The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for Unspecified Depressive Disorder with Alcohol Use Disorder and a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU).
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms, including near-continuous depression affecting his ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively, caused occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas, best approximated at the 70 percent disabling level. Additionally, the Veteran was found unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected psychiatric disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Unspecified Depressive Disorder with Alcohol Use Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- June 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25055496
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 896 · Granted: 51% (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 A25055496.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder and erectile dysfunction due to lack of jurisdiction, denied an increased rating for depressive disorder with alcohol use disorder, and remanded additional claims for further development.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for OSA and granted a 70 percent initial rating for unspecified depressive disorder with alcohol use disorder. The decision found that the Veteran did not have OSA at the time of the December 2019 rating decision, but her psychiatric disability caused deficiencies in most areas of her life.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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