Citation Nr: 18148649 Decision Date: 11/08/18 Archive Date: 11/07/18 DOCKET NO. 16-45 094 DATE: November 8, 2018 ORDER Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include bipolar mood disorder, depression, and anxiety, is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disability is shown to have been incurred during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from January 1986 to November 1989. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Board notes that the Veteran’s August 2014 Notice of Disagreement included the issues of increased rating for a right knee patella dislocation and bipolar disorder. However, when the Veteran filed his September 2016 Formal Appeal, he limited his appeal to the issue of bipolar disorder. The issue of an increased rating for a right knee patella dislocation is therefore not before the Board. Evidence in the record suggests that the Veteran has been diagnosed with multiple psychiatric conditions; therefore, the Board will broadly construe the issues as a claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability however diagnosed. Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1, 6 (2009). Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is granted. Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires evidence showing: (1) a current disability; (2) incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury in service; and (3) a nexus between the current disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated in service. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The Veteran contends that his psychiatric disability is related to his active service in the Marine Corps. See January 2014 NOD. Specifically, he asserts he was “emotionally abused” and “experienced a great amount of harassment” from his leadership and fellow soldiers in 1986. For example, he received an Article 15 (with a reduction in grade) as a result of not reporting for duty the day after his right knee surgery (he was unable to climb a hill on crutches). After this incident, he continued to be harassed and reached a breaking point at which he wrote his congressman, but the treatment “got more intense.” He felt belittled, feared for his life, and “seriously contemplated suicide.” He started drinking excessively, using drugs, and gambling. See February 2014 Statement in Support of Claim; May 2014 VA treatment record; September 2016 substantive appeal (Form 9). He did not seek mental health treatment while in the Marines because of how other marines with mental health issues were treated. “Once other marines found out there was mental health issues, they made fun of the affected Marine.” See August 2014 Correspondence. The Board notes that multiple diagnoses of bipolar, depression, and anxiety are of record. See VA treatment records dated March 2009, June 2009, January 2011, December 2013, February 2014, July 2014, November 2014, May 2016, August 2016. Significantly, a May 2014 psychiatrist stated that, “It seems that stimulant use originally for self-medication of depression in the service has evolved into a bipolar diathesis. He’s finally getting a grip on the stimulant component though he’s still inhaling nicotine quite a bit from cigarettes and that is a risk factor for relapse on other substances and also may be contributing to his sleep problems. The bipolar problem is now continuing on its own steam though the pattern has evolved into more problematic depressions than hypomanias at this point and his functionality has been significantly impaired.” In essence, the psychiatrist opined that the Veteran’s in-service depression has evolved into his currently diagnosed bipolar disorder. As such, service connection is warranted. E. I. VELEZ Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Roe, Associate Counsel