Free case reviews for Illinois veterans
Rating guide · Mental health

Depression & Anxiety: Where It Started Matters

For some veterans the low mood or constant worry began in uniform. For others it crept in later, after an injury that never healed right or a career cut short. Either path can lead to a service-connected rating.

Start My Free Case Review VA Pay Calculator

Service vs. secondary
The rating formula
One combined rating
Exam day notes

Get Your Free Case Review

Takes 60 seconds. No obligation.

I need help with…

First Claim Increase Denied / Appeal

First name

Last name

Phone

Town (IL)

Current VA rating

Branch

Secure & private. We never ask for your SSN on this form.

Thank you!

A member of our team will reach out within one business day to schedule your free case review.

Veteran-OwnedRun by people who’ve served

Free Case ReviewNo cost to talk with us

Phone & VideoNo office visit needed

All of IllinoisRock Island, Moline & beyond

If it’s heavy tonight

Help Is One Call Away

Reach the Veterans Crisis Line any hour, free and confidential: dial 988, then press 1, text 838255, or use the chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net. In the Quad Cities, the Vet Center in East Moline offers individual, group and family counseling, separate from the VA clinic in Davenport.

Service connection

Two Routes to a Connection

Straight from your service

Evidence might be mental health visits on active duty, a clear before-and-after around a particular deployment or event, or a high-stress job that wore you down. Letters from family or friends who saw the change carry real weight.

Caused or worsened by another rated condition

This route fits a large share of Illinois veterans. When an already service-connected back, knee, tinnitus, migraine or TBI rating led to depression or anxiety, or made it worse, the mental health condition can be claimed as secondary. What wins it is a medical opinion that spells out the link.

38 CFR 4.130

The Mental Health Rating Scale

Every mental health diagnosis is measured against this one general formula. Amounts are 2026 monthly pay for a single veteran.

Criteria as of October 2026. Pay rates effective December 1, 2025; a spouse or children raise the amount at 30% and higher.
Rating	VA criteria	2026 pay (alone)
100%	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.	$3,938.58
70%	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 worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships.	$1,808.45
50%	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.	$1,132.90
30%	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).	$552.47
10%	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.	$180.42
0%	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.	$0.00

Good to know

Several Diagnoses, a Single Percentage

If you carry depression, an anxiety disorder and PTSD at once, the VA still issues just one mental health rating, sized to the total impact. That makes it important for the examiner to hear everything. Before your appointment, jot down each symptom, how often it hits, and what it has cost you: missed shifts, strained relationships, things you’ve stopped doing.

FAQ

Depression & Anxiety VA Rating: Common Questions

Could my service-connected knee make my depression claimable?

Yes. If the knee is already service-connected and a medical opinion ties your depression to it, depression can be granted as secondary.

I never saw anyone for mental health in the military. Is that a problem?

Not for a secondary claim. A current diagnosis plus a medical opinion linking it to a service-connected condition is the core of that claim.

Why didn’t the VA rate my anxiety and depression separately?

Mental health conditions are rated together under one formula, so overlapping diagnoses produce one rating based on overall impairment.

Will being on medication hurt my rating?

No, not on its own. Symptoms controlled by continuous medication support at least 10%, and higher levels reflect the impairment that remains.

Illinois Veterans: Get the Rating You Earned

Start with a free, no-obligation case review. It takes about a minute.

Start My Free Review