Claim Raven explanation
What this means
VA must consider the frequency, severity, and duration of psychiatric symptoms, periods of improvement, and the ability to adjust during those periods. The evaluation should reflect the full record of occupational and social impairment.
A single examination is a snapshot. This rule directs VA to consider the broader evidence, while also explaining that social impairment alone cannot be the sole basis for the evaluation.
How this helps your claim
This helps you describe patterns over time and compare them with the decision's reasoning. Accurate examples of work and daily-life difficulties are more useful than copying a list of rating terms.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Find records from different periods, including better and worse intervals.
- Identify the documented effects on work and social functioning.
- Compare the full history with the impairment level described in the decision.
Show the pattern across better and worse periods
A mental-health record can contain periods of improvement and periods of greater difficulty. The regulation directs attention to frequency, severity, duration and adjustment during remission. A useful history describes that pattern rather than selecting only one extreme.
Use dated examples of effects on work, relationships and ordinary activities, while keeping the medical assessment distinct from personal observations. Treatment helping on some days does not erase the rest of the history, and a severe episode does not automatically describe every day in the rating period.
Is the examination-day description the only evidence that counts?
No. The evaluation should reflect the relevant record of occupational and social impairment. The examination is important but is read with other evidence. Identify specific records that clarify the longer pattern instead of assuming one appointment must completely capture the condition's course.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 4.126
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 4.126 Evaluation of disability from mental disorders.
(a) When evaluating a mental disorder, the rating agency shall consider the frequency, severity, and duration of psychiatric symptoms, the length of remissions, and the veteran's capacity for adjustment during periods of remission. The rating agency shall assign an evaluation based on all the evidence of record that bears on occupational and social impairment rather than solely on the examiner's assessment of the level of disability at the moment of the examination.
(b) When evaluating the level of disability from a mental disorder, the rating agency will consider the extent of social impairment, but shall not assign an evaluation solely on the basis of social impairment.
(c) Neurocognitive disorders shall be evaluated under the general rating formula for mental disorders; neurologic deficits or other impairments stemming from the same etiology (e.g., a head injury) shall be evaluated separately and combined with the evaluation for neurocognitive disorders (see § 4.25).
(d) When a single disability has been diagnosed both as a physical condition and as a mental disorder, the rating agency shall evaluate it using a diagnostic code which represents the dominant (more disabling) aspect of the condition (see § 4.14).
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)
[61 FR 52700, Oct. 8, 1996, as amended at 79 FR 45099, Aug. 4, 2014]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 4.25: VA combined ratings: how the math works
- 38 CFR § 4.14: VA pyramiding and overlapping disability ratings
- 38 USC § 1155: The law behind VA disability rating percentages
- 38 CFR § 4.1: What a VA disability rating measures
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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