I believe it was certainly a factor. The issues that were plaguing her over time stemmed back quite a few years, actually, but had been brought to the forefront again as she was having difficulty readjusting to civilian life. After a couple of years, she needed to try to find a career or a way to get income, and she had come to the conclusion that she needed some kind of benefit or help.
The more it spun out of control, the more she felt as though she needed to find something to do. She couldn't grasp what she could do because she only had these skills; she had been a soldier her whole life, and she was too old at that point.... She was a policewoman, originally, but by that time she was in her mid to late forties and was too old to go back to that again. So then she started a process of trying to, initially.... There were other things that are not in the document or in the statement that had to do with medical issues that she had tried to address and get a pension for. These were all summarily denied.
That created the stress and the anxiety situation. Eventually that led to the point where a doctor said, “You know, we think...we're going to call it a delayed PTSD.” But it's such a vague and general term.... That's part of this whole issue that I find problematic. It's that it's such a vague term, and no one can really nail down specifically what it is. It seems to encompass many different things. Certain things can trigger it.
In her case, at the time of her death, the actual appeal was on the table, as it were, for a pensionable award, and we did not receive the denial until after her death. It is now being appealed.