The Veteran's psychiatric symptoms, including PTSD, are considered part of his service-connected unspecified depressive disorder. Granting a separate disability rating for PTSD would constitute pyramiding.
The deciding factor: All psychiatric symptomatology has been attributed to the Veteran's service-connected condition (unspecified depressive disorder).
- Claimed conditions
- Depressed mood, Chronic sleep impairment, Disturbances of mood and motivation, Difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2017
- Citation
- 1720104
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 1720104.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date of November 29, 2023, for the award of Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU), finding that it was factually ascertainable that the Veteran became unable to secure or maintain substantially gainful employment as of January 16, 2021. The effective date is set at November 29, 2023.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, prevent him from securing or following substantially gainful employment. The Board granted entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and various other psychiatric disorders, as it finds that there was a pre-decisional duty to assist error in not obtaining medical opinions addressing all of the Veteran's diagnosed psychiatric disorders.
- Denied
The Board denied an increased rating in excess of 70 percent for the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating.
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