The Veteran's psychiatric disability, including unspecified depression disorder and anxiety disorder with alcohol abuse, was found to be more severe than the current assigned rating of 50 percent prior to December 27, 2017. The Board granted a higher initial evaluation of 70 percent for this period.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms, including mood swings, anger outbursts, panic attacks, and difficulty in adapting to stressful situations, more closely approximated the criteria required for an initial 70 percent rating.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depression disorder, anxiety disorder with alcohol abuse
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- May 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19135480
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,071 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19135480.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal regarding an increased rating for unspecified depression disorder has been withdrawn by the appellant through her authorized representative.
- Granted
The Veteran's unspecified depressive disorder is granted service connection, but his post-traumatic stress disorder claim is denied.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's unspecified depression disorder is etiologically related to his military service in Vietnam, and therefore grants service connection for this condition.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, including adjustment disorder and unspecified depression disorder, as secondary to his service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder.
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