Depression decisions — 2025

The Veteran's depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and insomnia disorder with alcohol use disorder are due to his service-connected large B-cell lymphoma of the central nervous system and cause total occupational and social impairment.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, low back, right and left knee disabilities, generalized anxiety disorder, other specified depressive disorder, and somatic symptom disorder to obtain additional evidence.

The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and denied an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric conditions. The Board granted service connection for generalized anxiety disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and alcohol use disorder with a 70% evaluation effective February 27, 2023, and increased the ratings for right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome with degenerative arthritis to 30 percent and residuals of foot injury to 10 percent.

The Board granted service connection for sinusitis under the PACT Act, OSA as secondary to rhinitis, and a 70 percent rating for depressive disorder secondary to service-connected lumbar spine disability. The claims for an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for depressive disorder and a compensable rating for migraine headaches were denied.

The Board denied service connection for a low back, upper back, bilateral arm, and knee disability, as well as an eating disorder and stress disorder. However, the Board granted a 50 percent rating for depression.

The Board remands the claim for a TDIU based on the single service-connected disability of depressive disorder due to insufficient evidence and the need for an extraschedular referral.

The Board granted restoration of the 70% rating for unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress and denied an initial disability rating in excess of 70% and a TDIU.

The Board granted service connection for tinnitus and remanded the claims for anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, and bilateral hearing loss for further development.

The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) secondary to a service-connected depression disability.

The Board granted service connection for an unspecified anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, finding a nexus between the Veteran's mental health symptoms and her hardship discharge during active service.

The Board granted service connection for multiple disabilities, including right and left knee, back, right and left lower extremity nerve, PTSD (now claimed as depression), gout, and obstructive sleep apnea, all secondary to the Veteran's service-connected back disability.

The veteran has withdrawn the appeal for all service connection claims.

The Board granted service connection for major depressive disorder as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected seizure disorder and denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome. The appeal regarding sleep apnea was remanded.

The appeal was dismissed due to a procedural defect in the Veteran's January 2022 VA Form 10182, which resulted from a prohibited concurrent election under VA claims processing rules.

The Board remands the claim for readjudication as new and relevant evidence was received, broadening the scope of the claim to include an acquired psychiatric disorder variously diagnosed as PTSD.

The Board denied a rating in excess of 70 percent for service-connected depressive disorder and denied earlier effective dates for total disability due to individual unemployability and Dependents' Educational Assistance, but granted special monthly compensation based on the need for regular aid and attendance.

The Board granted service connection for a cervical spine disability and bilateral hearing loss, while denying service connection for asthma, anxiety disorder, adjustment disorder, depressive disorder, GERD, migraines (also claimed as headaches), insomnia, left hip disability, right hip disability, and plantar fasciitis.

The Board denied the veteran's appeal for a higher initial disability rating in excess of 50 percent for his service-connected depressive disorder, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the current level of impairment.

The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for major depressive disorder (MDD) from December 27, 2021.

The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) but denied TDIU based on the Veteran's PDD alone.