Citation Nr: 18158491 Decision Date: 12/18/18 Archive Date: 12/17/18 DOCKET NO. 17-06 586 DATE: December 18, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to include as due to military sexual trauma (MST) is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran does not have a current psychiatric disability or symptoms associated with a psychiatric disability. 2. The Veteran has not been diagnosed with any psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, pursuant to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5). CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5103, 5103A; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served in the United States Army from October 1969 to September 1970. This case comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2015 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Entitlement to service connection for PTSD due to military sexual trauma (MST) is denied. The Veteran filed the current claim in November 2014. She wrote that she was claiming entitlement to service connection based on a sexual assault. Establishing service connection for PTSD generally requires: (1) medical evidence diagnosing PTSD in conformance with established criteria; (2) a link, established by medical evidence, between a veteran’s present symptoms and an in-service stressor; and (3) credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor actually occurred. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f), 4.125; Arzio v. Shinseki, 602 F.3d 1343, 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2010). VA must give a claimant the benefit of the doubt as to any issue material to the determination of a matter when there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. A diagnosis of PTSD for compensation purposes must be established in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.125(a), which mandates that, for VA purposes, all mental disorder diagnoses must conform to the Fifth Edition of the American Psychiatric Association ‘s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5). VA has determined that the DSM-5 applies to claims filed, or pending before the agency of original jurisdiction, on or after August 4, 2014. 79 Fed. Reg. 45,093, 45,094 (Aug. 4, 2014). As the Veteran’s appeal was certified to the Board in December 2016, the DSM-5 applies here. The Veteran underwent a VA examination in July 2015. The VA psychologist noted the Veteran’s report of rape which resulted in a pregnancy and discharge from the military. The examiner stated that markers for MST related to this pregnancy were present in the Veteran’s military records. The Veteran reported to the examiner that she experienced problems functioning after the military, which according to the psychologist, were likely related to mental health symptoms incurred or caused by the MST. However, the examiner opined that the Veteran did not meet DSM-5 criteria for any mental health disorder, including PTSD. VA treatment records were negative for depression and PTSD. Specifically, in October 2014, while the Veteran reported past military sexual trauma she declined treatment and scored negative on a depression and PTSD screening. VA records show no current endorsement of symptoms associated with any psychiatric disorder. Service connection for PTSD specifically requires medical evidence establishing a diagnosis of the disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). There is no competent evidence documenting a diagnosis of PTSD or any other mental disorder since the claim has been filed. Therefore, the Veteran’s claim of service connection for PTSD fails due to a lack of medical evidence diagnosing PTSD in conformity with criteria of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A preponderance of the competent evidence is against finding a diagnosis of PTSD made in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.125 at any time since the Veteran’s claim was filed, so service connection cannot be granted. See Degmetich v. Brown, 104 F.3d 132 (Fed. Cir. 1997). The only evidence which indicates that the Veteran has a mental disorder due to military service is the Veteran's own allegations and written statements. The Veteran is a lay person without specialized medical training. Her opinion as to the existence and diagnosis of any current mental disorder is without probative value. (Continued on the next page)   The Board is aware of the Veteran’s contentions on her August 2015 Notice of Disagreement (NOD) and December 2016 Form 9 where she asserted that the rape she underwent in the military caused her psychological problems for quite some time until she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Moreover, she wrote on her Form 9, “for someone to say that the rape, the birth and death of [her] child[,] did not affect her mental state is just not true.” Additionally, the Veteran reported that she was still coping with the rape in an August 2018 letter to the Board and reported the symptoms she endured in the past. The Board’s explains that its determination is not based on lack of credibility and the Board is very sympathetic to the Veteran's claim. While the Board finds the Veteran’s STRs show markings consistent with sexual trauma and that this was conceded by the VA examiner in her July 2015 VA examination, the record does not indicate that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of PTSD or any mental disorder during the appeal period. As the Veteran stated, she had psychological problems for quite some time after her trauma occurred. However, her statements refer to the past, and not her current social and mental functioning during the appeal period. Service connection for PTSD due to military sexual trauma requires both a diagnosis of PTSD and credible supporting evidence that the inservice stressor occurred. This claim fails because of a lack of a diagnosis of PTSD which is required for service connection for compensation purposes. Thus, the Board does not question the Veteran’s trauma. Yet, the Veteran’s trauma alone without attendant mental symptoms, is not enough to base a grant of service connection for PTSD on. Accordingly, while the Board’s finds the Veteran credible regarding her statements about her experience, as a matter of law, service connection is cannot be granted because the Veteran lacks the first required element for a claim of service connection of PTSD, a medical diagnosis of PTSD or any other acquired psychiatric disorder. G. A. WASIK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Wade, Associate Counsel