If you have a conversion disorder brought on by your military service or related to another service-connected condition, you deserve VA compensation. This post explains what you need to know about getting a conversion disorder VA rating. It is also known as functional neurological disorder (FND).
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For a while, you felt like doctors were gaslighting you. You knew the muscle spasms and twitches you were having weren’t supposed to be happening. And you certainly knew the weakness that sometimes wouldn’t allow you to take more than a couple of steps or the severe pain you felt in your arms and legs was real. Yet doctors kept telling you nothing was physically wrong. Then you finally met a doctor who gave you an answer to it all — conversion disorder. Now you’re convinced your symptoms relate to your military service and want to better understand how to get a functional neurological disorder VA rating.
In this article about conversion disorder:
What is a somatoform disorder?
Somatoform disorders, or somatic symptom disorders, are mental illnesses that cause a person to experience physical symptoms. A person experiencing a somatoform disorder is typically physically healthy but still doesn’t feel well because of extreme stress and other perceived symptoms. Some people with somatoform disorders have a diagnosed medical condition, but report symptoms that are much more severe than expected from the condition.
Physical symptoms of somatoform disorders include:
- Body aches and pain
- Weakness, numbness, or paralysis
- Abnormal movements like tremors or seizures
- Neurological symptoms like headaches or dizziness
- Gastrointestinal issues like vomiting, diarrhea, or stomach pain
- Sexual concerns like pain during sexual activity or loss of interest in sex
- Blindness
- Hearing loss
A person may be diagnosed with somatic symptom disorder or with one of the other various disorders that fall under the umbrella of somatoform disorders. They include:
- Illness Anxiety Disorder or Hypochondriasis. This disorder is when a person is preoccupied with having a serious illness and has severe anxiety about their personal health. They show no signs of an illness but refuse to believe they aren’t sick.
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder. When someone is obsessively focused on what they see as a flaw in their appearance. The flaw may be real or imagined, but the person fixates on it. People with this disorder spend a lot of time looking in the mirror and comparing themselves to others.
- Factitious Disorder. When a person deceives others by appearing sick, purposely getting sick, or causing injury to themselves. This disorder also is when another person makes a person seem sick or believe they’re sick. It’s also known as Munchausen syndrome or Munchausen by proxy.
- Pain Disorder. Experiencing constant, unexplained pain that doesn’t respond to treatment. The pain is real, not imagined, but there doesn’t seem to be a medical reason for it to be happening. The pain is often so severe that it’s disabling.
- Conversion Disorder or Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder. This disorder is when a person exhibits physical symptoms of a neurological disorder, which involuntarily affects their motor or sensory functioning. However, there is no medical condition to explain the issue.
These disorders can result in the development of additional mental health disorders, like depression or anxiety. People with somatoform disorders often experience a lower quality of life, and some begin to socially isolate. Some people with these disorders also experience suicidal ideation.
Understanding functional neurological disorder
Functional neurological disorder, also called conversion disorder, is a type of somatoform disorder. It’s caused by a mental health disorder disrupting the brain, resulting in the body not functioning correctly. Experts believe extreme stress can cause the disorder.
Functional neurological disorder symptoms include:
- Uncontrollable movements
- Tunnel vision or blindness
- Loss of smell or speech
- Numbness or paralysis
Sometimes a person experiencing functional neurological disorder will stop having symptoms once they learn nothing is wrong with their brain. But, often, people need physical therapy, counseling, and/or medication to stop the symptoms. If left untreated, conversion disorder symptoms can have a drastic impact on a person’s quality of life.
Functional neurological disorder in veterans
Veterans appear to be more prone to functional neurological disorder than the general population.
Between 2000 and 2018, the U.S. active-duty diagnosis rate for conversion disorder was 29.5 per 100,000 people per year. This rate is about 2.5 and 7.4 times higher than the general population. Veterans with a history of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had a 10 times higher rate of functional neurological disorder.
Veterans are more prone to depression and PTSD than the general population, putting them at risk for conversion disorder related to these conditions.
Functional neurological disorder VA rating
Veterans can receive VA disability benefits for mental health disorders, including functional neurological disorders, that were caused or worsened by military service.
The VA rates the condition under diagnostic code 9424, conversion disorder (functional neurological symptom disorder). This diagnostic code rates using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders in the Schedule of Ratings. Mental health disorders can be rated at 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, or 100%, depending on the severity and frequency of the symptoms.
| Description | VA Rating | Monthly payment (vet only) |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 100% | $3,831.30 |
| 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. | 70% | $1,759.19 |
| 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. | 50% | $1,102.04 |
| 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). | 30% | $537.42 |
| 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. | 10% | $175.51 |
| 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. | 0% | None |
Unemployability and functional neurological disorder
Functional neurological disorder may leave a veteran unable to work if the symptoms are severe. Physical pain, loss of balance, or seizures could keep you from doing many types of work and even make it difficult to leave your home or be unsupervised. Memory problems or an inability to concentrate could make it challenging to do many types of jobs, including office work that might be less taxing on the body. The anxiety and stress that come from having an often misunderstood disorder that’s negatively impacting your quality of life could make it difficult to concentrate or have productive relationships with colleagues.
Veterans with service-connected mental health disorders, like functional neurological disorder, that are severe enough to keep them from maintaining what the VA calls “substantially gainful employment” may be entitled to total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU). This tax-free monthly benefit ensures those veterans can still support themselves and their families without working. Veterans eligible for TDIU receive VA disability compensation at the 100% rate without their condition being rated 100% disabling.
Qualifying for schedular TDIU requires you to have:
- At least one service-connected disability rated at least 60% OR
- Two or more service-connected disabilities, at least one disability ratable at 40% or more, with a combined rating of 70% or more.
“The firm got me to 70%, and I was happy. Individual unemployability was awarded to me and to this day I’m so grateful. My future is no longer bleak. These people work very hard for you.“
How our VA disability lawyers can help
Woods and Woods has helped thousands of veterans nationwide get the VA benefits they deserve. Call us for a free case evaluation to find out how we can help. If we take your case, you only pay us a percentage of your back pay if you win.
Talk to Us About Your Claim:
(812) 426-7200
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes, conversion disorder is a real diagnosis. It’s a mental health condition recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and is considered a diagnosable mental health disorder. People with conversion disorder aren’t making up their symptoms. They are real.
Yes, you can receive VA disability benefits for a conversion disorder if you can prove that your service caused the condition or worsened its symptoms. The more severe the disorder’s symptoms are and the more they affect your functioning, the higher the disability benefit rating should be.
Neil Woods
VA disability attorney
Woods & Woods
Neil Woods is the firm’s owner and president. He received his law degree from Western Michigan University.
