The Board granted a 70 percent rating for major depressive disorder, but no higher, for the entire period on appeal.

The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms of depressed mood; anxiety, suspiciousness; panic attacks more than once per week; near-continuous depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; chronic sleep impairment; mild memory loss, such as forgetting names, directions or recent events; flattened effect; difficulty in understanding complex commands; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships; difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances, including work or a worklike setting; suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; impaired impulse control, such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence and neglect of personal hygiene were found to warrant a 70 percent rating.

Claimed conditions

major depressive disorder

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

70%

Decision date

December 17, 2025

Citation

A25109235

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine