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During the troop surge in Iraq, I learned to constantly scan for threats, how to distinguish the sharp crack of a gunshot pointed in my direction from one outgoing toward an enemy, and the myriad ways that explosives can be hidden on a roadside. I learned that hypervigilance can be the difference between life and death. What I didn’t learn was how to turn it off.

Now, I take three psychiatric medications every day, and I go to therapy every week. It’s taken a lot of work over the course of 15 years, but now I’m mostly functional. I raise my kids, go to work, and am part of my community. And I am among the nearly 5 million U.S. veterans who receive service-connected disability compensation, of whom roughly a quarter have a mental health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder as their primary disability. That compensation is not charity, but compensation for harm incurred in service and a recognition that the government has a debt when the service it demands breaks bodies and minds.

But now, under a new interim rule issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the fact that medication helps me may also be used to reduce my disability compensation. The rule directs the VA to evaluate disabilities based on how veterans function with medication and treatment, rather than the underlying severity of their conditions. Essentially, if the pills work, good job........

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