Citation Nr: 21061883
Decision Date: 10/05/21	Archive Date: 10/05/21

DOCKET NO. 18-48 362
DATE: October 5, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for an unspecified anxiety disorder is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

An unspecified anxiety disorder had its onset in service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

An unspecified anxiety disorder was incurred in peacetime service.  38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from February 1977 to February 1978.

She testified before the undersigned Acting Veterans Law Judge at a September 2021 Board hearing. A transcript of the hearing has not yet been associated with the file, as the case is being adjudicated under the Board's "One Touch" initiative. The hearing transcript will still be processed and associated with the claims file in the ordinary course of business.   

1. Entitlement to service connection for unspecified anxiety disorder

Veterans are entitled to compensation if they develop a disability "resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty."  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110 (wartime service), 1131 (peacetime service).

To establish entitlement to service-connected compensation benefits, a Veteran must show: "(1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service -the so-called 'nexus' requirement."  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).  

"Determinations as to service connection will be based on review of the entire evidence of record, with due consideration to the policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer the law under a broad and liberal interpretation consistent with the facts in each individual case."  38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (a).  

The Veteran asserts that her current psychiatric disorder is directly related to multiple instances of in-service sexual trauma.  

At an April 2018 VA examination, she was diagnosed with an unspecified anxiety disorder.  The examiner opined that the disorder was less likely than not related to service due to lack of corroboration in the Veteran's service records. 

However, the Board finds the Veteran's hearing testimony to be both compelling and highly probative evidence as to both the occurrence of the military sexual trauma and the onset of anxiety symptoms in service after the trauma took place. Here, there is a diagnosis of an unspecified anxiety disorder and the Veteran has provided credible and competent testimony as to in-service events and a continuity of relevant symptoms since these events. Also, during the hearing, the Veteran testified that the grant of any acquired psychiatric disorder, despite the diagnosis, would satisfy her appeal.   

Service connection for an unspecified anxiety disorder is warranted.  38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (a), (d).  

 

 

S. Sorathia 

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	W. R. Stephens, Counsel

The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.