The formula rates impairment, and lists symptoms only as examples
PTSD is DC 9411, and it is evaluated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders in §4.130 — the same formula used for most mental health conditions.
| Level | What it describes |
|---|---|
| 100% | Total occupational and social impairment |
| 70% | Impairment with deficiencies in most areas — work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking or mood |
| 50% | Impairment with reduced reliability and productivity |
| 30% | Occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent inability to perform tasks, while generally functioning satisfactorily |
| 10% | Mild or transient symptoms decreasing efficiency only during significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication |
| 0% | Formally diagnosed, but symptoms not severe enough to interfere with functioning or require continuous medication |
The phrase "due to such symptoms as"
Each level lists symptoms, and each list is introduced by that phrase. They are examples of the level of impairment, not a checklist to complete. Having one symptom from the 70% list does not produce 70%, and lacking one does not rule it out. The question the formula asks is how much of your working and social life the condition takes.
This cuts both ways, and the second direction matters more. You do not need to recognize yourself in a regulatory list, and you should not try to. Describing symptoms you do not have, or dramatizing ones you do, produces a record that contradicts itself — and the contradiction is what gets found.
What to describe instead
What changed. In work, school, relationships, judgment, memory, mood, and ordinary functioning. Concrete and ordinary: the shift you stopped taking, the conversations you avoid, the thing you used to do easily.
Treatment records document the clinical picture over time, which is usually more persuasive than any single examination.
And if the diagnosis turns out to be something else, the claim does not simply fail. Clemons v. Shinseki holds that a claim filed for "PTSD" covers whatever mental condition your symptoms and the evidence reasonably support — because you are not the one qualified to make the diagnosis in the first place. A denial that says only the record does not confirm PTSD, without deciding what condition you do have, is the error that case is about.
One thing clinicians should know
VHA Directive 1134(3) recommends that a treating clinician not complete a mental health DBQ, to protect the treatment relationship. That is a recommendation about this one category. The same clinician can still document diagnosis, findings and function in the treatment record, and that documentation is evidence.
If symptoms are urgent, use clinical and emergency services. This page is about a benefits schedule and is not a substitute for care.
Rules and forms change, and exceptions apply. Follow the instructions on your own decision letter and the linked governing sources. This site does not track your deadlines or file anything for you.
Reviewed October 6, 2026