The General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders — All Mental Health Ratings Explained

The VA uses one unified rating formula — the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders under 38 CFR 4.130 — to evaluate virtually all mental health conditions. Whether you have PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or another diagnosed mental health condition, the same criteria apply.

The formula rates based on the overall level of occupational and social impairment, not on specific symptoms or diagnoses. The symptom examples listed at each rating level are illustrative, not exhaustive — a veteran does not need to demonstrate every listed symptom to qualify for a particular rating. The key question at each level is the degree of impairment in work, social functioning, and daily life.

At 0%, a condition is diagnosed but does not impair functioning. At 10%, impairment is mild or transient, appearing mainly during significant stress, or symptoms are managed by medication. At 30%, there is occasional decrease in work efficiency with intermittent inability to perform tasks, though the veteran is generally functioning satisfactorily. At 50%, reliability and productivity are reduced, with symptoms like panic attacks, memory impairment, and difficulty maintaining relationships. At 70%, there are deficiencies in most areas of life. At 100%, there is total occupational and social impairment.

VA generally assigns one evaluation covering all of a veteran's service-connected mental health diagnoses together. That is VA practice rather than a rule the schedule prints: 38 CFR 4.130 puts DC 9201 through DC 9440 on one General Rating Formula, and 38 CFR 4.14, the rule against "pyramiding," says the evaluation of the same manifestation under different diagnoses is to be avoided.

A critical point from case law (Mauerhan v. Principi, 2002) is that the symptom lists are examples only. A veteran who demonstrates the level of impairment described at a particular rating but through different symptoms than those listed can still qualify for that rating. The Board and courts focus on the overall functional impairment picture, not a checklist of specific symptoms.