Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It can be debilitating, affecting a person’s life, work, and relationships. If you’re a veteran struggling with PTSD, you’re not alone. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recognizes PTSD as a service-connected disability and offers benefits to eligible veterans. You might wonder how you can receive help through a ptsd va disability claim. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about navigating the complexities of ptsd va disability claims, increasing your chances of approval, and receiving the support you deserve.
Table of Contents:
- Understanding PTSD and VA Disability
- VA Disability Ratings for PTSD
- Filing a PTSD VA Disability Claim: Building Your Case
- Seeking Professional Help
- FAQs about PTSD VA Disability
Understanding PTSD and VA Disability
The National Center for PTSD defines PTSD as the lasting negative effects of a traumatic event. PTSD can make life really hard for veterans and there’s no shame in getting help.
Traumatic Stressors and Service Connection
PTSD is rooted in what’s called a “stressor,” which the VA categorizes as “any event that causes psychological trauma.” They consider anything from combat to training accidents to personal assault as valid stressors. To get service connection for PTSD, this stressor MUST have occurred during your time in the military, even during training.
This differs from other claims because for PTSD, proving this in-service connection is critical. Thankfully, veterans have an advantage if their PTSD comes from combat experience, because for veterans engaged in direct combat with the enemy, a statement alone might be enough.
But even if you didn’t directly face enemy fire, ANY trauma you faced can be valid. Did you witness horrific events? Was your life or safety directly threatened? Were you physically or sexually assaulted while serving? If the experience caused lasting PTSD symptoms, it could be enough for a disability claim.
Common PTSD Symptoms and Impact
The VA points out that PTSD can have a wide-ranging impact, affecting your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and overall wellbeing. If you’re experiencing symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, or difficulty sleeping, or if you feel anxious, angry, or depressed after your service, these can all be signs of PTSD.
A 2018 Office of Inspector General report noted that many PTSD claims are unfairly denied. In particular, many cases involving Military Sexual Trauma (MST) were wrongly processed. This issue has caused a lot of heartache for veterans seeking deserved benefits.
Importantly, PTSD isn’t something most people just “get over” on their own. You might isolate yourself, struggle in relationships, have trouble keeping a job, and experience other major problems with daily living. All this shows the VA how badly your PTSD is affecting you and how it makes you less functional than before your service.
VA Disability Ratings for PTSD
VA disability for PTSD uses a rating system that ranges from 0% to 100% in 10% increments. It is determined by the severity of your symptoms and their impact on your ability to function in daily life. Keep in mind, this 0% rating means the VA acknowledges your PTSD is real BUT they feel it’s not affecting your daily functioning badly enough to give you compensation yet. You still qualify for some healthcare from the VA, so this can be helpful. However, if your PTSD is severely impacting your ability to work, then there’s an option that a lot of veterans find success with, known as TDIU.
Understanding the Rating Levels
Although it would be great if the VA assigned PTSD ratings systematically, assigning them often comes down to which symptoms are impacting you the MOST. That’s because there’s often an element of subjective opinion when determining which rating best reflects your individual struggle. There are, however, guidelines from the VA that help provide a framework for this.
Let’s take a look at some of the VA disability PTSD ratings:
- 10% This typically means your symptoms are brief or happen very rarely. Think of nightmares for instance, you may have a couple a month but they don’t usually make you lose sleep or negatively impact your work or social life.
- 30% This is considered one of the most commonly given PTSD ratings and often reflects when veterans still feel the effects of PTSD, but are overall still managing their daily tasks OK. Things like depression, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and sleep problems all fall within this rating level, especially when medication provides at least partial relief from symptoms.
- 50% Once you hit the 50% level, you are dealing with some major challenges in daily living. At this stage, you might have severe impairment in things like:
- Judgment
- Thought process
- Concentration
- Memory
- Social relationships
- 70% This PTSD rating means your symptoms are getting progressively worse. Difficulty controlling your anger, experiencing disturbing thoughts, and struggling with panic attacks almost constantly are all hallmarks. Many veterans at this level find they can’t work, at least not reliably. This is when it’s recommended you consider applying for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). This would mean the VA deems you completely unable to work because of your PTSD, but your specific symptoms might not completely fit the 100% criteria. Even so, with TDIU you’re given a 100% VA rating for payment purposes, giving you the financial support that often helps people access additional treatment, making progress toward their recovery goals.
- 100% The toughest rating to get and reflects extreme severity. The veteran can rarely function outside of the house or often needs constant supervision to avoid endangering themselves or others. Daily tasks like showering or even remembering where they are can become overwhelming challenges.
Total Disability Individual Unemployability (TDIU)
Remember, the system doesn’t always capture all the nuances of your individual case. Although Receiving a 70 percent PTSD VA rating can mean receiving benefits at the 100% rating, it requires filing a Total Disability due to Individual Unemployability (TDIU) claim in addition to your PTSD claim.
For the VA to properly consider TDIU they’ll look at:
- Whether you’ve received a rating of at least 70% for one single condition
- A combined total of at least 70% when factoring in ratings from multiple disabilities. In this case, you need to have a rating of at least 40% for at least ONE of the service-connected conditions.
- Your individual circumstance when determining whether your disabilities, individually or combined, truly prevent you from reliably obtaining and maintaining “substantially gainful employment.”
Filing a PTSD VA Disability Claim: Building Your Case
The more documentation you provide showing all this, the stronger your claim will be. There are specific VA Forms designed to gather information needed for their evaluation. The VA Form 21-0781, Statement in Support of Claim for Service Connection for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the VA Form 21-0781a, Statement in Support of Claim for Service Connection for PTSD Secondary to Personal Assault, are two of these crucial forms.
Gathering Supporting Evidence
Your personal testimony and medical reports from a mental health professional form the FOUNDATION of your PTSD claim. You should make sure all your statements clearly express HOW these in-service experiences impact your present-day life. For instance, when describing your stressors, give vivid, sensory details. Don’t hold back or worry about oversharing because the goal is to give the examiner a full picture of what you’ve gone through. Remember, this person has likely heard countless traumatic accounts – they will not be fazed, shocked, or judge you.
In addition, the reports from your mental health professionals should align with the VA’s definition and diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Their words need to support a direct connection between your service-connected experience and your present symptoms.
Consider these tips when providing information:
- Describe how PTSD affects you BOTH occupationally AND socially. Can you work reliably? What about everyday things – can you cook meals, go grocery shopping, maintain basic personal hygiene, or interact socially?
- Mention any PTSD medications, like antidepressants, that you’re prescribed – and whether they offer partial or complete relief from your symptoms.
- The impact of nightmares, flashbacks, etc. These aren’t JUST dreams, they’re trauma replaying vividly and intensely. So instead of saying, “I have nightmares a few times a week” you could write: “Several times a week I wake up drenched in sweat, heart pounding, reliving intense explosions and feeling that life or death urgency, like I’m still under enemy fire. It takes hours to fall asleep and even then I wake up jumpy, constantly checking around the room, convinced I’m in danger. That impacts my whole next day; it’s hard to think clearly or do my job without messing up. And being around people when I haven’t slept – I snap easily, isolate myself to avoid lashing out. My kids are scared of me on these days, my wife doesn’t know how to reach me, I’m basically useless…”
Requesting a Compensation and Pension (C&P) Exam
During the VA claims process, the VA will typically schedule a compensation and pension (C&P) exam for your ptsd. You will receive a notice in the mail with the appointment information, including the date, time, location, and examiner’s contact details. In case of scheduling issues or needing more information about the C&P exam, always feel free to contact the VA or a Veterans Help Group . Remember, a C&P exam involves evaluating and documenting your disability but they’re NOT making the final decision about your claim. Those results will be sent to the VA’s raters.
Tips for a Successful Exam
Because you’re sharing sensitive information with someone you just met, going into a C&P Exam can feel daunting or even retraumatizing. You need to treat this like a vital part of your recovery journey because it can get you financial support to heal, especially since we all know effective trauma treatment is costly. Consider some of these tips when going into your exam:
- Be honest and don’t downplay or sugar-coat things. Explain ALL your symptoms in vivid, impactful detail.
- Think back to our nightmares example. Rather than just stating facts, give powerful anecdotes. For example: “The worst part isn’t just the nightmare itself. It’s what happens afterward. My body’s still on high alert, thinking the danger’s real even after I’m awake. I spend the entire night terrified, pacing the room, double-checking doors and windows are locked dozens of times, jumpy at the slightest creak. It’s a miracle if I’m able to fall back asleep. Then, I have to somehow drag myself to work on maybe three hours of sleep, struggling to focus, keep things together. A spilled cup of coffee can set me off because simple stressors send me into full-blown flashbacks, making me feel unsafe again.”
- Don’t just stick to what’s ON the VA’s list, those are broad examples, NOT limitations. What uniquely impacts YOU? Do you flinch at loud noises because they sound like gunfire? Do you avoid driving due to crippling fear of explosions on the road? Maybe your PTSD causes severe intimacy problems with your spouse or partner? Mention it all because these unique things paint the picture for the examiner, adding emotional weight to your claim. They might say this is the standard PTSD evaluation procedure but sharing what makes YOUR situation more severe increases your chances of receiving a higher disability rating for PTSD from VA.
- Provide buddy statements if possible. These are testimonials from fellow veterans you served with. This provides powerful firsthand accounts, showing how your current state differs from how you were before military trauma affected you.
- Gather statements from people in your current life (family, close friends, therapist) detailing HOW they witness your PTSD manifesting. Maybe your wife states: “Before service, he was such a patient, caring father but now little things trigger intense anger outbursts; his kids walk on eggshells around him for fear of setting him off. Social gatherings? Forget it. We’re hermits because anything stimulating triggers these panic attacks; he isolates, pushes everyone away… It breaks my heart to see how different he is.”
Seeking Professional Help
Successfully applying for and receiving disability payments for PTSD can be confusing, to say the least. Even under the 2010 PTSD claims guidelines navigating this yourself can seem impossible. Thankfully, many resources provide invaluable help to veterans navigating VA disability claims. Seeking professional legal help can give you the support you need for this confusing and emotional process.
Why It’s Beneficial to Have a Veterans Disability Attorney
Although it would be wonderful if every claim got approved quickly and easily, this is often far from the case. New research in a 2023 VA report notes the growing number of PTSD benefits appeals. For Black veterans, this denial rate is consistently higher. According to an NBC news report in 2023 on VA data from every claim since 2002, 40% of disability requests for PTSD by Black veterans were denied compared to 30.7% for white veterans, and those with this condition weren’t the only ones with discrepancies. You should never let this discourage you because you’ve earned these benefits through your service. Instead, you should just consider this added evidence that having an advocate on your side, particularly an experienced lawyer, dramatically increases your chances of getting what you deserve. Especially when seeking TDIU which has very strict eligibility requirements and you may also want to learn what you need to know about noncompensable VA ratings.
Here are ways an experienced attorney helps:
- Navigating legal requirements
- Thoroughly reviewing your medical records
- Organizing your personal statement and those of witnesses
- Coaching you for the C&P Exam
- Filing appeals should the VA deny your claim
These appeals use specific VA forms as well and although they can feel intimidating, veterans have several legal pathways to increase the odds of eventually receiving deserved benefits. Veterans commonly file VA Form 21-8940, Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability. This happens a lot for those at a 70% PTSD disability rating level who are granted 100% through TDIU or with VA Form 21-4192, Request for Employment Information in Connection with Claim for Disability Benefits.
When seeking help from an attorney you should make sure they:
- Specialize in Veterans benefits and law because general legal practices often don’t know the complexities involved.
- Are transparent about costs, payment plans, and make you feel supported at each stage of this emotional and legal journey.
- Take the time to listen to the unique struggles associated with PTSD as a result of Military Service so that they can connect deeply to the case. This deeper connection and empathy enables effective and impactful advocacy because your story will come across more genuinely.
Understanding How PTSD is Evaluated for VA Benefits
The VA is required to evaluate veterans’ claims by using established criteria set out by U.S. code 38 CFR § 4.130 along with the American Psychiatric Association’s most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V).
Veterans might feel a sense of uncertainty while their disability claims go through a complex evaluation process, which is designed to provide an objective picture of their PTSD and associated difficulties. While the actual percentage assigned ultimately depends on each veteran’s individual situation and the details of their medical documentation, having a better grasp of the steps and procedures involved, particularly what’s inside the DBQ or “Disability Benefits Questionnaire,” empowers veterans with the knowledge needed for advocating their deserved support.
What’s Included Inside the DBQ?
One example is breaking down exactly what’s included within the sections inside the DBQ. This would include sharing the common types of symptoms, their expected frequency, and how much they impair veterans in work, relationships, and performing daily tasks. Remember, although VA provides guidance using specific wording within the DBQ, you must focus on being transparent and specific to your circumstance. Use details to “bring to life” how YOUR PTSD symptoms make you unable to work or perform tasks, focusing on what makes you more debilitated as a direct result of your military trauma and the unique situations that exacerbate it. Also, remember to utilize other online resources, including this helpful article on PTSD for extra guidance and tips.
What Goes Inside the Sections of the PTSD DBQ
Let’s go deeper into the different sections found in the DBQ for PTSD:
Section 1 – Diagnostic Criteria
Section one, often labelled as “Diagnosis for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”, ensures that a licensed mental health professional (Psychiatrist, psychologist, etc) is utilizing the DSM-V for verifying a true diagnosis. They will use specific criteria broken into six subcategories: Criteria A – F, using details from their interviews with you along with reviewing all medical records available.
| DSM-V Criteria | Details of Diagnosis | Typical Symptoms |
|---|---|---|
| Criterion A: Stressor | You have been exposed to a life-threatening or terrifying event. | Witnessing death, feeling helpless in a terrifying situation, experiencing or being threatened with physical violence (this includes training accidents). You also may experience it secondhand like being notified that someone you are close to was involved. |
| Criterion B: Intrusive Memories | Recurring unwanted and distressing thoughts or mental images from the event come into your mind without warning, especially when exposed to reminders, even small ones. | Unwanted thoughts or images that feel “stuck,” flashbacks, bad dreams, emotional and/or physical discomfort or even physical reactions when facing ANYTHING that triggers reminders (could be smells, sounds, situations, words). |
| Criterion C: Avoidance | To deal with this constant distress, your mind finds ways to avoid or numb things out. However, this avoidance ends up making life really small, creating more problems with relationships, social functioning, work performance, and generally avoiding a lot of healthy activities needed for daily life. | Do you stay away from locations, events, or anything that might trigger unwanted PTSD memories or emotions? Perhaps you numb yourself out with alcohol, drugs, medication, food, or TV so you don’t have to think or feel the discomfort as strongly. Maybe your family notes this: “We barely go out now because his PTSD makes him think every car backfiring or screeching tires is a bomb going off; it can send him into panic attacks and fits of intense paranoia.” |
| Criterion D: Negative Thoughts or Feelings | Your entire view of yourself, the world, other people becomes tainted because this trauma changed you on a deep level, leaving you feeling different from before and often “disconnected.” | Are you more angry, on-edge, fearful, jumpy than you were before the trauma? Do you trust people easily, believe you or other people are innately good? Perhaps your buddy from service shares this sentiment: “He was such an outgoing, positive, sociable guy before those events but when we got back, something had broken. It’s almost like a switch flipped – he’s easily startled, gets enraged over nothing, jumps ten feet high at the smallest sound. The worst part is seeing that utter hopelessness, the ‘what’s the point?’ feeling in his eyes; the guy I served with – he vanished that day.” |
| Criterion E: Increased Reactivity | This means the symptoms from criteria B-D make life really difficult. You don’t have this relaxed calmness to you, instead every tiny thing can become amplified, leaving you constantly keyed-up, watchful, waiting for “something bad” to happen. Your central nervous system never really dials back to “normal” leaving you living in a constant state of anticipatory panic. This hyperarousal affects everything. | Your kids say they avoid asking Dad questions because he snaps at them. Simple things like doing the dishes or even talking can turn into anger outbursts, not on purpose but PTSD changed his threshold for tolerating those simple frustrations we all encounter every day. People might say things like, “He’s lost all ability to regulate – the smallest thing turns into rage, shutting down, or going into these intense anxiety spirals.” |
| Criterion F: Severity and Duration | These symptoms (Criteria B through E) need to have gone on for longer than just the first month after experiencing a stressful event AND those difficulties cause problems with things like job performance, daily tasks, relationships, hobbies, or other things you enjoyed. | Does your therapist state: “While their symptoms fluctuated, these patterns of avoidance, negative thoughts, and difficulty regulating emotion became their baseline functioning in all areas. These difficulties lasted far longer than just a typical post-trauma reaction which would’ve faded over a shorter time frame. They also showed a pattern of relapse with periods of brief symptom improvement followed by slipping back into extreme severity when triggered or exposed to even minor stressors in the work environment or at home.” |
If this resonates with you, remember that it’s vital for those applying for ptsd va disability to receive a proper and accurate diagnosis. When completing a VA PTSD disability evaluation, your diagnosis using these guidelines serves as confirmation for the raters.
Section 2: Symptomatology and Severity
VA Disability PTSD evaluations typically have this labeled as “Disability Evaluation for PTSD” which assesses and objectively measures your PTSD. Remember, there’s no guarantee you will receive the higher percentage listed within a rating category, and there’s often some subjectivity and personal opinion from the examiner involved. Your symptoms determine what rating the VA will grant your disability benefits. Therefore, it’s vital you’re describing how your PTSD makes it impossible for you to maintain a normal job, socialize, or take care of your basic needs like preparing meals, remembering appointments, driving without causing accidents, or leaving the house on days your symptoms peak in intensity and frequency. Think of things a rater cannot easily verify through medical evidence, so their opinions of your disability claims must be supported by descriptive, subjective details demonstrating this extreme impact.
For this, it helps to use powerful word choices that resonate with the examiner, reflecting a real, subjective “feel” of YOUR life, NOT a clinical summary of DSM criteria. For example, describing “disturbing memories from service” can be elaborated as:
- “Those traumatic scenes come flooding back. Every time someone yells I flinch like they’re firing at me, bracing for impact, ducking, covering my head… Years out of service and these experiences hijack my whole body; there’s no conscious control, it just happens instantly. That involuntary response can make every normal workplace conflict feel terrifying; I react poorly, lash out, which is why employers say I’m too unstable or explosive. Socially? Same story; it feels like these grenades in my brain always have the pins pulled; everyone’s just waiting to see when and where those blasts happen. Then afterwards? This wave of shame, guilt hits me. How can a soldier be terrified of an argument at the grocery store?”
Here’s an overview table explaining the different levels of PTSD :
| VA Disability Percentage for PTSD | Associated Difficulties | Impacts on Life |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | Typically associated with transient symptoms like a few bad dreams a month or mild moodiness; symptoms do NOT significantly impact relationships, work, or your ability to care for basic needs, although there might be occasional, short bursts of these difficulties that happen rarely and then things return back to normal. | Your overall level of function remains relatively OK for the majority of the month with brief dips rarely lasting beyond a few hours or a day, then those difficulties improve spontaneously, resolving even without medication. This doesn’t mean symptoms vanish entirely at this level because it just means the effects aren’t usually so bad. They can, however, get worse and your ability to manage them might diminish without help so it’s vital you have an advocate (usually your therapist or counselor) who understands these intricacies to document those details in your records in case future adjustments are required. |
| 30% | This reflects experiencing several of the main PTSD symptoms that interfere more persistently in work and social interactions. | You probably avoid certain places or situations, maybe driving over bridges reminds you too strongly of IED placement or being ambushed on deserted highways during deployment. Certain smells (diesel exhaust) or sounds (sudden bangs) can send your nervous system back into combat mode, creating surges of fight-or-flight and the accompanying anxiety that you never quite “settle back down” from. So instead of enjoying an evening at the carnival, every loud sound makes you convinced a mortar’s about to hit because that’s how PTSD changes the way you interpret your world, creating this constant, low level unease underneath even things you want to enjoy. The symptoms might improve to the 10% level from time to time, maybe with help of medication or maybe spontaneously. Although your current medical care providers could say this isn’t the perfect “treatment success” we’re hoping for, documenting how these difficulties persist even WITH medication reinforces the impact these service-connected experiences continue to have, even though the symptoms might wax and wane in intensity and duration. If things feel hopeless because PTSD is dictating your world too often – this is often when an experienced disability lawyer’s insight is crucial, empowering veterans with legal recourse when these subjective situations leave you trapped. |
| 50% | Symptoms affect your behavior and functioning more intensely, impacting several areas in both social AND occupational situations. This means most weeks you struggle, unable to sustain those “bursts” of being relatively functional that were possible with lower percentage ratings. | This rating indicates a tipping point because what’s at stake now are daily tasks. The ability to simply get through the work day becomes significantly more challenging. Those social and emotional anxieties now cause tangible consequences and at this level you can forget the “once-in-a-while” type of impact with the lower disability rating ranges for ptsd. Now, getting dinner made on days you experience flashbacks, remembering a crucial meeting with your child’s teacher, even maintaining decent hygiene – those basic things slip. Anger control becomes a major issue, although your intent might never involve harming yourself or others, your reactions (avoiding parties with friends, snapping at family members over small annoyances) demonstrate a notable shift. |
| 70% | Now your thoughts and mood are seriously disrupted. Persistent depression and severe difficulty controlling anger are all standard. Maybe you’ve had thoughts of suicide; feeling disconnected from loved ones makes you start asking what the point of it all is, losing your purpose, sense of meaning in life. The intrusive thoughts get more frequent so your wife mentions: “It’s like his mind is always trapped on those missions. He wakes up convinced it’s Iraq and starts arguing in Arabic before realizing I’m here – not in the barracks… This can happen dozens of times in a week, which creates fear. It’s like PTSD hijacked the person I love.” The most surprising element at the 70% rating level is that your symptoms can still vary, there might be short, temporary periods when you’re back at the 30 or even 10% range, but now the defining issue is the ability to maintain consistent employment. This is the key element the VA uses when considering your application for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). The impact now is occupational and those at a 70 percent VA disability rating could end up receiving full compensation despite NOT completely fitting the specific criteria found in the 100% level because TDIU recognizes that working even ONE normal 8 hour work day can be nearly impossible for veterans struggling this intensely with PTSD. | Although TDIU for PTSD sounds confusing because it’s technically NOT found on the PTSD disability rating scale, this option helps prevent even more denials of disability claims, making receiving deserved support much more achievable for veterans who need help most, especially when symptoms don’t stay the same. These complex nuances of the TDIU system for veterans make it clear that an attorney who understands what types of legal and personal testimony convince VA reviewers, dramatically empowers veterans struggling in silence while navigating these subjective complexities. |
| 100% | Complete occupational AND social impairment. This rating signifies an extremely challenging PTSD presentation involving constant care, difficulty maintaining basic needs (remember our shower or meeting example), or you may be a danger to yourself and others. Hallucinations and paranoid delusions are all possibilities, you might experience dissociative symptoms like having almost no recollection of a large portion of the day (your wife will have to confirm what you said or did during your flashbacks because those time frames are a blank). You also might think: “It feels like my memories are the only things still trapped in service. Leaving the house is an unbearable trial – hypervigilance keeps me scanning, braced for enemy fire even though I’m just at the grocery store, sweating, pacing every aisle. Social gatherings make those intrusive, terrifying thoughts come flooding in even worse so I completely shut down and can’t function even in basic ways. This causes more problems because those who have NEVER had their mind and body ravaged by wartime PTSD just tell me to relax and get over it already; they make light of what they haven’t experienced so receiving any genuine support seems hopeless.” | If any of that rings true for you – don’t give up. Remember: PTSD, regardless of where it originated, deserves to be seen and given respect. The sacrifices military personnel made when their safety was jeopardized serving this country – whether directly through combat, or as victims of personal assault during service (MST, etc) – their trauma leaves indelible marks. Even though those injuries are often unseen by others, ptsd leaves wounds that go much deeper. They can become ingrained, hijacking the mind, impacting daily activities in countless small and subtle ways for a lifetime, or until treatment offers reprieve. Therefore, successfully achieving full support when it’s needed requires knowledge of this unique situation, understanding both the emotional and practical toll this complex disorder has upon individuals struggling long after returning home from service. Although it would be amazing if more than just your doctor genuinely “got” it, you are entitled to resources designed to mitigate at least some of those lasting repercussions and hopefully empower a real sense of empowerment on your healing journey. |
FAQs about PTSD VA Disability
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as of 2023, the average VA disability rating for PTSD is around 70 percent.
The VA uses a much wider range of symptoms when determining a PTSD rating for disability benefits, which can be seen on their DBQ, Disability Benefits Questionnaire, used for evaluating your individual case. However, here are 7 common symptoms veterans often report when struggling with PTSD as a result of Military Service:
1. Recurrent, intrusive memories of the traumatic event
2. Avoidance of situations or even people, places or conversations that bring up reminders of that stressful event
3. Difficulty falling or staying asleep because those traumatic scenes repeat in vivid nightmares, disrupting sleep several times per week, affecting overall function.
4. Anger outbursts even from minimal frustrations like spilled coffee because what appears as a trivial trigger can transport veterans’ nervous systems back to that past, terrifying, uncontrolled experience (this is how the brain “re-experiences” trauma through even the smallest triggers).
5. Feeling hypervigilant or jumpy at normal sounds because those loud bangs or even tires screeching transport you right back to combat
