The Veteran's psychiatric disorder is rated at 70 percent, effective July 29, 2020. The rating for bilateral pes planus with hammer toes remains at 30 percent and the rating for PFB remains at 10 percent.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to symptoms such as flattened affect, panic attacks more than once a week, difficulty understanding complex commands, impaired judgment, and disturbances of motivation and mood. These symptoms most closely approximated the criteria for a 70 percent rating under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder (psychiatric disorder)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- February 23, 2026
- Citation
- A26015890
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 A26015890.
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.
- Granted
The Board granted an initial disability evaluation of 70 percent, but no more, for a psychiatric disorder.
- Granted
The Board granted an initial disability rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorder, effective October 2021.
- Granted
The Veteran's psychiatric disorder is granted a 50 percent rating, but not higher. Other claims for service connection and increased ratings are remanded.
- 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.
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