Somatic Symptom Disorder VA Rating

While it’s true that PTSD is prevalent in the veteran community, unfortunately, it’s not the only mental health condition that affects veterans. Somatic symptom disorder is one of many mental health conditions that veterans develop after serving their country.

If you have somatic symptom disorder (SSD) that was caused or worsened by your military service, it’s important to understand the somatic symptom disorder VA rating. 

What is somatic symptom disorder?

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD), also known as somatization disorder, occurs when a person feels intense anxiety about physical symptoms like pain and fatigue. The intense thoughts, behaviors, and feelings related to the symptoms can make it impossible to complete many daily tasks. People with SSD live in fear that their routine medical issues are life-threatening. 

SSD symptoms include:

• Believing normal physical sensations are signs of severe physical illness
• Constantly worrying about potential illness
• Fearing that symptoms are serious, even without evidence
• Thinking that physical sensations are threatening and/or harmful
• Concern that medical evaluation and/or treatments were not adequate
• Worrying that physical activity such as going to work or walking to the mailbox may cause illness or harm
• Not responding to medical treatment or being unusually sensitive to medication side effects
• Repeatedly checking the body for abnormalities and irregularities 
• Frequent visits to the doctor that worsen or don’t relieve concerns
• Having a more serious impairment than what’s typically expected from a medical condition

Although many of the symptoms that characterize SSD are behavioral, people with the condition also experience physical pain. Depending on the severity of the condition, pain can be mild, moderate, or severe. Some of these symptoms include:

• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Painful or uncomfortable symptoms that are unrelated to an identifiable medical condition

Types of somatoform disorders

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is just one type of somatoform disorder. Somatoform disorders are a group of psychiatric disorders that cause unexplained physical symptoms, like those you experience with SSD. There are seven types of somatoform disorders including SSD.

• Undifferentiated somatoform disorder is similar to SSD but involves fewer symptoms.
  
• Conversion disorder is a kind of somatoform disorder that occurs when physical symptoms mimic those of a neurological disorder even though there is no neurological disorder present. Symptoms can include anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and hearing problems.
  
• Pain disorder. Somatoform pain is chronic pain without an identifiable physical cause. It can cause overwhelming distress and impair a person’s normal daily functioning.
  
• Hypochondriasis. Sometimes called illness anxiety disorder, hypochondriasis is a somatoform disorder characterized by the unrealistic fear of having a life-threatening disease.
  
• Body dysmorphic disorder, or body dysmorphia, is the obsession with a real or imagined physical defect. The fixation can cause anxiety and shame.
  
• Somatoform disorder not otherwise specified is the somatoform diagnosis used when criteria are not clearly met for diagnosis of one of the previously mentioned somatoform disorders.

Somatic symptom disorder in veterans

SSD is often the result of trauma, and is sometimes associated with PTSD. PTSD is the fourth most commonly service-connected condition for VA disability benefits, and more than 1.3 million veterans receive VA compensation for it.

According to one study, PTSD is sometimes characterized by somatic symptoms such as unexplained dizziness, tinnitus, and blurry vision. If you’re a veteran diagnosed with PTSD who also experiences somatic symptoms, you may be eligible to receive higher VA disability rating for SSD secondary to PTSD.

VA rating for somatic symptom disorder

SSD and other somatoform disorders are rated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, you can be given a VA rating of 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, or 100%.

Description	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

TDIU for somatic symptom disorder

The constant anxiety and distress that comes with a somatoform disorder can make it difficult to seek or maintain a job, perform your duties at home, or even enjoy the same activities you used to love.

If you are a veteran with severe SSD who has difficulty holding down a job, total disability individual unemployability (TDIU) might be right for you. TDIU is granted to veterans who are no longer able to work due to their service-connected disability or disabilities.

Depending on the severity of your condition, an SSD diagnosis on its own might qualify you for TDIU. Usually, in order to receive TDIU, you must:

• Have a single service-connected disability with a rating of at least 60%
  OR
• Have one disability rated at 40% or higher and a total combined rating of at least 70%.

How Woods and Woods can help

Mental health benefits are complex. If you have a somatoform disorder that was caused or worsened by your time in the military, it’s important you receive the VA benefits you deserve.

At Woods and Woods, we’ve helped thousands of veterans with their VA disability applications and appeals. Call us today to discuss your case. The call is free and we won’t charge you a dime unless we win. If we do win, we will never touch your future payments.

Talk to Us About Your Claim: 
(812) 426-7200

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