Evolution of Department of Defense Disability Evaluation and Management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury: Overview of Policy Changes, 2001–2018

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policies for medically evaluating service members have changed considerably since 2001, with major changes to the disability evaluation system beginning in 2007. Simultaneously, DoD also implemented new policies in response to the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. The authors review these concurrent developments.