If you were separated from the military with a personality disorder diagnosis, you can seek a personality disorder discharge upgrade through one of two administrative bodies: the service’s Discharge Review Board (DRB) or its Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR), known in the Navy and Marine Corps as the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR). Since 2014, these boards have been required to give “liberal consideration” to applications where the discharge is linked to PTSD, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, or other mental health conditions, and success rates have risen considerably from their pre-2014 lows.1Yale Law School. VVA PTSD Discharge Upgrades
Why the Personality Disorder Label Matters
A personality disorder discharge is treated as a pre-existing condition under Department of Defense Instruction 1332.14. The VA in turn classifies personality disorders under 38 C.F.R. ยง 3.303(c) as “congenital or developmental defects” rather than diseases or injuries, which means veterans discharged on this basis are generally ineligible for service-connected disability compensation, even when they argue their condition was aggravated by service.2Military.com. Personality Disorder Discharges: Hidden Discharge, Denied Rights The same label can cut off VA healthcare and trigger repayment of portions of an enlistment bonus.3Type Investigations. How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits
That is what makes an upgrade or correction worth pursuing. Changing the narrative reason for separation, or the characterization of service, can restore access to disability compensation, VA healthcare, and other benefits that follow a service-connected condition like PTSD or TBI.
Which Board to File With
The two paths do different things, and many veterans file with both in sequence.
The Discharge Review Board can change the characterization of your discharge (for example, from general to honorable) and can change the narrative reason for separation. It cannot change the reason to one indicating a medical condition. Applications go on DD Form 293 and must be filed within 15 years of discharge.4Swords to Plowshares. Upgrading Your Discharge
The Board for Correction of Military Records (Army, Air Force) or Board for Correction of Naval Records (Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) has broader authority. It can do everything the DRB can do and can also change the narrative reason to one indicating a medical condition, which is often the goal for someone who was actually suffering from PTSD or TBI at the time of separation. Applications go on DD Form 149. There is a three-year deadline from discovery of the error, but boards frequently waive it in mental health cases.4Swords to Plowshares. Upgrading Your Discharge
The Liberal Consideration Standard
Before 2014, boards summarily denied more than 95 percent of discharge upgrade applications from Vietnam veterans claiming PTSD.5Yale Law Journal. In Need of Correction: How the ABCMR Is Failing Veterans With PTSD Two DoD memoranda changed the standard.
The September 3, 2014 memorandum from then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel directed boards to apply “liberal consideration” to discharge upgrade applications from veterans with PTSD, and to weigh service records documenting PTSD symptoms, civilian provider diagnoses, and VA service-connected determinations.1Yale Law School. VVA PTSD Discharge Upgrades An August 2017 memorandum from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, commonly called the Kurta Memo, extended the standard to mental health conditions generally and to sexual assault and sexual harassment.6GAO. GAO-25-107354: Military Discharge Upgrade Decisions
In practice, if you raise a link between your misconduct or separation and PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma, or another mental health condition, the board must request an advisory opinion from a mental health professional. You have the right to review that opinion and respond before the board decides.4Swords to Plowshares. Upgrading Your Discharge
Timing and Odds
Expect the process to take one to two years, sometimes longer. Since liberal consideration took effect, approval rates across the various boards have ranged from 18 to 49 percent, a substantial jump from the pre-2014 baseline.6GAO. GAO-25-107354: Military Discharge Upgrade Decisions A July 2025 GAO report reviewed more than 21,000 liberal consideration cases closed between January 2018 and March 2024 and found the boards inconsistently applied the guidance, particularly regarding VA documentation linking mental health conditions to service and regarding applicant testimony about sexual harassment or assault. About 43 percent of required decisional documents were missing from the DoD’s online reading room.7GAO. GAO-25-107354: Military Discharge Actions Needed
The practical takeaway: outcomes vary by board and by how well the application develops the mental health link. A strong file typically includes VA diagnoses and service-connected determinations, civilian provider records, buddy statements, and service records that document symptoms during the period of service.
If Your Application Was Already Denied
Two class-action settlements require the services to automatically reconsider certain prior denials, so a past rejection is not necessarily the end of the road.
Kennedy v. McCarthy, given final approval on April 26, 2021, covers a nationwide class of roughly 50,000 Iraq and Afghanistan-era Army veterans with less-than-honorable discharges and mental health conditions including PTSD, TBI, and military sexual trauma. The settlement requires the Army Discharge Review Board to automatically reconsider upgrade applications denied between April 2011 and the date of settlement, and imposes procedural changes including liberal consideration of mental health conditions and a universal telephonic hearing program. The case remained under active court monitoring as of December 2025.8Yale Law School. Kennedy v. McCarthy
Manker v. Del Toro is the parallel case for Navy and Marine Corps veterans of the same era with less-than-honorable discharges and diagnoses or symptoms of PTSD, TBI, or related conditions. The class was certified in November 2018, and a settlement was preliminarily approved on October 12, 2021, requiring the Navy to automatically reconsider discharge upgrade denials issued on or after March 2, 2012, adopt new standard operating procedures, offer video-teleconference hearings, and improve staff training.9Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Manker v. Del Toro10Secretary of the Navy. Preliminary Ruling on Proposed Settlement and Class Notice
An earlier case, Monk v. Mabus, was the pressure that led to the Hagel Memo in the first place. The court did not certify a class but ordered the Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records to decide the five named plaintiffs’ resubmitted applications within 120 days, and all five received upgrades by June 2015.11Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Monk v. Mabus
One boundary to keep in mind: the class settlements cover Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans with less-than-honorable discharges. Veterans outside those parameters, including many discharged specifically under the personality disorder label with a general or honorable characterization, are not covered by the automatic reconsideration provisions and need to file a fresh application under the liberal consideration standard.
Free Legal Help
The National Veterans Legal Services Program runs Lawyers Serving Warriors, a pro bono program founded in 2007 that specifically assists veterans discharged for personality or adjustment disorders. The program helps veterans petition to correct military records for medical retirement in cases of misdiagnosis, and to remove personality disorder labels from discharge certificates for veterans who were actually suffering from PTSD, TBI, or similar service-connected conditions. Staff attorneys screen records to identify meritorious cases and mentor volunteer attorneys from private firms who handle the cases at no cost.12NVLSP. Lawyers Serving Warriors
Swords to Plowshares and the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic have also produced practitioner guidance and represented veterans in the class actions described above.13Yale Law School. VVA Personality/Adjustment Disorder
The Background Behind the Standard
The liberal consideration framework did not appear on its own. Between 2001 and 2010, the military discharged more than 31,000 service members for personality or adjustment disorders, classifying those conditions as pre-existing and denying access to disability benefits and VA healthcare.14VVA. Casting Troops Aside White Paper Internal DoD reviews during 2008 and 2009 found that fewer than 10 percent of personality disorder cases were processed in full compliance with the department’s own regulations. The FOIA data underlying the Yale clinic’s reporting showed women accounted for about 26 percent of personality disorder discharges while making up roughly 17 percent of personnel; in the Air Force, women were 21 percent of the ranks but 35 percent of personality disorder discharges.2Military.com. Personality Disorder Discharges: Hidden Discharge, Denied Rights A 2016 Human Rights Watch report found roughly 30 percent of those 31,000 veterans were women and documented how survivors of military sexual assault suffering from PTSD were improperly discharged under personality disorder diagnoses.15Office of Rep. Chellie Pingree. Pingree, Blumenthal Call for Reforms for Wrongfully Discharged Veterans
If your discharge fits that pattern, that history is useful evidence in an application: the compliance rates and gender data are on the record, and the boards are now operating under a standard that acknowledges the problem.
What to Do Next
Start by gathering your DD-214, service medical records, and any VA records diagnosing PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma, or another mental health condition. If you have a VA service-connected determination, that carries weight under the Hagel and Kurta memos. Decide whether the DRB path (characterization and narrative reason, no medical reason) or the BCMR/BCNR path (including a medical narrative reason) fits what you want changed, and check whether you fall within the Kennedy or Manker class before filing a new application. If cost is a barrier, contact NVLSP’s Lawyers Serving Warriors program for screening.