The Board granted service connection for a mood disorder as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities, resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
The deciding factor: The May 2020 and September 2021 VA DBQs provided by a private psychologist diagnosed the Veteran with a mood disorder due to his service-connected conditions and opined that these conditions have contributed significantly to impairments both occupationally and socially, leading to a full grant of the appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- mood disorder
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 24, 2025
- Citation
- A25054322
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 Board remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder, mood disorder, and unspecified depressive disorder due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a mood disorder as secondary to the service-connected headaches or tinnitus, finding no probative evidence linking the two conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining private treatment records and scheduling VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and a higher disability rating for stress-related headaches, as well as remanded the claim for a higher disability rating for a mood disorder due to a scheduling issue.
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