Mental disorders
VA rating for PTSD, diagnostic code 9411
PTSD carries diagnostic code 9411, and the criteria it is rated on are not written for it. Thirty-one mental health codes in 38 CFR 4.130 read from one shared table, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which describes levels of occupational and social impairment and names no diagnosis anywhere.
Published 2026-08-21. Last updated 2026-08-24. Written and reviewed under Veteran Health Network's institutional review process.
What each level requires
PTSD is rated under diagnostic code 9411, which the schedule calls "Posttraumatic stress 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.
Why the criteria never say PTSD
Derived from the regulation
Section 4.130 does two things in sequence. First it lists the mental health diagnostic codes, from 9201 through 9440. Then it prints a single table, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, and all 31 of those codes are rated from it.
So the diagnosis chooses the code number. The formula, which is identical for all of them, chooses what each percentage requires. A veteran reading the criteria for the first time and looking for their own diagnosis in the text will not find it, because it was never going to be there.
The practical consequence is that the criteria for PTSD at 9411 and for major depressive disorder at 9434 are word for word the same. Where a decision assigns one code rather than another, it has recorded a diagnosis and has not changed the standard.
Two codes in the section are outside all of this and it is worth knowing which. Anorexia nervosa at 9520 and bulimia nervosa at 9521 read from a separate Rating Formula for Eating Disorders, printed immediately below the general one, whose levels are built on self-induced weight loss measured against expected minimum weight and on the total duration of incapacitating episodes in a year.
What the formula measures
Derived from the regulation
Every level in the formula is a statement about occupational and social impairment, followed by a list of example symptoms introduced with the phrase "due to such symptoms as". The impairment statement is the criterion. The symptoms are illustrations of it.
At 70 percent the impairment statement is deficiencies in most areas, and the regulation names those areas: "work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood". At 50 percent it is "reduced reliability and productivity". At 30 percent it is occasional decrease in work efficiency with intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks.
That distinction matters when reading the table. Two people can share a symptom that appears in the 70 percent list and be at different levels, because the level is set by the degree of impairment rather than by the presence of a listed symptom.
When PTSD entered the schedule
Derived from the regulation
PTSD has a shorter history in Part 4 than the condition has in medicine. The code was added in 1988, and the section it lives in was renumbered eight years later.
Appendix A to Part 4 records it across 2 entries: "Evaluations February 3, 1988." and "Added February 3, 1988."
The Federal Register line under 4.130 is short by the standards of this part: 79 FR 45100, Aug. 4, 2014. It dates the section, not code 9411, and it was read on 2026-08-21.
Questions
Does the diagnostic code number affect the percentage?
Not in this part of the schedule. Every mental health code in 38 CFR 4.130 is rated from the same General Rating Formula, so the number records the diagnosis rather than the standard applied.
Is a zero percent rating for PTSD a denial?
No. Zero percent is one of the six evaluations the formula prints. It describes a formally diagnosed condition whose symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with functioning or to require continuous medication.
See every level beside the regulation it comes from
The rating threshold cheatsheet shows all of the levels for PTSD 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)
- 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.