VA evaluates this diagnosis under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, based on occupational and social impairment rather than a symptom checklist alone.
Plain-language summaries explain the text; they do not decide whether any level applies.
100%
Official criteria
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.
Plain-language summary
The total level is based on total occupational and social impairment; the listed symptoms are examples.
70%
Official criteria
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.
Plain-language summary
This level addresses occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas; the listed symptoms are examples.
50%
Official criteria
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.
Plain-language summary
This level addresses reduced reliability and productivity in occupational and social functioning.
30%
Official criteria
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).
Plain-language summary
This level addresses generally satisfactory functioning with occasional work-efficiency decreases and intermittent inability to perform tasks.
10%
Official criteria
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.
Plain-language summary
This level addresses mild or transient impairment during significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication.
0%
Official criteria
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.
Plain-language summary
A diagnosis is present, but the schedule's compensable impairment threshold is not met.
Source record
38 CFR § 4.130—Schedule of ratings, mental disorders
38 CFR § 4.130, DC 9421 · Effective Nov 7, 1996 · Reviewed Jul 24, 2026