Conditions like PTSD and depression can stem from a range of experiences in service, such as combat, MST, hazing, or even the challenges of transitioning back to civilian life. This is why many veterans develop a mental health condition at some point in their lives.
Don’t fight the VA alone
While these mental health conditions often exist separately, it’s possible to have both at the same time. Veterans diagnosed with PTSD and depression may wonder how the VA handles these overlapping conditions and whether they can receive a VA rating for both.
In this article, we’ll break down how PTSD and depression may be service connected, how the VA evaluates mental health conditions, and how ratings are determined when symptoms overlap.
Key Takeaways
- PTSD can stem from a variety of experiences related to a veteran’s military service, and the diagnosis is slightly more prevalent among veterans than civilians.
- Depression and PTSD are the mental health issues commonly experienced by veterans, and both conditions are more prevalent in veterans who have been deployed to the Middle East.
- Most mental health conditions, including PTSD and depression, are rated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. They can be rated at 100%, 70%, 50%, 30%, 10%, or 0%.
In this article about the VA rating for PTSD and depression:
PTSD in veterans
PTSD can stem from a variety of experiences related to a veteran’s military service, and the diagnosis is slightly more prevalent among veterans than civilians. Studies show veterans who are deployed have a higher risk of developing PTSD.
Service-connected PTSD is triggered by a stressor. Stressors are traumatic, intense, and sometimes life-threatening events.
Examples of PTSD stressors include, but are not limited to:
- Experiencing combat
- Serving in an imminent danger zone
- Being a survivor of military sexual trauma (MST)
- Witnessing injury or death
- Being involved in a serious accident
- Having killed or wounded others
- Experiencing a violent robbery or assault
Knowing what your stressor or stressors are can help you connect your PTSD to service when seeking a VA rating for PTSD.
Depression in veterans
Depression is a mental health disorder that affects a person’s mood, as well as how they think, act, and see the world.
Depression and PTSD are the mental health issues commonly experienced by veterans, and both conditions are more prevalent in veterans who have been deployed to the Middle East. Studies show that up to 20% of veterans may develop depression after military service.
Combat, prolonged exposure to intense stress during service, physical injuries, and the transition to civilian life may all cause depression.
Veterans may also develop life-altering illnesses like cancer or chronic pain from their service that lead to depression on a secondary basis.
How the VA rates mental health conditions
Veterans with service-connected mental health conditions may be eligible for VA benefits.
Most mental health conditions, including PTSD and depression, are rated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.
Below is the specific criteria the VA uses to evaluate mental health disorders in veterans.
VA rating for PTSD and depression
While it is possible to have more than one mental health condition service connected by the VA, you will typically only receive one mental health rating for the two conditions.
Your rating will be based only on the symptoms the VA attributes to your service-connected diagnoses.
It is also possible the VA will service connect your PTSD but not your depression, and vice versa. In this case, your rating would be based on the mental health symptoms the VA attributes to your service-connected condition.
Appealing a mental health rating
If you disagree with the disability rating you are awarded by the VA, you have the option to appeal the decision.
For example, if you have been assigned a 30% rating for your mental health, but you believe your rating should be rated higher, you can file an appeal to seek an increased disability rating.
You can learn more about your appeal options here.
I found Woods & Woods by accident. I reached out to them they treated me like I was the only client. They went over every single document and helped get missing documents. I was fighting the VA for over 15 years. In about 9 months Woods & Woods got their attention. I believe that with their help I saw amazing results in less than 2 years. Woods & Woods saved me. I tell other Veterans about them every chance I get, then I tell them my experience.
J.S., a veteran in Texas
From a Google review for Woods & Woods
TDIU for PTSD and depression
In some cases, a veteran may be awarded total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) for PTSD and depression.
TDIU is also known as individual unemployability or simply IU. Veterans are eligible for these benefits if they can’t hold down “substantially gainful” employment due to their service-connected conditions.
Veterans with PTSD and depression often struggle to maintain work. Their mental health conditions may make working with coworkers or customers difficult. They may struggle to stay focused and motivated, or to even show up at all on days where getting out of bed feels impossible. Crowds or stressful situations at work may make other symptoms worse, and conflict may be especially difficult to manage appropriately.
These are just a few of the many examples of how a veteran’s poor mental health can make working difficult or even impossible.
Veterans who receive TDIU benefits are compensated at the same level as those with a 100% disability rating, even though their combined rating is below 100%.
Veterans will typically be eligible for TDIU if they have:
- At least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more disabling OR
- Two or more service-connected disabilities with at least one rated at 40% or more disabling and a combined rating of 70% or more
Let’s appeal your VA decision today
Frequently asked questions
While it is possible to get a diagnosis for both conditions, you will typically receive one overall mental health VA rating in order to avoid pyramiding symptoms. This rating will be based on the full picture of your mental health, with your combined symptoms taken into consideration.
PTSD and depression are separate mental health conditions, but the VA evaluates them using the same criteria, under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.
Neil Woods
Neil Woods is a VA disability attorney and the owner and president of Woods & Woods. He received his law degree from Western Michigan University.
