Board decisions

What the Board granted and denied for PTSD

By Hector K, Air Force veteranUpdated September 2026 from 1,501,587 Board decisions

In the Board decisions we have indexed since 2019, veterans raised 74,459 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

17,226granted
19,276denied
30,995sent back
47 percentgranted, of the ones decided

2,373 were reopened for a fresh look, which is not a grant and is not counted as one. 4,090 were dismissed or withdrawn. 499 ended some other way, or we could not read the outcome.

Across every year we have indexed, that is 277,646 issues across 230,423 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.

Share of issues whose written decision mentions each item, by outcome, across every year we have indexed
What the decision mentionsGranted59,376 issuesDenied74,642 issues
A medical opinion, or the words nexus or at least as likely as not, anywhere in the decision58 percent63 percent
The words lay statement, buddy statement, or lay evidence49 percent57 percent
A hearing was held (the veteran or a witness testified)42 percent33 percent
The decision calls an exam or medical opinion inadequate5 percent5 percent

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 60 times and the Board decided at least 15 of them. Pairs below that are in the data but have no page. A page states a percentage only once the Board has decided 20 of them. Below that it shows how many were decided and no percentage, because a rate on a handful of decisions reads as precision it does not have.

Claimed as secondary to PTSD

PTSD claimed as secondary to something else

Five recent decisions about PTSD

A past Board decision binds only the case it decided, and the Board decides each case on its own facts. Another veteran's decision is not evidence about your condition. Read these to see what evidence the Board weighed, so you know what to gather for your own claim.

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.

If you are thinking about hurting yourself, help is there right now. Call the Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988 and press 1, text 838255, or chat at veteranscrisisline.net. It is free and confidential, and you do not have to be enrolled in VA care to use it.

The PTSD Pack

Everything the Board has decided about PTSD, in one file. How the VA rates it, what gets claimed with it and how often each one was granted, and the decisions to read yourself. No account and nothing to fill in.

See what is in it

$15, one time. Add as many conditions as you need and pay once.

Keep reading

Board decisions by condition

Every condition family and the secondary pairs that appeared most, counted from 1,501,587 Board decisions.

How to Read a Board of Veterans' Appeals Decision

Where VA Board decisions live and how to read one in ten minutes, using a real back case.

Lay Evidence and Buddy Statements That Hold Up at the Board

Who can write a statement for you, what they can say, and how the VA weighs it, with prompts for knee, back, sleep apnea, and PTSD.

Sources

An issue is counted in a family by its diagnostic code or by the words in the issue. One issue can be counted in more than one family. Percent granted is of the ones the Board decided, so remands and dismissals are left out. The example decisions are recent ones we could link whose issue names this condition, chosen so that both outcomes are shown when we have them. Reopened claims and effective-date disputes are left out. Past decisions do not predict yours. Each page states the decisions from 2019 on, and says so, unless the Board decided too few of them since 2019 to give a percentage worth reading. Where that happens the page counts every year instead and tells you it has. This page is education, not legal advice. Rules quoted are from 38 CFR Parts 3 and 4, as published on the government's eCFR website. Board decisions are public records, linked at their source.