body connection in trauma response is well-established in medical literature, yet many people still view physical and psychological symptoms as separate issues. MST frequently manifests in physical symptoms that may seem unrelated to the original traumatic experience.
Chronic pain conditions, gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, and autoimmune diseases are prevalent among trauma survivors. When chronically activated, the body’s stress response creates inflammation and hormonal imbalances that contribute to these physical health problems. These conditions aren’t “all in your head”—they represent real psychological responses to trauma.
Sleep disturbances from MST can trigger a cascade of physical health problems. Poor sleep affects immune function, hormone production, and cellular repair processes. Over time, this leads to serious medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, that may qualify for separate VA disability ratings.
Dissociation, a common trauma response, frequently manifests as chronic fatigue, dizziness, and coordination problems. These symptoms significantly impact daily functioning but are often dismissed as unrelated to mental health conditions.
Complex PTSD: When Trauma Goes Deeper Than Traditional Diagnosis
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) arises from prolonged or repeated trauma, often involving betrayal or power dynamics. Military sexual trauma (MST), especially harassment or assault by fellow service members or superiors, can lead to this condition.
While traditional PTSD includes intrusive thoughts, avoidance, mood changes, and hyperarousal, C-PTSD adds deeper challenges in emotional regulation, self-concept, and relationships. These symptoms often cause greater long-term impairment than standard PTSD.
Emotional Regulation
Survivors may experience overwhelming anger, sadness, or fear, often unrelated to current circumstances. Emotional flashbacks—sudden floods of traumatic emotions without visual or auditory memories—can last hours or days, disrupting daily life.
Self-Concept and Identity
C-PTSD often involves persistent guilt, shame, or feelings of being “different”. Survivors may feel disconnected from their pre-trauma identity or struggle to imagine a future beyond their experiences.
Interpersonal Difficulties
Trust and intimacy become major hurdles. For MST survivors, betrayal by trusted peers or leaders creates lasting challenges in authority relationships and close bonds. These effects threaten daily life long after trauma ends.
The VA increasingly recognizes C-PTSD as distinct from PTSD. Working with our experienced MST attorneys ensures that your claim reflects the full impact of complex trauma.
How Do Dissociative Disorders and Memory Disruption Appear as MST Symptoms?
Dissociation is a coping response where the mind disconnects from overwhelming trauma. While it helps survivors endure inescapable events, persistent dissociation disrupts memory, identity, and daily functioning. Symptoms include:
- Depersonalization. Survivors may feel detached from themselves, as though life is a movie. This often impairs memory, relationships, and engagement.
- Derealization. This condition describes when a Veteran experiences the external world as dreamlike or distorted, creating fear and disorientation.
- Memory fragmentation. Survivors may recall certain trauma details vividly while blocking others, or struggle with everyday memory formation.
- Identity fragmentation. Some people may feel split into different “parts” managing various situations, leading to inconsistent self-identity.
The VA rates dissociative disorders separately from PTSD. Documenting these conditions through specialized evaluation and treatment records is essential for proper compensation.
Personality Changes and Long-Term Adaptation
MST can permanently alter personality traits and coping strategies. While adaptive in unsafe settings, these patterns often cause problems in civilian or stable environments.
- Hypervigilance. Once protective, constant vigilance becomes exhausting, fueling tension and restlessness.
- Trust issues. Betrayal by peers or leaders undermines survivors’ ability to rely on others, often leading to isolation.
- Emotional numbing. MST survivors may suppress feelings to avoid pain, but this also blocks joy, love, and fulfillment.
- Risk-taking or avoidance. Some seek control through dangerous behaviors, while others become overly cautious, limiting opportunities and life satisfaction.
Without treatment, these changes may persist for decades, affecting careers, relationships, and overall quality of life. The VA recognizes MST-related personality changes as potential service-connected disabilities when well-documented through comprehensive evaluations.
What Can Sean Kendall’s Legal Team Do to Help Establish Your MST Benefits Claim?
Securing VA benefits for military sexual trauma requires understanding how different trauma responses connect to your military service. The VA uses specific criteria for evaluating MST claims, and comprehensive documentation strengthens your case considerably.
Medical Evidence
This is the foundation of any successful VA claim. Regular treatment with mental health professionals creates a record of your symptoms, their severity, and their impact on your daily functioning. Treatment records should document all your trauma-related symptoms, not just those that fit traditional PTSD criteria.
Personal Statements
These demonstrate how the condition affects your life, and provide crucial context for your claim. Statements should include specific examples of how symptoms interfere with work, relationships, and self-care activities. Include information about both good days and bad days to provide a complete picture of your functioning levels.
Supporting Statements
Other crucial aspects of evidence include statements from family members, friends, and coworkers that verify changes in your behavior and functioning since your military service. These lay statements often provide valuable perspective on how your trauma symptoms appear to others and their impact on your relationships and work performance.
Employment and Education Records
Other valuable forms of military sexual trauma claim evidence include employment records, educational transcripts, and other documentation of life changes following your military service. Patterns of job loss, academic struggles, or social isolation often correlate with untreated trauma symptoms and support higher disability ratings.
Your trauma response is valid regardless of how it manifests. Whether you experience traditional PTSD symptoms, complex trauma responses, or other psychological and physical effects, you deserve comprehensive benefits that reflect your service-connected disabilities.
Working with the Sean Kendall Law Firm’s experienced Veterans MST lawyers helps you establish credibility for your disability claim and ensures that it addresses the full spectrum of your trauma responses. We help MST survivors receive benefits for complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, personality changes, and related physical health conditions stemming from military sexual trauma.
