Citation Nr: 18152887
Decision Date: 11/27/18	Archive Date: 11/26/18

DOCKET NO. 15-35 524
DATE:	November 27, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, a mood disorder, or dissociative disorder is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran had active service from April 2007 to December 2009.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in May 2015.  The Veteran testified at a hearing via live video conference before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in October 2018.
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depression, PTSD, anxiety, a mood disorder, or dissociative disorder is remanded.
The Board cannot make a fully-informed decision on the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder because the existing VA examination and opinion do not provide all of the necessary information to decide the claim.  Specifically, because the Veteran’s mental health condition was not noted at the time he entered service, an additional opinion as to whether there is clear and unmistakable evidence that this condition preexisted service and was not aggravated by service is required.
Additionally, the Veteran appears to have been hospitalized for symptoms related to mental health in September 2015 at his local VA medical center.  Consequently, a remand is required to obtain any missing and updated VA treatment records to include the records related to this hospitalization.
The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:
1. Obtain any of the Veteran’s VA treatment records that are relevant and not currently associated with the claims file, to include records related to his September 2015 hospitalization for mental health symptoms.
2. After the above development is completed, schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any acquired psychiatric condition.  The examiner must opine whether this condition clearly and unmistakably (undebatable) preexisted the Veteran’s service.  In this regard, the examiner’s attention is called to the Veteran’s self-reports of treatment for depression at age 11 or 12 in his 2015 VA examination and at the time of the June 2009 in-service incidents that led to his separation from service.  If the examiner finds a mental health condition did clearly and unmistakably preexist service, the examiner must opine whether or not this condition was a personality disorder.  If the examiner finds that it was a psychiatric condition other than a personality disorder that clearly and unmistakably preexisted service, the examiner must opine whether it was clearly and unmistakably not aggravated by service.  In this regard, the examiner should comment on the apparent escalation of the Veteran’s behavior culminating in a threat of violence in June 2009 that led to his separation from service.  If the examiner finds that any of his current acquired psychiatric disorder either did not clearly and unmistakably preexist service, or was not clearly and unmistakably aggravated by service, the examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, including the June 2009 event described in the Veteran’s service personnel records.
 
A. ISHIZAWAR
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Steven H. Johnston, Associate Counsel