The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, other than PTSD, to include bipolar disorder due to lack of evidence linking his current psychiatric conditions to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no medical evidence connecting the Veteran’s current psychiatric symptoms to his military service and opined that the Veteran's psychiatric disorders are less likely related to his in-service head injury or assault.
- Claimed conditions
- psychosis, depression with psychotic features, bipolar affective disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20011734
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 20011734.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for earlier effective date for service connection of acquired psychiatric disabilities was denied as the earliest date entitlement arose is April 16, 2019, which is later than the date of receipt of his July 19, 2019 supplemental claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disabilities, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, MDD with psychotic features, depression, anxiety, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, and psychosis are found to have begun during service or be related to in-service events. The claims for sleep disturbances and bilateral eye disabilities are remanded.
- Granted
The March 2000 rating decision denying service connection for psychosis and depression was revised to grant it, with an effective date of June 17, 1999.,The April 2013 rating decision granting PTSD with depression, anxiety, and panic attacks was revised to reflect a more recent effective date of June 17, 1999.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate examination and medical opinion regarding the Veteran's claimed psychiatric disability. The Veteran is seeking service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, which includes diagnoses of anxiety, psychosis, alcohol abuse in remission, and maladjustment.
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