Groups Find Trauma Rule for Veterans Lacking

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A new federal regulation that is intended to make it easier for veterans to receive disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder is coming under fire from some of the advocates who had pushed for it.

The rule, which takes effect Tuesday, eliminates a requirement that veterans document specific events like firefights or bomb blasts that might have caused their P.T.S.D., whose symptoms include emotional numbness, anxiety, irritability and flashbacks. Such documentation was often difficult or even impossible to find, veterans groups say.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Obama hailed the new rule as a “long-overdue step,” saying, “I don’t think our troops on the battlefield should have to take notes to keep for a claims application.”

But veterans advocates say that while the rule is a major improvement, it does not go far enough in lowering obstacles to veterans seeking health care or disability compensation for P.T.S.D.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/us/13vets.html?th&emc=th