Bipolar Disorder VA Rating

Bipolar disorder is rated under the same regulation as every other psychiatric condition VA recognizes: 38 CFR § 4.130, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which covers every psychiatric condition except eating disorders. Its diagnostic code is 9432. Same six tiers. Same symptom framework. Same C&P examination structure. And yet bipolar appeals at the Board play out differently from depression or PTSD appeals.

Across 1,168 decided Board rulings on bipolar disorder from 2021 to 2026, 43.2% were granted, 28.8% denied and 28.1% remanded. A ruling is one issue the Board decided in one decision; one decision often rules on several issues. That grant rate is 18.5 points above the Board-wide grant rate of 24.7 percent, and it is the highest of the mental health conditions I track, ahead of depression (38.7 percent) and PTSD (37.6 percent).

The clinical reason is easy to see in the criteria. A full manic episode, or a manic episode with psychotic features, can produce impairment beyond what unipolar depression usually does. Documented hospitalizations for mania, documented psychotic features during mood episodes, and documented inability to keep a job through repeated episodes are the kind of evidence the 70 and 100 percent tiers describe.

This page covers the § 4.130 criteria and what they pay, what moves a bipolar rating to 70 or 100 percent, how to prove service connection, why VA denies bipolar claims, and the questions veterans ask most.

TL;DR

• 1,338 Board rulings on bipolar disorder from 2021 to 2026, 1,168 of them decided. Outcomes: 43.2% granted, 28.8% denied, 28.1% remanded.
• Rated under 38 CFR § 4.130, DC 9432, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. Six tiers: 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%. Same regulation as PTSD, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and every other psychiatric condition except eating disorders.
• At the 2026 rates for a veteran with no dependents, 50 percent pays $1,132.90 a month, 70 percent pays $1,808.45, and 100 percent pays $3,938.58.
• The 70 percent tier needs deficiencies in most areas of life. The 100 percent tier needs total occupational and social impairment. Manic episodes with impaired judgment, psychotic features or hospitalization are the evidence that reaches those tiers when the records document them.
• Most bipolar service connection claims are argued on the direct theory, that the disorder began in service. Bipolar disorder is not on the psychosis list in 38 CFR § 3.384, so the one-year presumption for psychoses does not cover it by itself.
• The Board grants when it can rely on a medical opinion that engages with the in-service record and explains the time course. Generic letters that assert a conclusion do not carry the claim.
• The pyramiding rule under § 4.14 applies: a veteran cannot be rated separately for bipolar disorder and another psychiatric condition (depression, anxiety, PTSD) when the symptoms overlap. In that situation, the rating analysis assigns a single composite percentage.
• VA proposed in 2022 to revise the mental disorders rating formula (87 FR 8498). As of October 6, 2026 it is still a proposal, and § 4.130 is the rule VA applies.

Bipolar disorder VA rating criteria (DC 9432)

Bipolar disorder gets the same rating structure as every other psychiatric condition under 38 CFR § 4.130 except eating disorders.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 50%: Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity.
• 70%: Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood.
• 100%: Total occupational and social impairment.

The symptom lists at each tier are illustrative, not exhaustive: the regulation describes impairment "due to such symptoms as" those listed, and the rating should look at the overall impairment picture rather than just checking which symptoms from the list are present.

The 2022 mental disorders proposal is not final

On February 15, 2022, VA proposed to revise the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders and combine it with the separate formula for eating disorders ("Schedule for Rating Disabilities: Mental Disorders," 87 FR 8498). As of October 6, 2026, VA has not published a final rule, so VA and the Board still rate bipolar disorder under the current formula above. Under 38 CFR § 3.951(a), a change to the rating schedule is not grounds to reduce a rating already in effect unless the condition has actually improved. The PTSD page describes what the proposal would change.

How much VA pays for bipolar disorder

For a single veteran with no dependents at the 2026 rates (effective December 1, 2025), the bipolar tiers pay as follows.

• 10% pays $180.42 a month.
• 30% pays $552.47 a month.
• 50% pays $1,132.90 a month.
• 70% pays $1,808.45 a month.
• 100% pays $3,938.58 a month.

The step from 50 to 70 percent is worth $675.55 a month, and the step from 70 to 100 percent is worth $2,130.13 a month. VA pays by your combined rating, so the bipolar rating adds money only when it changes the combined percentage. A veteran rated 70 percent who cannot work may reach the 100 percent rate through TDIU instead of the schedular 100 percent.

Bipolar disorder at 70 and 100 percent

The 70 percent tier requires deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. Bipolar disorder can reach several of those areas at once: impaired judgment during manic episodes, mood disturbance at both poles, trouble keeping up at work through mood shifts, and family or relationship disruption from the cycles.

The 100 percent tier requires total occupational and social impairment. Persistent delusions or hallucinations and a persistent danger of hurting self or others are among the examples the regulation lists for it. Veterans who cannot hold a job because of recurrent episodes, who need hospitalization during episodes, or whose psychotic features prevent meaningful social functioning are the ones whose records can support it.

The gap between 50 percent ("reduced reliability and productivity") and 70 percent ("deficiencies in most areas") is where many bipolar rating disputes happen. The clinical picture often spans both descriptions; the documentation determines which side of the line the case lands on.

Bipolar disorder includes manic or hypomanic episodes, phases of elevated or irritable mood that unipolar depression does not have. The depressive phase can look like major depressive disorder, but the manic phase adds impairment the higher tiers recognize.

• Impaired judgment. Judgment is one of the areas the 70 percent tier names, and impaired judgment is a listed 50 percent symptom.
• Psychotic features during some manic episodes. Persistent delusions or hallucinations are among the examples listed for the 100 percent tier of "total occupational and social impairment."
• Missed work during episodes.
• Hospitalization during severe episodes.

My Board data does not record which tier a grant landed on, so I can't show how often bipolar ratings reach 70 or 100 percent. The Board section below shows results by what the appeal asked for, including higher-rating appeals.

TDIU with a 70 percent bipolar rating

Under 38 CFR § 4.16(a), a single service-connected disability rated 60 percent or more meets the schedular threshold for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU), so a 70 percent bipolar rating qualifies if the disorder prevents substantially gainful employment. TDIU pays at the 100 percent rate without requiring the schedular 100 percent threshold. The TDIU guide covers how to prove it.

How to prove bipolar disorder is service connected

Bipolar disorder diagnosed, treated or first showing symptoms in service has the cleanest path. Bipolar disorder is a chronic, recurring condition, even though symptoms can go into remission between episodes, so a documented in-service onset gives the nexus opinion solid ground.

Direct service connection

In-service onset documentation. Service treatment records showing initial diagnosis or initial presentation of mood symptoms during active duty. Veterans who were diagnosed in service have the cleanest path.

Continuity of psychiatric treatment after service. Treatment records showing ongoing psychiatric care, medication management with lithium or another mood stabilizer, and documented mood episodes over time support the chronicity of the condition.

Family history is not a preexisting disease. Bipolar disorder has a strong genetic component; a nationwide Finnish twin study estimated the heritability of bipolar I disorder at 0.93 (PMID 15465978). A family tendency is not the same as a disease that existed before service. The Board applies VAOPGCPREC 82-90, under which a hereditary or congenital disease can be service connected if it first showed up in service, so the opinion should explain why the first episode in service marks the onset of the disease.

A stressor before the first episode. Researchers have studied stressful life events, traumatic brain injury and childbirth as possible triggers for a first bipolar episode, but a systematic review found the evidence suggestive rather than settled (PMID 12895201). When a documented in-service stressor came shortly before the first episode, the opinion has to explain that timing in your records rather than rely on the research alone.

Preexisting bipolar disorder and aggravation

For veterans who entered service with a pre-existing bipolar diagnosis, the aggravation analysis under 38 CFR § 3.306 asks whether service aggravated the condition beyond natural progression. If bipolar disorder was not noted on the entrance examination, the presumption of soundness under § 3.304(b) applies first, and VA must show by clear and unmistakable evidence both that it existed before service and that service did not aggravate it. Because bipolar disorder is chronic and episodic, the evidence has to separate worsening during service from the illness's natural course.

Secondary service connection

Under 38 CFR § 3.310, bipolar disorder can also be service connected when a service-connected condition caused it, or aggravated it, meaning it would be less severe but for that condition. Secondary claims are less common than direct ones. The Board section below shows how direct and secondary bipolar claims fared.

What a strong bipolar nexus opinion covers

What separates an opinion the Board relies on from one it rejects usually comes down to these points.

• Whether the opinion engages with the specific in-service onset or stressor documentation
• Whether the opinion explains the time course of symptom development from in-service through the post-service period
• Whether the opinion addresses competing causes (genetic loading, substance use, post-service stressors)
• Whether the diagnosis is bipolar disorder under DSM-5 rather than another mood, personality or substance-related diagnosis

The Board weighs medical opinions on their reasoning. In the words of Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295, 304 (2008), "It is the factually accurate, fully articulated, sound reasoning for the conclusion, not the mere fact that the claims file was reviewed, that contributes probative value to a medical opinion." Letters from treating psychiatrists who know the longitudinal course generally meet that standard. Generic letters that assert a conclusion without supporting reasoning don't.

Bipolar disorder with PTSD or depression: one rating

Veterans with bipolar disorder often have concurrent diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or PTSD. Mood disorders frequently overlap, and the diagnostic boundaries shift with treatment and over time.

Under 38 CFR § 4.14 (the pyramiding rule), the evaluation of the same disability under various diagnoses is to be avoided, so a veteran cannot receive separate ratings for two psychiatric conditions when the symptoms overlap. When bipolar disorder and another psychiatric condition are both service connected, VA assigns a single rating under the General Rating Formula that reflects the total psychiatric impairment.

When only one condition is service connected, the examiner may be asked to separate the symptoms. If the effects cannot be separated, VA must attribute them to the service-connected condition (Mittleider v. West, 11 Vet. App. 181 (1998), as the Board applies it in decisions such as 25004685). A separate claim for bipolar disorder can also fail for the opposite reason: in 2025 the Board denied service connection for depression and bipolar disorder where there were no symptoms not already compensated under the veteran's service-connected PTSD and schizoaffective disorder (Board citation A25016541).

Why VA denies bipolar disorder claims

The overall figures are at the top of this page. The Board section below shows why the Board sent bipolar claims back, what happened after a remand, results by what the appeal asked for and by claim theory, and how bipolar appeals have gone since 1992. In the 2025 bipolar service connection denials I read, the same gaps repeat.

No current diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Several 2025 denials turned on a finding that the veteran had no bipolar diagnosis during the claim (Board citations A25002609, A25011127, A25017406). A record that mixes bipolar, depression, personality and substance-related diagnoses needs a clinician to say which diagnosis fits under DSM-5.

No link to service. The service records do not show the mood symptoms or diagnosis the veteran describes, and no opinion connects the disorder to service. In one 2025 denial, the Board found a veteran's account of an in-service bipolar diagnosis not credible because his service records did not support it (Board citation A25019635).

Symptoms already rated under another condition. When a service-connected PTSD or depression rating already covers the same symptoms, a separate bipolar rating adds nothing (Board citation A25016541).

Preexisting disorder without an aggravation opinion. When the Board finds the disorder existed before service, the claim turns on whether service made it worse (Board citation A25036289).

Episodes and hospitalizations missing from the file. Inpatient admissions for mania, mixed episodes or severe depression support the higher tiers only if the records are in the claims file.

Symptoms not tied to the tier sought. For 70 percent, the record has to show deficiencies across work, family, social life, judgment, thinking or mood. For 100 percent, it has to show total occupational and social impairment.

Questions veterans ask about bipolar disorder

What is the average VA rating for bipolar disorder?

VA does not publish an average rating for bipolar disorder, and my Board data does not record which tier a grant landed on. Your rating depends on the impairment your records show under the General Rating Formula, from 0 percent up to 100 percent.

How much is VA compensation for bipolar disorder?

At the 2026 rates for a veteran with no dependents, bipolar disorder pays $552.47 a month at 30 percent, $1,132.90 at 50 percent, $1,808.45 at 70 percent and $3,938.58 at 100 percent. Dependents and other service-connected conditions change the amount.

Is bipolar disorder a presumptive condition?

No. Bipolar disorder is not on the psychosis list in 38 CFR § 3.384, so the one-year presumption for psychoses in § 3.309(a) does not cover it by itself. You prove it directly, on aggravation of a preexisting disorder, or as secondary to a service-connected condition.

Can bipolar disorder and PTSD be rated separately?

Usually not. When the symptoms overlap, VA assigns one rating for the combined psychiatric impairment under § 4.14. If the symptoms of a service-connected and a nonservice-connected condition cannot be separated, VA attributes them all to the service-connected one.

Can I get TDIU for bipolar disorder?

Yes, if your service-connected conditions keep you from substantially gainful work. A single bipolar rating of 60 percent or more meets the schedular threshold in 38 CFR § 4.16(a), and TDIU pays at the 100 percent rate.

Will the new VA mental health rating rules change my bipolar rating?

Not yet. The 2022 proposal (87 FR 8498) is not final as of October 6, 2026, and a schedule change alone cannot reduce a rating already in effect unless your condition actually improved (38 CFR § 3.951(a)).

Bottom Line

Bipolar disorder is rated under the same 38 CFR § 4.130 General Rating Formula as every other psychiatric condition except eating disorders, at DC 9432. The six tiers are identical to PTSD and depression. What's different is how the appeals land. Across 1,168 decided Board rulings on bipolar disorder from 2021 to 2026, 43.2 percent were granted, the highest grant rate of the mental health conditions I track. The manic episodes that distinguish bipolar from unipolar depression often produce the kind of severe occupational and social impairment the higher tiers describe, and the claims that win document those episodes, the hospitalizations, and the effect on work and family. Service connection usually runs on the direct theory, and the opinion that carries it engages with the in-service record, explains the time course and addresses competing causes. The pyramiding rule under § 4.14 means veterans with bipolar plus another psychiatric condition with overlapping symptoms get a single composite rating, not separate ratings. For veterans at 70 percent who can't maintain substantially gainful employment, TDIU under § 4.16 is the structural path to 100 percent compensation without clearing the schedular 100 percent bar. The 2022 proposal to rewrite the mental disorders formula is still not final.

Methodology and Limitations

• Data source: 38 CFR § 4.130 (General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, DC 9432), 38 CFR § 4.14 (pyramiding rule), 38 CFR § 4.16 (TDIU), 38 CFR §§ 3.304(b), 3.306, 3.309(a), 3.310, 3.384 and 3.951(a), checked against the eCFR text current to October 2, 2026. The proposed rule is 87 FR 8498 (February 15, 2022); its status was checked on October 6, 2026. Compensation figures are the 2026 VA rates (effective December 1, 2025) for a single veteran with no dependents. Board decisions cited are 2025 decisions from the Board's public archive. Claim Raven's read of 511,036 Board decisions from 2021 to 2026, which contain 1,378,030 rulings, includes 1,338 rulings on bipolar disorder.
• Sample size: Across 1,168 decided Board rulings on bipolar disorder from 2021 to 2026, 43.2% were granted (504), 28.8% denied (336) and 28.1% remanded (328). Dismissed, withdrawn and moot rulings are excluded. The Board section on this page breaks these down by why the Board remanded, what happened after a remand, appeal type, claim theory and era since 1992; those figures are computed from the data, not typed here.
• Medical sources: PMID 15465978 (heritability of bipolar I disorder in a nationwide Finnish twin sample) and PMID 12895201 (systematic review of risk factors for the onset of bipolar disorder).
• Limitations: The data captures Board-level rulings. Bipolar claims granted at the regional office without appeal aren't in the sample. The DSM-5 distinguishes bipolar I, bipolar II, and other specified or unspecified bipolar disorders; the data aggregates these subtypes. Rulings that combine bipolar disorder with another psychiatric diagnosis may be counted under that other condition, which may understate the bipolar count. The data does not record which rating tier a grant landed on. These observations describe BVA patterns and are not predictions of individual outcomes, and Claim Raven is data analysis, not legal, medical, or VA-accredited advice.