30% PTSD VA Disability Rating Breakdown

Video Transcription

Emma Peterson: Welcome to another CCK Live Under 5:00, I’m Emma Peterson.  Today, we’re going to be discussing 30 percent PTSD ratings.

So, PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a mental health condition that can occur in people who’ve experienced or witnessed a distressing, shocking, or otherwise, traumatic event.  As you can imagine, many veterans experience PTSD stemming from their military service, and symptoms can often be very debilitating and have a negative impact on an individual’s daily life.

When rating PTSD, VA will consider the frequency, the duration, and the severity of your symptoms along with the resulting level of social and occupational impairment.  VA uses the general rating formula for mental disorders on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent, with ranges in between of 10 percent, 30 percent, 50 percent, and 70 percent for PTSD.

As I mentioned, VA rates you based on the occupational and social impairment caused by your PTSD. And a 30 percent is sort of at the mild to moderate range.  VA will look to see whether you have an occasional decrease in work efficiency, intermittent periods of an inability to perform your occupational tasks, and symptoms such as depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, or panic attacks.

So, some examples of what that might look like in your day-to-day life include periodically missing work due to a lack of motivation, experiencing symptoms like depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, occasionally wanting to isolate yourself but still generally being able to maintain good relationships with friends, families, and co-workers.

It is important to note though that you don’t need to display all these symptoms in order to qualify for a 30 percent rating.  Even if you only have a few, or not at all, but the equivalent of occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods to perform occupational tasks, VA should still assign you a 30 percent rating.

So that really covers what the 30 percent rating for PTSD consists of.  All the ratings between 0 percent and 100 percent will consider that occupational and social impairment.  So, it’s important to discuss with your VSO, accredited rep, or attorney how the best way to go about getting your maximum rating.

Thanks for tuning in.  And for more information on 30 percent and other PTSD ratings, please be sure to check out our blog and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel.