The veteran's anxiety disorder with features of post-traumatic stress and depressive disorder is manifested by severe symptoms, including daily panic attacks, severe depression, sleep impairment, inability to concentrate, flashbacks, impaired impulse control, isolative behavior, difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances, neglect of personal appearance and hygiene, flattened affect, paranoia, suicidal ideation, and an inability to establish and maintain effective relationships. The Board finds that the veteran's disability more nearly approximates a 70 percent evaluation.
The deciding factor: The severity of the veteran's anxiety disorder with features of post-traumatic stress and depressive disorder is manifested by severe symptoms, including daily panic attacks, severe depression, sleep impairment, inability to concentrate, flashbacks, impaired impulse control, isolative behavior, difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances, neglect of personal appearance and hygiene, flattened affect, paranoia, suicidal ideation, and an inability to establish and maintain effective relationships. These symptoms are more consistent with a 70 percent evaluation under the criteria for anxiety disorders.
- Claimed conditions
- Anxiety disorder with features of post-traumatic stress and depressive disorder, Fibromyalgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- May 6, 2008
- Citation
- 0814891
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,515 · Granted: 20% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0814891.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
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- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD and fibromyalgia disabilities render her unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation, thus meeting the criteria for TDIU.
- Dismissed
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- Remanded (sent back)
The reduction of the disability rating for headaches from 50% to 30% is not proper and is void ab initio. Effective dates are denied for various service connection claims.,Multiple issues related to initial disability ratings, effective dates, and earlier effective dates for higher ratings are remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to her service-connected disabilities, finding that she was not unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation consistent with her education and work history.
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