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Denied

The Veteran's depressive disorder was predominantly manifested by sleep impairment, a depressed mood, dysphoria, anxiety, frustration, isolative behavior, fatigue, disturbances of motivation or mood, and anhedonia. The disability did not approach an inability to establish effective work and social relationships.

The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms were characterized as mild to moderate depression with no significant increase in depressive symptoms, leading the examiner to conclude that she did not warrant individual unemployability based on her depressive symptomatology.

Claimed conditions
Depressive Disorder
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
50%
Decision date
February 7, 2017
Citation
1703669

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 1703669.

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