The Board has determined that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as anxiety disorder and depressive disorder, is service-connected. The decision also found that the pre-existing condition of a psychiatric disability did not exist before service entrance.
The deciding factor: The Board concluded that the Veteran had a current psychiatric disability during the appeal period and that it was incurred in service based on STRs indicating symptoms present during service and post-service treatment records noting continued presence of symptoms since service separation. The pre-existing condition was found to have not existed before service entrance due to lack of evidence.
- Claimed conditions
- anxiety disorder, depressive disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004406
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (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 20004406.
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
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