Updated June 3, 2026
The most common high-value claim. Stop settling for 30% when the evidence supports 70% or 100%. TYFYS helps organize PTSD, anxiety, depression, DBQ, nexus, and lay-statement proof around the rating criteria VA actually reviews.
Mental health claims like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, and Anxiety are subjective. The VA C&P examiners often spend less than 15 minutes with you, so key symptoms that separate a 30% rating from a 70% rating never make it into the record.
The Solution: Our private psychologists document occupational and social impairment, frequency of panic attacks, work disruption, family impact, and persistent danger factors so the exact 50%, 70%, and 100% criteria are clearly supported in your DBQ.
We match you with a doctor who drafts a Nexus Letter that connects your military stressor to your current symptoms, explicitly tying your diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to in-service events. This closes the “service connection” gap that blocks so many claims.
Secondary issues like insomnia-driven Sleep Apnea, migraine headaches, and TMJ or bruxism secondary to PTSD often stem from PTSD and anxiety. If a head injury is also in the record, use the TBI residuals evidence checklist to keep PTSD overlap, headaches, dizziness, and cognitive symptoms separated. We include secondary issues in your evidence packet so you can pursue combined ratings without starting over.
VA rates mental disorders under 38 C.F.R. section 4.130. The claim file needs more than a diagnosis: it should show work impairment, social impairment, symptom frequency, medication effects, safety concerns, treatment history, and how those facts appear in the DBQ and lay evidence.
Quick answers
VA rates PTSD and most mental health conditions by occupational and social impairment under 38 C.F.R. section 4.130. The file should connect symptoms to work impact, relationship impact, treatment history, medication effects, safety concerns, and the DBQ findings VA reviews.
Useful PTSD DBQ evidence can include diagnosis history, stressor information, therapy or medication records, panic or sleep frequency, missed-work examples, safety concerns, and buddy statements from people who observe daily function.
VA usually evaluates overlapping mental health symptoms together instead of assigning separate ratings for the same impairment. Use the VA pyramiding rule checklist when the record needs to separate distinct secondary physical conditions from overlapping mental health symptoms.
A witness should describe observable changes: isolation, panic episodes, missed work, sleep disruption, irritability, memory problems, unsafe behavior, relationship strain, or needing help with daily tasks. The statement should not try to diagnose the veteran.
"I was rated at 30% for PTSD for 8 years. The psychologist they connected me with documented how it affected my work. Rating increased to 70%."
— Christopher L., Army Veteran
Combat or non-combat stressors. If you are trying to prove worsening symptoms, start with the VA rating increase evidence checklist.
Often secondary to physical pain. See the chronic pain depression evidence checklist.
Service-connected stress. If tinnitus is part of the record, use the anxiety secondary to tinnitus checklist.
Evidence map
Use this page as the mental-health hub. The specific guides below carry the detail for the evidence paths Google is already surfacing: PTSD rating criteria, mental health DBQs, secondary anxiety or depression, chronic pain overlap, and statements that prove occupational and social impairment.
Organize occupational and social impairment, panic frequency, safety concerns, and missed-work facts.
Secondary depressionSeparate pain-driven mood symptoms, treatment history, nexus facts, and functional limits.
Secondary anxietyConnect tinnitus symptoms, sleep disruption, panic, concentration problems, and medical opinions.
Chronic symptomsKeep chronic physical symptoms, mental-health overlap, and DBQ evidence from getting blurred.
Lay evidenceWrite a direct statement that ties symptoms to work, relationships, safety, and daily function.
Witness evidenceUse spouse, coworker, supervisor, or roommate observations to show real-world impairment.