VA Diagnostic Code 9413Unspecified anxiety disorder

Unspecified Anxiety Disorder (VA Diagnostic Code 9413)

Understanding How the VA Rates Unspecified Anxiety Disorder

Unspecified anxiety disorder is a mental health condition evaluated under VA Diagnostic Code 9413, part of the Mental Disorders body system found in 38 CFR § 4.130. Like other mental health conditions, it is rated using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.

Rather than focusing on a single symptom, the VA looks at how the condition affects your day-to-day functioning — specifically your ability to work and to maintain social and family relationships. The greater the level of occupational and social impairment, the higher the rating.

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Available Rating Levels

The condition can be assigned one of six rating levels. The examples of symptoms listed at each level are illustrations of what may support that rating — they are not a checklist requirement.

100% — Total Occupational and Social Impairment

Assigned when there is total occupational and social impairment. This may be shown through symptoms such 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 maintaining minimal personal hygiene)
• Disorientation to time or place
• Memory loss for names of close relatives, one's own occupation, or one's own name

70% — Deficiencies in Most Areas

Assigned when there is occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas — such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. This may be shown through symptoms such as:

• Suicidal ideation
• Obsessional rituals that interfere with routine activities
• Speech that is 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 adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a work-like setting)
• Inability to establish and maintain effective relationships

50% — Reduced Reliability and Productivity

Assigned when there is occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity. This may be shown through symptoms such as:

• Flattened affect
• Circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech
• Panic attacks more than once a week
• Difficulty understanding complex commands
• Impairment of short- and long-term memory (for example, retaining only highly learned material or forgetting to complete tasks)
• Impaired judgment
• Impaired abstract thinking
• Disturbances of motivation and mood
• Difficulty establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships

30% — Occasional Decrease in Work Efficiency

Assigned when there is occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks — while generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal. This may be shown through symptoms such as:

• Depressed mood
• Anxiety
• Suspiciousness
• Panic attacks (weekly or less often)
• Chronic sleep impairment
• Mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, or recent events)

10% — Mild or Transient Symptoms

Assigned when occupational and social impairment is due to mild or transient symptoms that decrease work efficiency and the ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or when symptoms are controlled by continuous medication.

0% — Diagnosed, But Not Impairing

Assigned when 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.

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What the VA Looks For

When rating unspecified anxiety disorder, the VA focuses on the degree of occupational and social impairment your symptoms cause — how they affect your ability to work and maintain relationships. The symptoms listed at each level serve as examples that help illustrate the overall severity of impairment being described.