Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section contains the mental-disorder diagnostic codes and the general rating formula. The formula organizes evaluations around occupational and social impairment, with examples of symptoms at the different levels.
The diagnosis name alone does not determine the percentage. The complete disability picture must be considered with § 4.126, including how often symptoms occur, how severe they are, and how long they last.
How this helps your claim
This helps you understand the reasoning behind a PTSD, depression, anxiety, or other mental-health rating. Compare real documented effects with the formula rather than trying to match or adopt a list of symptoms.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Identify the diagnosis and evaluation in the decision.
- Locate dated examples of effects on work, relationships, and daily functioning.
- Compare the full symptom history with VA's explanation of the impairment level.
Explain impairment through concrete examples
The mental-health formula concerns occupational and social impairment. A list of symptoms is more informative when it shows their frequency, severity, duration and actual effects. Describe missed tasks, relationship difficulties or other documented consequences accurately rather than reciting phrases from a higher rating level.
Read the formula with section 4.126 and the full treatment history. Different diagnoses can produce overlapping effects, so the number of diagnoses does not itself determine the percentage. Improvements, limitations and periods of greater difficulty all belong in an honest account of the disability picture.
Must I claim every symptom listed at a rating level?
No. Do not adopt symptoms you do not have. The actual documented impairment and governing evaluation principles matter. Explain your own experience and the relevant clinical findings; copying a list can obscure the facts the decision needs to address and cannot establish symptoms that are not present.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 4.130
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 4.130 Schedule of ratings—Mental disorders.
The nomenclature employed in this portion of the rating schedule is based upon the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) (see § 4.125 for availability information). Rating agencies must be thoroughly familiar with this manual to properly implement the directives in § 4.125 through § 4.129 and to apply the general rating formula for mental disorders in § 4.130. The schedule for rating for mental disorders is set forth as follows:
9201 Schizophrenia
9202 [Removed]
9203 [Removed]
9204 [Removed]
9205 [Removed]
9208 Delusional disorder
9210 Other specified and unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders
9211 Schizoaffective disorder
9300 Delirium
9301 Major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to HIV or other infections
9304 Major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury
9305 Major or mild vascular neurocognitive disorder
9310 Unspecified neurocognitive disorder
9312 Major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease
9326 Major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to another medical condition or substance/medication-induced major or mild neurocognitive disorder
9327 [Removed]
9400 Generalized anxiety disorder
9403 Specific phobia; social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
9404 Obsessive compulsive disorder
9410 Other specified anxiety disorder
9411 Posttraumatic stress disorder
9412 Panic disorder and/or agoraphobia
9413 Unspecified anxiety disorder
9416 Dissociative amnesia; dissociative identity disorder
9417 Depersonalization/Derealization disorder
9421 Somatic symptom disorder
9422 Other specified somatic symptom and related disorder
9423 Unspecified somatic symptom and related disorder
9424 Conversion disorder (functional neurological symptom disorder)
9425 Illness anxiety disorder
9431 Cyclothymic disorder
9432 Bipolar disorder
9433 Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia)
9434 Major depressive disorder
9435 Unspecified depressive disorder
9440 Chronic adjustment disorder
General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders
Scroll sideways to see the full table.
| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name. | 100 |
| Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships. | 70 |
| Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships. | 50 |
| 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), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events). | 30 |
| 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. | 10 |
| 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. | 0 |
9520 Anorexia nervosa
9521 Bulimia nervosa
Rating Formula for Eating Disorders
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| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Self-induced weight loss to less than 80 percent of expected minimum weight, with incapacitating episodes of at least six weeks total duration per year, and requiring hospitalization more than twice a year for parenteral nutrition or tube feeding. | 100 |
| Self-induced weight loss to less than 85 percent of expected minimum weight with incapacitating episodes of six or more weeks total duration per year. | 60 |
| Self-induced weight loss to less than 85 percent of expected minimum weight with incapacitating episodes of more than two but less than six weeks total duration per year. | 30 |
| Binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting or other measures to prevent weight gain, or resistance to weight gain even when below expected minimum weight, with diagnosis of an eating disorder and incapacitating episodes of up to two weeks total duration per year. | 10 |
| Binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting or other measures to prevent weight gain, or resistance to weight gain even when below expected minimum weight, with diagnosis of an eating disorder but without incapacitating episodes. | 0 |
| Note 1: An incapacitating episode is a period during which bed rest and treatment by a physician are required. | |
| Note 2: Ratings under diagnostic codes 9201 to 9440 will be evaluated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. Ratings under diagnostic codes 9520 and 9521 will be evaluated using the General Rating Formula for Eating Disorders. | |
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)
[79 FR 45100, Aug. 4, 2014]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 4.125: Mental health diagnoses in VA claims
- 38 CFR § 4.129: Mental health ratings after release for traumatic stress
- 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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