If VA grants service connection for a veteran’s diagnosed PTSD, it will rate the condition under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which provides ratings of 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 100%, based on the severity, frequency, and duration of your symptoms, and the level of occupational and social impairment resulting from your condition. For example, a veteran who meets the 0% rating criteria will generally have a formally diagnosed mental condition, but the symptoms are not severe enough either to warrant medication or interfere with occupational or social functioning.  

A veteran who may meet the 100% rating criteria will have total occupational and social impairment, with symptoms including gross impairment in thought processes or communication; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent delusions or hallucinations; a persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (this includes maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; or memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name.  To meet the criteria for a specific rating, not every symptom of that rating must be present.  VA should award you the rating that most closely resembles the symptoms you experience.

Think your service-connected PTSD should be rated higher?  Talk to our team. 

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