What the Board granted and denied for PTSD

In the Board decisions we have indexed since 2019, veterans raised 70,461 issues about PTSD. Of the ones it decided, the Board granted 47 percent. It sent 42 percent of all these issues back for more work.

Every decision counted here is an appeal. The regional office decided the claim first, the veteran disagreed, and the Board is the next step after that. These are not the odds on a first claim.

Since 2019

2,238 were reopened for a fresh look, which is not a grant and is not counted as one. 3,847 were dismissed or withdrawn. 468 ended some other way, or we could not read the outcome.

Across every year we have indexed, that is 273,648 issues across 227,252 decisions, 44 percent granted of the ones decided, and 44 percent sent back for more work.

What a remand is

A remand is not a yes or a no. The Board sends the claim back to the regional office for more work, such as a new exam or a record that was not in the file. The claim is decided again later, and that later decision is a separate document.

What showed up in the decisions

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

These are mentions in the written decision, not reasons for the outcome. A denied issue can mention a doctor's opinion just as a granted one does. Whether the opinion was for or against the claim, and the reasons it gave, are not something these counts can see. Each item is counted for the whole decision, so it may concern another issue decided in the same document.

Claimed together

A pair gets its own page once it appears at least 100 times and the Board decided at least 20 of them. Pairs below that are in the data but have no page.

Claimed as secondary to PTSD

• Sleep apnea secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 2,953 issues paired, 53 percent granted of the ones decided

• High blood pressure secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 1,117 issues paired, 40 percent granted of the ones decided

• Heart disease secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 221 issues paired, 38 percent granted of the ones decided

• Erectile dysfunction secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 435 issues paired, 65 percent granted of the ones decided

• GERD secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 342 issues paired, 38 percent granted of the ones decided

• Migraines secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 434 issues paired, 77 percent granted of the ones decided

• Depression or anxiety secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 104 issues paired, 64 percent granted of the ones decided

• Irritable bowel syndrome secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 86 issues paired, 45 percent granted of the ones decided

• Gulf War illness secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 135 issues paired, 20 percent granted of the ones decided

• Diabetes secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 146 issues paired, 45 percent granted of the ones decided

• Stomach ulcers secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 54 issues paired, 56 percent granted of the ones decided

• Skin conditions secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 80 issues paired, 35 percent granted of the ones decided

• Lower back conditions secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 76 issues paired, 50 percent granted of the ones decided

• Liver conditions secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 65 issues paired, 68 percent granted of the ones decided

• Arthritis secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 62 issues paired, 46 percent granted of the ones decided

• Radiculopathy or neuropathy secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 71 issues paired, 76 percent granted of the ones decided

• COPD secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 80 issues paired, 33 percent granted of the ones decided

• Fibromyalgia secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 44 issues paired, 40 percent granted of the ones decided

• Knee conditions secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 73 issues paired, 43 percent granted of the ones decided

• Chronic fatigue secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 59 issues paired, 18 percent granted of the ones decided

• Wrist and hand conditions secondary to PTSD

  Since 2019: 49 issues paired, 60 percent granted of the ones decided

PTSD claimed as secondary to something else

• PTSD secondary to lower back conditions

  Since 2019: 47 issues paired, 64 percent granted of the ones decided

• PTSD secondary to knee conditions

  Since 2019: 53 issues paired, 18 percent granted of the ones decided

• PTSD secondary to tinnitus

  Since 2019: 54 issues paired, 56 percent granted of the ones decided

• PTSD secondary to traumatic brain injury

  Since 2019: 46 issues paired, 47 percent granted of the ones decided

Five recent decisions about PTSD

• June 30, 2026Denied

  Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• June 30, 2026Denied

  Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 30 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• June 30, 2026Denied

  Prior to March 13, 2018, entitlement to an increased rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• June 25, 2026Granted

  Entitlement to a disability rating of 70 percent, but no higher, for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and unspecified neurocognitive disorder

  Read the decision at VA.gov
• June 24, 2026Granted

  Entitlement to a 100 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder with major depressive disorder and secondary alcohol use disorder (hereinafter PTSD)

  Read the decision at VA.gov

What this means for you

Three things carry a mental health claim. A current diagnosis from a qualified provider. Something in service that the diagnosis is tied to, whether a stressor, an injury, or another service-connected condition. And symptoms described in the words the rating schedule uses.

For PTSD, the stressor is the hinge. A stressor is the event in service that the PTSD is tied to. If you engaged in combat, the event was part of that combat, and it fits the circumstances of your service, your own statement can establish it. If the event was fear of hostile military or terrorist activity, your statement needs one more thing: a VA psychiatrist or psychologist, or one under contract to the VA, who confirms that the event is enough to support the diagnosis and that your symptoms are tied to it. For other stressors the rule asks for credible supporting evidence that the event happened.

The rule has three more routes, and one of them matters to anyone whose stressor was a personal assault, which includes military sexual trauma. For a personal assault the rule accepts evidence from sources other than your service records to back up your account. It names records from law enforcement, rape crisis centers, mental health counseling centers, hospitals or physicians, pregnancy tests or tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and statements from family members, roommates, fellow service members, or clergy. Evidence of behavior changes after the assault counts as well, and the rule gives its own examples: a request to transfer to another duty assignment, work performance falling off, substance abuse, episodes of depression, panic attacks, or anxiety with no identifiable reason, and unexplained changes in money or social behavior. The rule also says the VA has to tell you about all of that, and give you the chance to gather it, before it denies a claim like this. Nothing has to have been written down at the time.

Two shorter routes finish the list. If the record shows the diagnosis was made during service and the stressor is related to that service, your own testimony can establish the event. The same holds if you were a prisoner of war and the stressor is tied to that.

For a higher rating, the exam and your treatment notes decide it. The VA looks at how you function at work and at home, not at the label. Panic attacks, trouble keeping up at work, trouble with relationships, and memory problems each show up in the schedule. Say how often and how bad.

Mental health is also claimed as secondary to pain or another condition. The claim needs a doctor to say the first condition led to the second, or made it worse, and to explain the reasoning. A bare sentence with no reasons leaves the claim with little to stand on.