Source: https://va-claim.com/2019/01/09/entitlement-to-service-connection-for-an-acquired-psychiatric-disorder-claimed-as-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-behavior-issues-depressive-disorder-and-recovery-of-memory-granted-citation-nr-1/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 23:06:10+00:00

Document:
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as post-traumatic stress disorder, behavior issues, depressive disorder and recovery of memory) is granted.
Resolving all doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Veteran’s diagnosed dissociative disorder is at least as likely as not related to service.
The criteria for establishing service connection for dissociative disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1110, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303, 3.304 (2017).
The Veteran served on active duty from August 1966 to June 1967 and June 1967 to June 1969, to include service in the Republic of Vietnam.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a June 2012 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).
Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. § 38 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Regulations also provide that 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).
Generally, in order to provide service connection, there must be competent, credible evidence of (1) a current disability, (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of an injury or disease, and (3) a nexus, or link, between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. See, e.g., Davidson v. Shinseki,     581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009).
The Board finds the medical evidence of record shows the Veteran has a current acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as dissociative disorder and depressed disorder. The evidence does not indicate a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, the question before the Board is whether the Veteran’s current acquired psychiatric disability is related to service.
The Veteran asserted his psychiatric disorder was caused by trauma he experienced during service in Vietnam. He stated that he began to have flashbacks of memories in Vietnam, has had recurrent and distressing recollections of these memories and recalled one distressing event, in particular, in which, as part of a combat engineer unit that cleared land mines, he stepped on a land mine that did not detonate. The Veteran’s service personnel records indicate he was a combat engineer and served in Vietnam from July 1968 to June 1969. A May 2012 formal finding by the U.S. Army Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) confirmed the Veteran was part of a combat group that cleared land mines in Vietnam. The Board finds the Veteran’s statements are consistent with the places, types and circumstances     of his service.
large gaps in his memory that were not trauma-related. He concluded that dissociative symptoms are often characteristic of trauma experiences, and the Veteran reported   that the earliest memories he was recalling were of his service in Vietnam. Regarding the Veteran’s current depressive disorder, the examiner concluded it was less likely than not related to his in-service experiences, reasoning the Veteran did not describe depression related to service but rather due to job regrets and family strains. There is no medical evidence of record to the contrary.
The record also contains several years of medical treatment records, including those in April 2009, October 2010 and January 2012, in which the Veteran consistently reported his account of events and symptoms.
In light of the probative medical opinion linking the Veteran’s currently diagnosed dissociative disorder to service, and after resolving all doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds that the entitlement to service connection is warranted.

References: § 1110
 § 3
 § 38
 § 3
 § 3
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