The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) has determined that the veteran's service-connected low back pain contributed to his development of anxiety and social phobia, thus granting service connection for social phobia as secondary to his service-connected low back disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the veteran's chronic back pain caused him to feel more self-conscious, which in turn contributed to his development of anxiety and social phobia.
- Claimed conditions
- Social phobia
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 2, 2003
- Citation
- 0322426
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0322426.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss. The claims for service connection for migraines and scars of the extremities/trunk were remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD, due to a lack of credible evidence supporting his claimed in-service stressors and a diagnosis of PTSD that was not informed by the record.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a psychiatric disorder, specifically social phobia, as it was not incurred in or caused by the Veteran's active duty.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for earlier effective dates and TDIU were dismissed due to the death of the Veteran. The Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate these claims as they are moot.
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