The Veteran's claim for a higher disability rating for his psychiatric conditions is granted, with the effective date set at April 26, 2018.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's disability picture approximated the level of impairment required for a 100% rating as of the date of the September 2018 VA psychiatric examination and resolved reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified depressive disorder, somatic symptom disorder with predominant pain with anxiety features including sleep impairment and unspecified anxiety disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- January 11, 2023
- Citation
- 23001743
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 785 · Granted: 27% (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 23001743.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's anxiety and depressive disorders were rated at a 70 percent disability rating effective May 6, 2015.,Effective May 6, 2015, the Veteran was granted an earlier effective date for DEA benefits.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's current unspecified depressive disorder is related to his service-connected disabilities, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected unspecified depressive disorder with insomnia disorder is rated at 30 percent, and the Board has determined that this rating is not sufficient to reflect his disability picture.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for unspecified depressive disorder is granted, while the claim for PTSD remains denied due to lack of credible supporting evidence and in-service stressor confirmation.
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