The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, unspecified depressive disorder, and unspecified anxiety disorder. The Veteran's depression is found to be secondary to his service-connected degenerative disc disease (DDD) and associated radiculopathy.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner linked the Veteran’s unspecified depressive disorder to his service-connected DDD and associated radiculopathy.
- Claimed conditions
- an unspecified depressive disorder, an unspecified anxiety disorder, an acquired psychiatric disorder (which includes PTSD, unspecified depressive disorder, and unspecified anxiety disorder)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 21, 2020
- Citation
- A20009137
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 A20009137.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an increased rating for his acquired psychiatric disability and a TDIU due solely to service-connected acquired psychiatric disability are being remanded because the VA did not provide him with a new VA examination, which is a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran will be scheduled for a VA examination to determine the current severity of his service-connected acquired psychiatric disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, specifically unspecified anxiety disorder. The evidence is at least evenly balanced that this condition began during active service and is related to in-service events.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the Veteran's service connection claim for an acquired psychiatric disability, including a depressive disorder, should be remanded due to pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors. Specifically, the Board notes that VA treatment records are needed and a formal finding of unavailability must be made if no additional records can be located.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection for a psychiatric disability was dismissed because the Veteran withdrew their request before the Board made a decision.
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