Anxiety decisions — 2024

The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood is denied. The earliest possible effective date for this grant is April 18, 2022.

The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to a duty to assist error and new evidence submitted by the Veteran. The issues include psychiatric disabilities, heart disability, residuals of head and face injury, pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB), chronic stomach disability, diabetes mellitus type II, erectile dysfunction, hypertension, peripheral neuropathy, prostate cancer, and sleep disorder.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, lower back DDD, and CVA with mild left sided weakness, rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation from September 24, 2013. His TDIU claim is granted.

The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's in-service stressors for his PTSD claim and the need to obtain additional private medical records.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for polycythemia vera, adjudicated as 'adult leukemia,' is granted. The claim for a rating greater than 20 percent for bilateral hearing loss is denied. The claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD, anxiety, and depression) and a left knee disorder are remanded.

The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for anxiety, back condition, lung nodules (claimed as mass in lungs), and mediastinal mass/cyst (claimed as mass between lung and heart) due to a duty to assist error. The claims will be remanded for further examination and opinion.

The Board has remanded the case due to errors in duty to assist and a need for additional medical opinions regarding the Veteran's service connection claim.

The Veteran's claim for service connection of an acquired psychiatric disorder, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Other Specified Somatic Symptom and Related Disorder, as secondary to her service-connected insomnia disorder was denied. Her request for a higher rating for her insomnia disorder was also denied.

The Board has granted a rating of 100 percent for Major Depressive Disorder with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, finding that the Veteran's symptoms have resulted in total occupational and social impairment due to persistent suicidal ideation.

The Veteran's generalized anxiety disorder and hypertension have been granted service connection. However, the claim for dizziness as secondary to service-connected bilateral hearing loss has been denied.,Service connection is established for generalized anxiety disorder and hypertension based on continuity of symptomatology since service.

The Veteran's PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder are service-connected.,Diverticulitis is also service-connected.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for depression and anxiety is granted, but the case is remanded due to a duty-to-assist error.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD and GAD has been reopened due to new evidence, and the Board has granted service connection for these conditions.

The Veteran's claims for PTSD, anxiety, and depression were denied as there is no current diagnosis of these conditions.,The Veteran's claim for a penile condition was remanded due to the lack of evidence regarding its etiology.

The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for OSA on a secondary basis to his service-connected left shoulder degenerative arthritis and PTSD (previously rated as anxiety disorder), with obesity serving as an intermediate step.

The Veteran's disability rating for PTSD with chronic adjustment disorder was reduced from 70% to 30%, but the Board found this reduction improper and restored the original 70% rating.

The Board denied a higher disability rating for chronic adjustment disorder, finding that the Veteran's symptoms did not meet the criteria for a higher rating due to their mild nature and impact on his occupational and social functioning.

The Board has granted the Veteran's appeal to restore service connection for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and reinstated Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) benefits effective November 1, 2022.

The Veteran's combined rating for service-connected burn scars and anxiety disorder is sufficient to meet the criteria for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) across the entire appeal period.

The Veteran's claims for service connection were denied for various conditions, with some issues being remanded.,No new or material evidence was presented to reopen previously denied claims.