How to Get the Highest Rating for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD

Hi. Welcome to another edition of CCK Live. Today, we're going to be discussing how to get the highest rating for your PTSD. So, the highest possible rating for post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is 100%. A 100% rating means that a veteran's symptoms are so severe that they are totally impaired and unable to function in their daily life. The Department of Veterans Affairs uses the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders or 38 CFR 4.130 to rate all service-connected mental health conditions, including PTSD, with the exception of eating disorders. VA assigns PTSD either a 0, 10, 30, 50, 70, or 100% disability rating. Now, these ratings are based on the level of social and occupational impairment, as well as the frequency, duration, and severity of symptoms. To qualify for the highest rating, veterans must meet VA's criteria for a 100% rating by showing 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, an intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living, including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene, disorientation to time or place, and memory loss for close names of close relatives, own occupation, or your own name. Now, symptoms listed in this rating criteria and in our video are not exhaustive. They are instead meant to serve as a general framework for the type and degree of symptoms a veteran may experience. If your PTSD presents in a different way, you can still qualify for a 100% disability rating for PTSD. In general, if you believe that your VA rating for PTSD is too low or if your symptoms have worsened since the initial rating decision that granted you service connection for PTSD, you can request an increased rating in a few different ways. So, first, if you're within the deadline for a rating decision that adjudicated the rating for your PTSD, you can file an appeal of that decision seeking an increased rating as long as you do so within the deadline to appeal that decision, which is typically going to be one year. If you're not within the deadline for a decision that addressed your PTSD, you can also file a new claim of seeking an increased rating for the PTSD. And lastly, if you believe that your PTSD itself is appropriately rated, you can still file a claim seeking secondary service connection if you have symptoms or conditions resulting from the PTSD that isn't contemplated by the rating criteria for PTSD that Matt discussed. So, for example, you can develop sleep apnea, hypertension, GERD, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, erectile dysfunction, and many other conditions secondary to PTSD. And if you do have a condition that you believe is due to PTSD, you can file a claim seeking service connection for that condition, which could help increase your overall combined rating. So, we're going to go over three helpful tips for getting a high VA rating for your PTSD. The first tip we're going to go over is highlighting specific symptoms. So, if you're looking for 100% for your PTSD or looking for an increased rating for your PTSD in general, you should show that you are experiencing symptoms at the severity of VA's 100% rating criteria. While you don't need to show every symptom in order to qualify for the 100% rating criteria or even for a 70 or a 50, you can point to the relevant symptoms that you're experiencing and how they negatively affect your daily life. You can do this through a lay statement or even providing VA with some additional medical evidence. The second tip we're going to provide is using lay statements. As mentioned before, veterans can use lay statements to directly attest to symptoms that they experience on a regular basis, how severe the symptoms are, and how they may hinder your ability to function in social and occupational settings. Statements from friends, family, or coworkers who are familiar with your situation can also help to indicate the severity of your symptoms and also provide VA with a clearer disability picture for what exactly you're experiencing because of your PTSD. The last tip we're going to go over is preparing for your compensation and pension exam. Whether you're requesting an increased rating for your PTSD or you're being evaluated for your initial disability rating, VA often and more frequently uses compensation and pension exams to help determine your disability rating. Veterans should be honest and forthcoming about how their PTSD affects their everyday life in order to ensure that they are going to receive the most accurate rating if and when they do get granted service connection for that condition. This is essential to attend all scheduled compensation and pension examinations as VA may use the failure to report to a C&P exam to deny your claim. If you're unable to attend one of these C&P exams, we would advise that you inform VA as soon as possible to hopefully get this rescheduled. Now, sometimes a scheduler 100% rating for TDIU can be difficult to obtain. Now, TDIU or total disability based on individual unemployability is another avenue to secure the highest rating for PTSD. If your PTSD impairs your ability to work, you may be eligible for this benefit. TDIU is a VA benefit that pays veterans at the 100% rate if their service connected conditions prevent them from securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment. TDIU offers compensation at the 100% rating level without needing a scheduler 100% combined rating. In order to qualify, your PTSD must be rated at 60% or higher on its own or you must have a combined rating of 70% or higher and at least one of those disabilities must be rated at 40% or higher. If you do not meet the eligibility requirements listed above, but you cannot work due to your PTSD, you may still qualify for TDIU on an extra scheduler basis. Employment records and or lay statements can be helpful to prove your unemployability due to your PTSD. So, that concludes our video for today. If you're interested in learning more about service connection and ratings for PTSD, you can check out our extensive video on PTSD ratings, which we'll link to. And be sure to like the video and subscribe for more veteran-related content in the future. Thank you for watching.