Understanding Bipolar Disorder and Its Impact on Veterans

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that has impacted a number of veterans over the years. This condition can have a harmful impact on your daily life activities, from working to caring for yourself or even playing with your children.

Medical research has shown that the stress of military life can trigger bipolar disorder or aggravate the symptoms of the condition. If you are a veteran living with bipolar disorder, you may have a case for disability benefits through the VA. Let Gang & Associates show you how a VA disability lawyer can help.

What is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar disorder—which was previously known as manic depression—is a type of mental health condition that involves extreme mood swings. Veterans living with this condition will experience extreme highs and lows, known as hypomania and depression, respectively. Issues involving depression are generally more serious than hypomania.

This condition generally involves sudden, extreme mood swing where a person shifts from hypomania to depression in a matter of moments. The frequency of these episodes can vary substantially, from happening regularly to only once or twice per year. Each of these episodes can last for multiple days.

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition that never goes away. The good news is that there are treatment options like medication and talk therapy that can help someone manage their bipolar disorder. With proper care, a veteran may be able to manage their mood swings.

The Types of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder can manifest in different ways. Understanding each type of this condition can be helpful when considering treatment options or pursuing benefits with the help of a VA disability lawyer.

Bipolar Disorder 1

Bipolar disorder 1, often just referred to as bipolar 1, is the most severe form of the condition. It involves manic/depressive episodes that last for at least seven days. Manic episodes leave a person with high energy but often feeling irritable or unable to concentrate. Depressive episodes can lead to sadness, anxiousness, and sleep disruption.

Bipolar Disorder 2

Bipolar disorder 2 has much in common with bipolar one, but it is generally less severe. While the same manic and depressive episodes exist, they are not nearly as long. Often, it involves symptoms that are something less than a full manic episode. Depressive episodes are more common.

Cyclothymic Disorder

Cyclothymic disorder is a type of bipolar disorder that has milder but chronic symptoms. While there are regular episodes of hypomania and depressive symptoms, they are mild enough that they do qualify as full bipolar episodes.

How Bipolar Disorder is Treated

There are different options for treating this condition to consider. While prescription medication is often used by doctors after diagnosing a person as bipolar, evidence-based therapies have been shown to be highly effective in managing symptoms and avoiding the rollercoaster of mania and depression.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) assists veterans with identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors that can worsen their bipolar episodes.
• Social Skills Training (SST) is designed to help veterans with their social skills. This training is designed to assist you with navigating real-life social situations in order to improve your adjustment to the community and your quality of life.  
• Behavioral Family Therapy (BFT) provides veterans who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with new communication and problem-solving skills. These tools are focused on family education and have benefits for the loved one of a veteran as well.

These treatments are often available through the VA.

Possible VA Ratings for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is one of the mental health conditions that can lead to a viable claim for disability benefits through the VA. When you apply for benefits, the VA will evaluate the severity of your condition and identify how it has impacted your quality of life.

The VA uses the same criteria when rating bipolar disorder as any other mental health claim. The available ratings are 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, or 100%. 

• 0%. A veteran could be assigned a zero rating if they have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but their symptoms do not sufficiently impair their social or occupational function.
• 10%. A veteran will be rated at 10% if their bipolar diagnosis limits their ability to perform occupational tasks, but only during particularly stressful times. This rating is also appropriate if symptoms are fully controlled by medication.
• 30%. The VA will rate bipolar disorder at 30% if a veteran suffers an intermittent inability to perform their occupational tasks but can generally maintain routine behavior and self-care.
• 50%. A rating of 50% requires occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to symptoms like flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships
• 70%. The VA will award a 70% rating if a veteran shows occupational and social impairment in with deficiencies in most areas, such as family, school, work, judgment, thinking, and mood due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships.
• 100%. Total disability is awarded when a veteran’s bipolar diagnosis leaves them with complete occupational and social impairment due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name.

Additionally, even if you do not meet the schedular criteria for a 100% rating, veterans may still be eligible to receive the maximum benefit by way of a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) if they are unable to work due to their service-connected disability or disabilities.

Discuss Your Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis with a VA Disability Lawyer at Gang and Associates

Living with bipolar disorder is never easy, especially for veterans who have experienced trauma during the course of their service. Certain events that occur during military service can lead to aggravated symptoms or even show the first signs of bipolar disorder in the first place.

If you believe your condition was worsened due to your service, you may be entitled to VA benefits. The team at Gang & Associates is here to help you get the best possible outcome for your claim. If your initial application has been denied, contact us to learn how our VA disability lawyer can help.