The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD due to military sexual trauma. The evidence did not establish a diagnosis of PTSD in conformance with DSM-5 criteria and the VA examiner found no credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred.
The deciding factor: The February 2015 VA examination report concluded that the Veteran does not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD related to his reported in-service personal trauma, and the Board gave significant probative weight to this opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, Other specified depressive disorder, Alcohol use disorder in sustained remission, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to military sexual trauma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19149089
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, finding a causal relationship between the condition and an in-service incident of military sexual trauma (MST).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 9, 2022, for the grant of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder with generalized anxiety disorder, other specified depressive disorder, and alcohol use disorder.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 29, 2019 for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder but denied earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.
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