The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability, including adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood and somatic symptom disorder, is rated at 50 percent. The Board denied a higher rating as the symptoms do not meet the criteria for a 70 or 100 percent rating.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms did not reach the severity required for a 70 or 100 percent disability rating, with his occupational and social impairment being reduced reliability and productivity rather than total impairment in most areas.
- Claimed conditions
- Adjustment Disorder, Mixed Anxiety and Depressed Mood, Somatic Symptom Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 50%
- Decision date
- January 8, 2026
- Citation
- A26001829
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 A26001829.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for adjustment disorder and hearing loss, finding that there was no evidence of in-service onset or relationship to military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected adjustment disorder was not manifested by occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas or total occupational and social impairment at any point during the appeal period. The criteria for entitlement to an initial rating higher than 50 percent for service-connected adjustment disorder have not been met.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to duty-to-assist errors and a need for a VA psychiatric examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations of his service-connected hypertension and somatic symptom disorder are denied. The Board has remanded the claims for cardiovascular, peripheral artery disease, and lung cancer with emphysema.
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