One regulation rates PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and most other diagnosed mental health conditions the same way. It was never about which diagnosis sits on your chart — it is about how much the condition disrupts your work and your relationships. Here is 38 CFR 4.130, level by level.
A VA mental health rating decision comes from the same page of the regulations no matter the diagnosis. PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, OCD — VA rates nearly all of them under one rule, 38 CFR 4.130, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. This guide walks through how that formula actually works: the six levels, what “occupational and social impairment” means in practice, why the symptom lists are examples rather than a scorecard, and what moves a rating up or down. It is education only — the rater assigned to your file and the evidence in it decide your actual rating, not this guide.
Most psychiatric diagnoses that show up in a VA claims file — PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, and more — are rated under the same General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders at 38 CFR 4.130. A handful of specific diagnoses, eating disorders among them, are rated under their own separate criteria rather than this formula, but for the conditions most veterans file for, this is the rule that sets the percentage. That is why the PTSD rating table and the anxiety and depression rating table are the identical table, even though the underlying conditions look nothing alike on a chart. The diagnosis gets you service connection. The formula below decides the percentage.
The formula runs in six levels — 0, 10, 30, 50, 70, and 100 percent — and every level is defined by how much the condition impairs your ability to function at work and in your relationships, not by a diagnosis or a symptom count.
| Level | What the level describes |
|---|---|
| 0% | The condition is formally diagnosed and service-connected, but symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with occupational or social functioning and do not require continuous medication. |
| 10% | Mild or transient symptoms that decrease work efficiency and the ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication. |
| 30% | Occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks, though generally functioning satisfactorily. Example symptoms: depressed mood, anxiety, panic attacks weekly or less often, chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss. |
| 50% | Reduced reliability and productivity. Example symptoms: flattened affect, panic attacks more than once a week, impaired judgment and abstract thinking, disturbances of motivation and mood, difficulty establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships. |
| 70% | Deficiencies in most areas — work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. Example symptoms: suicidal ideation, near-continuous panic or depression, impaired impulse control, neglect of personal hygiene, inability to establish and maintain relationships. |
| 100% | Total occupational and social impairment. Example symptoms: gross impairment in thought processes or communication, persistent delusions or hallucinations, persistent danger of hurting self or others, disorientation to time or place. |
The symptom lists next to each level illustrate the kind of impairment expected at that level — they are not a checklist you have to match item for item to qualify. You do not need every symptom on a level's list, and one severe, well-documented symptom can be enough to support a rating if it causes the kind of impairment that level describes. What actually controls the rating is the overall level of occupational and social impairment your records and exam support. The words “due to such symptoms as” in front of each list are doing real work — they introduce examples, not requirements.
If you carry more than one psychiatric diagnosis — say, PTSD and major depressive disorder — VA does not rate them separately and add the percentages. Overlapping mental health diagnoses are combined into a single rating under one diagnostic code, because they are being measured on the same scale: how much they impair your occupational and social functioning together. That single mental health rating is then folded into your other service-connected conditions using VA's combined ratings table, not simple addition. Our VA math guide walks through why 50% plus 50% does not equal 100%, and the VA disability calculator will run the combined math across your full list of ratings.
Because the rating turns on occupational and social impairment rather than diagnosis, the evidence that moves it is the evidence that documents how the condition affects your work and relationships: treatment notes describing the frequency and severity of symptoms, a spouse's or supervisor's statement, work history showing missed days or job loss, and the C&P exam. Go into a mental health C&P exam ready to describe your worst days honestly and specifically, not just your best ones — the exam is often the government's main chance to see the impairment level your records already describe.
VA has proposed replacing this symptom-based formula with a system that scores five functional domains — cognition, interpersonal relationships, task completion, navigating environments, and self-care — instead of matching symptoms to a level. As of this writing, that proposal has not been finalized into a final rule, so 38 CFR 4.130 as described above is still the rule VA applies. Watch VA's official channels, not any single article, for whether and when that changes.
Do I need a specific diagnosis to get a certain percentage?
No. Two veterans with the same diagnosis can end up at different percentages, and two with different diagnoses can end up at the same percentage, because the rating tracks how much the condition impairs work and relationships, not which diagnosis is written down.
Can I get a 0% rating for a mental health condition?
Yes, under the current formula. A 0% rating means VA has service-connected the diagnosis but found the symptoms do not yet interfere with occupational or social functioning and do not require continuous medication. It is still service-connected, which matters for future increases and for secondary conditions.
If I have PTSD and depression, do I get two separate ratings?
No. Overlapping mental health diagnoses are combined into one rating under a single diagnostic code, because they are measured on the same occupational-and-social-impairment scale rather than added separately.
Our VA Disability Mastery course walks through the rating formulas VA actually uses, how to build the evidence a rater needs, and how to read your own decision letter once it arrives. Or start free: find your gaps in 60 seconds with the readiness quiz.
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