Adjustment Disorders Veterans Benefits

VA Compensation for Adjustment Disorders — Everything You Need To Know

If you were diagnosed with adjustment disorder during your military service or after serving in the military, you could be eligible for Veterans Affairs (VA) disability. If you apply and get approved for VA disability for adjustment disorder, you could begin receiving monthly compensation and other benefits. An experienced VA disability benefits advocate can help you submit a strong initial claim or compelling appeal for adjustment disorder veterans’ benefits.

For a consultation, call today at (888) 373-4722.

Receiving VA Disability Benefits for Adjustment Disorder

Adjustment disorder is a psychological disorder that sometimes arises in response to a stressful event, such as a major life change or the loss of a loved one.

Signs and Symptoms of Adjustment Disorder

Change can be stressful for anyone. For most of us, that stress is relatively short-lived and manageable. For a person with an adjustment disorder, the impact of that stress is much more severe, and doesn’t necessarily resolve as time passes.

Adjustment disorder can be difficult to recognize, because many of the symptoms are also common to other mental health disorders. Some of the most common include:

Hopelessness
Loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy
Excessive worry
Trouble concentrating
Withdrawing from friends and family
Failing to attend to important tasks
Not eating enough
Irritability
Difficulty sleeping
Suicidal ideations

While the response to a particular stressor is typically temporary, the symptoms may last for months. And, sometimes they don’t appear right away, making it more difficult to recognize the link between the stressful event and the reaction.

Building a Strong VA Disability Claim for Adjustment Disorder

To establish a VA disability claim for adjustment disorder or any other disability, you must establish two things: that you have a valid diagnosis, and that your condition is service-connected. To ensure that you receive the maximum benefits you are entitled to, you will also have to present evidence of the severity of your disorder.

You Have a Valid Diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder

You first have to present a valid diagnosis of adjustment disorder from a doctor or mental health professional. Our advocacy group reviews all your medical records, doctors’ statements, and other evidence to obtain supporting documentation that makes it clear you meet the diagnosis requirement.

If the record seems as if it may be insufficient to support your diagnosis or the appropriate VA rating for adjustment disorder, we may recommend that you undergo additional testing or seek out additional evidence before submitting your claim.

Your Adjustment Disorder Is Related to Your Military Service

You and your advocate must also establish that your condition is connected to a specific event that took place during your military service or that your condition started (or was aggravated) during your military service.

One key element in establishing a service connection for most disabilities is a nexus letter. That’s a letter from a medical professional explaining the likely connection between your military service and your current medical condition. Other relevant documentation may include records of an event that occurred during service that you believe triggered the condition, medical records showing when the condition first emerged, and even supporting statements from friends, family, or people you served with describing when they first observed changes in you.

Your VA disability benefits advocate will help you determine what type of evidence will be most effective in your case and how to obtain it.

VA Criteria for a Disability

To decide whether you are eligible for benefits based on adjustment disorder, the VA will consider how seriously your condition affects your quality of life and ability to function. In other words, does your condition keep you from working and/or otherwise impact your day to day life? And if so, to what extent?

For most conditions, including adjustment disorder, the VA uses schedules found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to make that assessment. Adjustment disorder is assessed using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. The possible ratings for mental health conditions alone are 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 100%. Here’s are the factors the VA is considering to assign a VA rating for adjustment disorder:

100% rating: “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.”
70% rating: “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 work-like setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships.”
50% rating: “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.”
30% rating: “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).”
10% rating: “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.”
0% rating: “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.”

VA Compensation for Adjustment Disorder

The types of VA disability benefits you receive and the amount of your monthly monetary benefits depend largely on your VA disability rating. Here are the 2025 VA compensation rates for each of the possible ratings for adjustment disorder.

0% disability rating: No monetary compensation, but the veteran is entitled to healthcare services for the service-connected condition and a few other benefits
10% disability rating: $175.51/month in monetary benefits, along with healthcare for the service-connected condition and other benefits
30% disability rating: $537.42/month in monetary benefits, along with healthcare for the service-connected condition and other benefits
50% disability rating: $1,102.04/month in monetary benefits, along with comprehensive healthcare services and other benefits
70% disability rating: $1,759.19/month in monetary benefits, along with comprehensive healthcare services and other benefits
100% disability rating: $3,831.30/month in monetary benefits, along with comprehensive healthcare services and other benefits

Note that these monthly benefit amounts are base rates, meaning they are for the veteran alone. Veterans with a VA disability rating of 30% or higher are also entitled to a small increase in benefits for each eligible dependent. If a 100% disability rating is considered permanent, there are additional benefits available, including educational and healthcare benefits for eligible dependents.

Let a VA Disability Advocate Fight for the Benefits You Deserve

When our advocates take your VA disability case and start building your appeal for benefits, they do so with two goals in mind. First, they want to make sure you get approved, preferably on the first try. Second, they want to ensure that you are providing the right documentation to get the highest appropriate disability rating to maximize your benefits.

Whether you’re just starting your claim for VA disability for adjustment disorder or you need to appeal a negative decision, we can help. Call us today at (888) 373-4722 or fill out our contact form here to learn more.