The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a disability rating in excess of 70 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder with major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder, finding that his symptoms did not more closely approximate total occupational and social impairment.
The deciding factor: The severity, frequency, and duration of the Veteran's PTSD symptoms have not more closely approximated total occupational and social impairment manifesting in passive suicidal ideation, depressed mood, anxiety, chronic sleep impairment, intrusive thoughts, difficulty controlling his anger indicating a degree of impaired impulse control, disturbances in motivation or mood, difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective relationships, high level of self-isolation, and some working memory impairment.
- Claimed conditions
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with Major Depressive Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder, Tension Headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- March 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25026634
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, except for a 20 percent rating for lumbosacral strain.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD with alcohol and cocaine use disorder was granted an increased initial rating of 100 percent, the schedular maximum. The claim for an earlier effective date prior to August 24, 2023 for the now-assigned 100 percent rating for PTSD was denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and multiple musculoskeletal conditions but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an increased initial evaluation of 70 percent for PTSD but denied evaluations in excess of 10% for tension headaches and in excess of 30% for IBS, and denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome. The claims for additional service connections were remanded.
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