Depression decisions — 2026

The Board has granted service connection for major depressive disorder, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to an incident during his military service.

The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the allocation of attorney fees from an award of past-due compensation benefits for service-connected bipolar disorder. The Board dismissed the appeal as a result.

The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the 70% rating for PTSD and major depressive disorder is granted, with the effective date set at July 7, 2021. The other issues remain unresolved.

The Veteran's appeal for service connection for major depressive disorder as a symptom of hyperacusis is dismissed. The Board also remanded the issues of entitlement to a compensable disability rating for hyperacusis and TDIU.

The Board has granted service connection for major depression with anxiety and obstructive sleep apnea, finding that the evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether these conditions had their onset in service.

The Board denied service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the upper and lower extremities, hypertension, gastrointestinal disability, bilateral eye disability, and psychiatric disorder due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents in Korea. The Veteran's claims were remanded for consideration of obstructive sleep apnea.

The appeal to reduce the disability rating from 50% to 30% for posttraumatic stress disorder, including unspecified mood disorder with depression and anxiety, is dismissed because no valid NOD was filed in response to a proposed reduction.

The Board has remanded the case due to a duty-to-assist error, requiring VA to obtain a medical opinion regarding the nature and etiology of any acquired psychiatric disorder(s) that the Veteran was diagnosed with in accordance with the DSM-5 as of, approximate to, or following the date VA received his January 2019 intent to file a disability compensation claim.

The Veteran's major depressive disorder is found to be related to his military service, and the claim for service connection is granted.

The Board granted an earlier effective date of August 9, 2019 for the award of service connection for PTSD. The Veteran initially filed a claim on August 9, 2019 and VA accepted it as a formal claim seeking service connection for PTSD.

The Veteran's appeals for service connection on the merits of various conditions have been dismissed due to a prohibited concurrent election. The claims were pending before the RO pursuant to an HLR request when VA received the Veteran's appeal.

The Board has decided to remand the claims of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, insomnia, and Meniere's disease due to insufficient medical opinions addressing causation and aggravation. The Veteran's conditions are being considered as secondary to his service-connected disabilities.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions due to incomplete VA examinations and a failure to reschedule them. The Veteran is seeking service connection for PTSD, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, sleep disturbances, bilateral hearing loss, headache condition, and lumbar fusion with limitation and pain.

The Board has denied service connection for lumbosacral strain, left knee instability, persistent depressive disorder, and left shoulder strain. The claim for hypertension is remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.

The Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disability does not render him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, as he earned over the poverty threshold and has preserved adaptive functioning.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's major depressive disorder is related to his active military service and grants service connection for this condition.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including left lower extremity neuralgia and depression, have rendered him unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment since May 17, 2022. Effective from that date, a TDIU is granted.

The Board has granted an effective date of February 15, 2024 for the award of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (including GAD and persistent depressive disorder). This decision is based on continuous pursuit of claims by the Veteran.

The Veteran's claims for gastrointestinal and psychiatric disabilities are remanded due to inadequate medical examinations.

The appeal of the issue of whether new and relevant evidence has been submitted to warrant readjudication of entitlement to service connection for sterility is dismissed.,Service connection for a depressive disorder as secondary to service-connected bilateral hearing loss is granted.