PTSD is diagnostic code 9411, but the percentage does not come from the diagnosis. It comes from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which asks one question at each level: how much do the symptoms impair your ability to work and to function socially? The symptoms listed at each level are examples, not a checklist. A veteran with different symptoms of similar severity is rated at that level.
The levels, in plain terms
- 100%: total occupational and social impairment. Examples include gross impairment in thought or communication, persistent danger of hurting yourself or others, inability to do basic daily activities, disorientation, memory loss for names of close relatives or your own occupation.
- 70%: deficiencies in most areas: work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. Examples include suicidal ideation, obsessional rituals, near-continuous panic or depression affecting your ability to function, impaired impulse control, neglect of personal appearance, inability to keep relationships.
- 50%: reduced reliability and productivity. Examples include flattened affect, panic attacks more than once a week, trouble understanding complex commands, impaired memory and judgment, disturbances of motivation and mood, trouble keeping work and social relationships.
- 30%: occasional decrease in work efficiency with intermittent periods of inability to perform tasks, though generally functioning satisfactorily. Examples include depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks weekly or less, chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss.
- 10%: mild or transient symptoms that decrease work efficiency only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication.
- 0%: a formal diagnosis, but symptoms not severe enough to interfere with work or social functioning or to require continuous medication.
What the exam looks at
The C&P exam for PTSD is an interview with a psychologist or psychiatrist. They confirm the diagnosis, confirm the stressor, and then work through the level of impairment. What you say about your worst periods, your work history, your relationships, and your daily routine is the evidence. Minimizing on a bad-pride day is the most common way veterans end up under-rated.
Documenting it
- Treatment records from the VA or a private provider, showing symptoms over time, not just one visit.
- A personal statement describing a typical bad week: sleep, anger, avoidance, panic, concentration, what you have stopped doing.
- Statements from a spouse, adult child, or coworker who sees the effects.
- Work history: jobs lost, hours cut, accommodations, write-ups.
Related claims
PTSD often carries secondary conditions: sleep apnea, GERD, headaches, hypertension, erectile dysfunction. And at 70% with an inability to keep substantially gainful work, TDIU pays at the 100% rate. We look at both whenever we review a PTSD file.
How we help
We read your treatment records against the rating formula and tell you which level the evidence actually supports, then help you fill the gaps: the statement, the lay evidence, the work history. If your current rating is below what the file shows, we help you build the increase claim.
Have questions about your own situation?
Request a free consultation call. Someone from our team will call you within one business day, talk through where you are, and tell you plainly whether we can help. No cost, no obligation.