Anxiety decisions — 2025

The Veteran's service-connected psychiatric condition, including adjustment disorder, panic disorder and cannabis use disorder, is sufficiently severe to prevent him from obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment, granting a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) as of July 22, 2021.

The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as unspecified anxiety disorder, related to a period of qualifying service in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR).

The Board denied increased ratings for several service-connected conditions and granted some separate evaluations, while remanding others.

The appeal was dismissed for the claim of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, and service connection for migraine headaches was restored. Several claims for service connection were denied.

The Board denied service connection for bilateral knee disability, bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, and erectile dysfunction as new and relevant evidence was not received. The Veteran's hypertension does not warrant a compensable rating.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, migraines, and mal de debarquement syndrome to obtain additional evidence.

The Board remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and PTSD, for a new VA examination.

The Board granted service connection for acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, unspecified mood disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as alcohol use disorder. The remaining claims were remanded for further development.

The Board granted service connection for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine disabilities, bilateral pes planus and plantar fasciitis, tinnitus, chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, digestive disabilities including irritable bowel syndrome with abdominal pain and nausea, pelvic organ disabilities, iron deficiency anemia, and genital herpes. Service connection was denied for acne, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, painful joints, left shin splints, right shin splints, left ankle condition, right ankle condition, left carpal tunnel syndrome, right carpal tunnel syndrome, respiratory infection, GERD, PTSD, anxiety condition, manic-depressive reaction, and psychiatric disorder other than unspecified depressive disorder with symptoms of suicidal ideation. An initial 50% rating was granted for the service-connected unspecified depressive disorder.

The Board remands the issues of whether the character of the Appellant's discharge from service is a bar to entitlement to VA benefits, and the claims for service connection for depression and anxiety due to the need for a medical opinion regarding the Appellant's mental state at the time of her misconduct leading to her bad conduct discharge.

The Board remands the claim for service connection for any acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety, depression, and/or mood disorder, due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error in not obtaining sufficient VA medical examination and opinion.

The Board denied an initial disability rating in excess of 50 percent for the service-connected adjustment disorder with anxiety, as the Veteran's symptoms did not more closely approximate occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability and sleep disturbance due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.

The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches and bilateral pes planus, denied service connection for anxiety, and denied an initial compensable rating for alopecia areata. The claims for service connection for difficulty breathing (claimed as asthma), back strain, and sleep disturbances were remanded.

The Board granted service connection for a psychiatric disability as secondary to the Veteran's right foot disability and denied a compensable initial rating for bilateral hearing loss. Other issues were remanded.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for tinnitus was granted, while other claims were denied or remanded.

The Veteran withdrew all pending appeals, as he is now rated 100 percent from November 22, 2022.

The Board remands the claims for a higher rating for PTSD and TDIU due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's treatment history and the need for an updated examination.

The Board remands the case for a new examination with an addendum opinion to address whether the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders are related to service.

The Board granted service connection for unspecified depressive disorder and other specified anxiety disorder, but denied or remanded the claims for service connection for a recurrent temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disability, prostatitis, erectile dysfunction, left elbow disability, esophageal disability to include GERD, gastrointestinal disability to include IBS, headache disability, right shoulder disability, heart disability, bilateral foot disability, and compensable ratings for hemorrhoids and allergic rhinitis.