What’s your situation?
- VA denied my claim: What to check after a denial
- I'm claiming this condition for the first time: How to file a VA claim for PTSD
- I have a claim exam coming up: C&P exam preparation
PTSD VA ratings: 0% to 100%
| Rating | Criteria — General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders (DC 9411) | In plain language | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name | Total occupational and social impairment — the condition prevents functioning at work and in social life. | This is the only level that requires total impairment in both work and social functioning. |
| 70% | Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships | Deficiencies in most areas — work, family relations, judgment, thinking, mood — short of total impairment. | Suicidal ideation and near-continuous panic or depression are the examples named at this level. |
| 50% | Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships | Reduced reliability and productivity — you function, but symptoms like weekly-plus panic attacks and flattened affect cut into work and relationships. | The examples include difficulty understanding complex commands and impaired memory for completing tasks. |
| 30% | Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events) | Occasional drops in work efficiency with intermittent periods of inability, while generally functioning satisfactorily. | Chronic sleep impairment and weekly-or-less panic attacks are the examples the formula names at this level. |
| 10% | Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication | Mild or transient symptoms that reduce efficiency only during significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication. | A diagnosis controlled by medication still rates 10% when the medication is continuous — control by medication is written into this level. |
| 0% | A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication | A formal diagnosis whose symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with functioning or to require continuous medication. | 0% still records the condition as service-connected; the percentage measures impairment, not whether the condition counts. |
Notes from the regulation:
- Schedule note (2): Ratings under diagnostic codes 9201 to 9440 will be evaluated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.
- The symptom lists are introduced by “such as” — they are examples of each level, not a checklist every veteran must match symptom for symptom.
Source: 38 CFR 4.130, General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders — DC 9411 (eCFR)
What has to change
Compare your current level with the next one in the chart on this page. The gap is written in impairment terms: from reduced reliability and productivity (50%) to deficiencies in most areas (70%) is a claim about work, family relations, judgment, thinking, and mood together — not about any single symptom. Frame the increase the same way: name the areas that have deteriorated and give the record a way to verify each one.
38 CFR 4.130, General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders — DC 9411 (eCFR)
In this series: PTSD VA rating
- PTSD VA rating criteria: the general rating formula
The complete General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders — 0% to 100% — that VA applies to PTSD under DC 9411, with a plain-language reading of every level.
- The PTSD DBQ and C&P exam
What the PTSD Disability Benefits Questionnaire covers — diagnosis, the occupational and social impairment summary, and the symptom record — and how it feeds the rating formula.
- How to file a VA claim for PTSD
The three elements of a PTSD claim — current diagnosis, in-service stressor, and a link between them — and the evidence that establishes each one.
- Sleep apnea secondary to PTSD
How veterans pursue sleep apnea as secondary to service-connected PTSD — the sleep-study diagnosis, the nexus opinion, and how apnea itself is rated under DC 6847.
Evidence of worsening
Four kinds of records carry an increase.
- Treatment records: increased visit frequency, medication changes, crisis contacts, hospitalizations, or a provider's note that functioning has declined.
- Work evidence: missed time, reduced hours, discipline, a job lost or duties removed — documented by an employer statement or your own detailed account.
- Social evidence: lay statements from family or friends describing withdrawal, relationship breakdown, or inability to manage daily activities.
- Symptom specifics from the next level's examples: for example, near-continuous panic or depression, impaired impulse control, or suicidal ideation — recorded in treatment notes, not only asserted in the claim.
38 CFR 4.130, General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders — DC 9411 (eCFR)
The re-examination
VA typically schedules a new C&P exam for an increase claim. The DBQ page in this series explains how the examiner's impairment summary maps onto the formula. If the new exam is inconsistent with the treatment record — a brief exam against months of documented decline — say so specifically in response; the rater must weigh the whole record, and a conclusory exam does not erase it.
Increase evidence worksheet
An increase claim is a comparison: your current level against the next one, in the formula's own terms. Use this worksheet to build that comparison from records rather than assertions.