Mental disorders
VA rating for anxiety, diagnostic code 9400
Generalized anxiety disorder is diagnostic code 9400. The schedule at 38 CFR 4.130 carries six anxiety codes, and each one is rated from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders rather than from criteria of its own. The formula sets six evaluations between 0 and 100 percent.
Published 2026-08-21. Last updated 2026-09-11. Written and reviewed under Veteran Health Network's institutional review process.
What each level requires
anxiety is rated under diagnostic code 9400, which the schedule calls "Generalized anxiety disorder", at 38 CFR 4.130.
The criteria below are not written for this condition on its own. They come from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which governs every code in this group. The diagnosis decides which formula applies. The formula decides what each level requires.
100 percent requires
In plain English
Work life and social life are both totally impaired. The regulation gives examples rather than a checklist: thought or communication grossly impaired, persistent delusions or hallucinations, grossly inappropriate behavior, persistent danger of hurting self or others, an intermittent inability to carry out daily activities including basic hygiene, disorientation to time or place, or memory loss extending to the names of close relatives, one's own occupation, or one's own name.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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.
70 percent requires
In plain English
Impairment reaching into most areas of life, which the regulation names as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking and mood. The examples listed include suicidal ideation, obsessional rituals that interfere with routine activity, speech that is intermittently illogical or irrelevant, near-continuous panic or depression, impaired impulse control, spatial disorientation, neglect of appearance and hygiene, difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances including a work setting, and an inability to establish and keep effective relationships.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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.
50 percent requires
In plain English
Reliability and productivity are reduced at work and socially. The listed examples are flattened affect, circumstantial or stereotyped speech, panic attacks more than once a week, difficulty understanding complex commands, impaired short and long term memory, impaired judgment, impaired abstract thinking, disturbed motivation and mood, and difficulty establishing and keeping effective work and social relationships.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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.
30 percent requires
In plain English
Work efficiency drops occasionally and there are intermittent periods of being unable to perform occupational tasks, while functioning is generally satisfactory the rest of the time. The examples given are depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks weekly or less often, chronic sleep impairment, and mild memory loss such as forgetting names, directions or recent events.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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).
10 percent requires
In plain English
Symptoms are mild or transient and reduce work efficiency only during periods of significant stress, or the symptoms are controlled by continuous medication. Continuous medication on its own reaches this level.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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.
0 percent requires
In plain English
A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but the symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with work and social functioning and not severe enough to require continuous medication. This is a rating of zero percent, which is a decision rather than a refusal: the condition is recognized as service connected and pays nothing.
As written in 38 CFR 4.130
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.
Regulation text reproduced from 38 CFR 4.130, read on 2026-08-21. Read the section at the eCFR. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the date above is the date this text was checked and not the date it was written.
Six codes for anxiety, and what separates them
Derived from the regulation
The anxiety group in 38 CFR 4.130 runs 9400 for generalized anxiety disorder, 9403 for specific phobia and social anxiety disorder, 9404 for obsessive compulsive disorder, 9410 for other specified anxiety disorder, 9412 for panic disorder and agoraphobia, and 9413 for unspecified anxiety disorder. Code 9411, posttraumatic stress disorder, sits inside the same numeric run and is a different diagnostic group in the psychiatric nomenclature the schedule points at, which is why it is not counted among the six.
What separates them is the diagnosis recorded, which the schedule takes from the psychiatric nomenclature named in 38 CFR 4.125. What does not separate them is the criteria, because none of the six carries any.
A person whose decision letter moves from 9413 to 9400 has had a more specific diagnosis recorded. The percentages available to them did not change.
Where the formula puts panic attacks
Derived from the regulation
Panic attacks appear at two levels of the formula and the difference between them is frequency. At 30 percent the example is panic attacks weekly or less often. At 50 percent it is panic attacks more than once a week.
They are examples in both places, offered after the phrase "due to such symptoms as", so the level is still set by the impairment statement that opens each criterion. At 30 percent that statement is occasional decrease in work efficiency with intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks. At 50 percent it is reduced reliability and productivity.
Near-continuous panic appears once more, at 70 percent, in a criterion whose impairment statement is deficiencies in most areas of life.
The dates behind this code
Derived from the regulation
The anxiety codes were placed in their present form when the mental disorders schedule was reorganized, and Appendix A records the dates.
Appendix A to Part 4 records it across 2 entries: "Evaluations February 3, 1988." and "Criterion March 10, 1976; criterion February 3, 1988."
The section also carries a Federal Register citation line, which tracks the section as a whole rather than the individual code: 79 FR 45100, Aug. 4, 2014. Read 2026-08-21.
See every level beside the regulation it comes from
The rating threshold cheatsheet shows all of the levels for anxiety in one view, plain English on the left and the regulation itself on the right, in a layout built to print.
It is free and it never says which level anyone meets. It describes what each one requires and leaves the reading to the person whose record it is.
Sources
- 38 CFR 4.130, Schedule of ratings, mental disorders (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
- 38 CFR 4.125, Diagnosis of mental disorders (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
- Appendix A to Part 4, Table of Amendments and Effective Dates Since 1946 (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
Accuracy owner Brayden Marley. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the retrieval date above is what this page is accurate as of.