You stopped eating to feel in control. Or you ate to numb the memories. Maybe you became obsessed with “clean” eating, controlling every ingredient, because military sexual trauma (MST) took away your sense of safety. These aren’t character flaws—they're service-connected disabilities that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should recognize and compensate.
At the Law Office of Sean Kendall, our United States Veterans’ lawyers have spent decades helping MST survivors secure the benefits they’ve earned, including claims for eating disorders the VA often overlooks. If you’re ready to put an end to the suffering, contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation to learn how we can help you.
Why Does Military Sexual Trauma Trigger Eating Disorders?
Trauma rewires the brain’s relationship with survival, safety, and control. When military sexual trauma violates a service member’s body and agency, eating disorders often emerge as desperate attempts to reclaim power.
The Body Remembers What the Mind Tries to Forget
MST survivors often describe feeling disconnected from their bodies, as though they no longer belong to themselves. Restricting food, binge eating, or obsessing over food purity offers an illusion of control in a world that proved unsafe. These patterns aren’t about vanity or willpower. They’re trauma responses the VA should connect to service.
When Food Becomes a Weapon Against Yourself
Some MST survivors restrict food to make their bodies smaller, less visible, less vulnerable to unwanted attention. Others gain weight as protective armor. The VA often treats eating disorders as separate mental health conditions rather than direct consequences of military sexual trauma.
What Eating Disorders Qualify for VA Disability After MST?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, recognizes multiple eating disorders beyond anorexia and bulimia. MST survivors should know about these lesser-discussed conditions that qualify for service connection.
- Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). This condition involves avoiding food due to sensory issues, fear of choking, or lack of appetite tied to trauma. Veterans with ARFID may eat only a narrow range of foods or skip meals entirely because eating triggers anxiety.
- Binge eating disorder. MST survivors with this condition consume large amounts of food rapidly, often in secret, followed by shame and distress. Unlike bulimia, there’s no purging.
- Orthorexia. While not yet an official DSM diagnosis, orthorexia is an unhealthy obsession with eating only “clean” or “pure” foods. For MST survivors, this rigid control over diet can mask deeper trauma responses.
- Other specified feeding or eating disorder. This catch-all category covers disordered eating that doesn’t fit neat diagnostic boxes but still causes significant distress and impairment. Many MST-related eating patterns fall here.
How Do You Prove Your Eating Disorder Is Service-Connected?
The VA requires three elements for service connection: a current diagnosis, an in-service event—such as MST—and a medical nexus linking the two. For eating disorders that developed after MST, that nexus is often the hardest piece to document.
Getting the Right Diagnosis
Veterans need treatment records that specifically diagnose an eating disorder using clinical criteria. Vague mentions of “poor nutrition” or “weight changes” won’t suffice. If your VA providers haven’t formally diagnosed your eating disorder, seek an evaluation from a private psychologist who understands both eating disorders and trauma.
Documenting the Timeline
When did the eating disorder begin? Can you connect it to the timeframe of your MST? The VA looks for temporal proximity—evidence that the eating disorder emerged during service or shortly after the traumatic event. Personal statements, buddy statements from fellow service members, and any coincident medical records strengthen your claim.
Establishing the Nexus
The VA states that you need a medical professional to explicitly state that your eating disorder is “at least as likely as not” caused by your military sexual trauma. A competent independent medical opinion from a psychologist who understands trauma and eating disorders can make or break your claim.
Why Do MST Eating Disorder Claims Get Denied?
Common reasons the VA denies eating disorder claims connected to military sexual trauma include:
- Lack of MST documentation. The VA can’t find evidence of your assault in service records—even though most instances of MST aren’t reported.
- Missing nexus statement. Your treatment records mention both MST and disordered eating, but never connect them causally.
- Minimized symptoms. The VA acknowledges your eating disorder but rates it at 0% because you’re “maintaining weight” or “receiving outpatient treatment.”
Winning on appeal requires aggressive evidence development. This means obtaining private psychological evaluations, securing statements from therapists who’ve treated you, and potentially bringing in expert witnesses who can explain the trauma-eating disorder connection to the Court of Appeals of Veterans Claims.
How Will Our United States Veterans’ Lawyer Build a Strong Claim for Your MST Compensation?
If military sexual trauma changed how you eat—whether you restrict, binge, obsess over purity, or avoid food entirely—you deserve VA disability compensation. Here’s how to protect your claim:
- Seek treatment and get a formal diagnosis. VA mental health providers can diagnose eating disorders, but if they’re not recognizing yours, find a private psychologist who specializes in trauma and eating disorders.
- File your MST claim even without service records. The VA accepts alternative evidence for MST, including personal statements describing behavioral changes after the trauma.
- Request a nexus opinion. Ask your treating psychologist or psychiatrist to write a statement explaining how MST caused or aggravated your eating disorder.
- Don’t accept lowball ratings. Eating disorders that require intensive outpatient treatment, cause significant weight loss, or lead to hospitalization should receive higher disability percentages.
- Appeal denials immediately. The VA’s one-year appeal window is strict—missing it can cost you years of back pay.
Proving service connection for eating disorders shouldn’t be another uphill fight, but often is.
Don’t go it alone. Sean Kendall, Attorney at Law, is ready to assist you.
