Receiving TDIU Benefits for PTSD
Many veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, struggle to maintain consistent employment, even if their schedular rating isn’t 100%. Fortunately, the VA’s Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability benefit, or TDIU, allows for 100% compensation even if a veteran’s disabilities don’t add up to 100%. PTSD is one of the conditions that frequently underlie TDIU claims.
VA Unemployability is a special disability benefit that helps veterans struggling with employment due to their disabilities. It provides financial support through monthly payments, helping veterans and their dependents stay financially afloat during difficult times. If a veteran can’t work because of service-related PTSD, they may qualify for TDIU, allowing them to receive the same benefits as a veteran with a 100% disability rating.
What Is TDIU?
Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability provides compensation at the 100% VA disability rate, even if a veteran’s service-connected disabilities are rated below that level.
You may be eligible for TDIU if you can’t maintain substantially gainful employment due to your service-connected disability. Under VA guidelines, “substantially gainful employment” means full-time employment with a wage greater than the poverty level.
To qualify for TDIU, you must also meet one of the following criteria:
- You have at least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more.
- You have multiple service-connected disabilities with a combined rating of at least 70% and at least one rated at 40% or higher.
Under these criteria, a veteran does not necessarily need to be 60% or more disabled by PTSD alone. Secondary conditions combined with a PTSD diagnosis may be enough to reach the 70% total threshold. Receiving TDIU status does not change your underlying schedular rating. Instead, you receive compensation at the same rate as a 100% disabled veteran despite having a lower rating.
How PTSD Can Support a TDIU Claim
To determine whether a veteran with PTSD qualifies for TDIU, the VA will consider factors such as work history and symptoms. Veterans must demonstrate why their PTSD—and any other disabling conditions—make them unable to maintain substantially gainful employment. Veterans must provide medical evidence, such as medical records demonstrating the severity of their symptoms, employment records showing a history of terminations or short-term employment, and witness testimony regarding their condition and symptoms.
To qualify for TDIU for PTSD, you’d need to be rated at a minimum of 50% for PTSD with at least one other condition that combines to 70% or more. You could also receive a VA rating of 70% for PTSD alone and qualify. If your PTSD still impacts your ability to work but is rated at less than 40%, another condition could still qualify you as long as that condition is rated at 40% or more.
Meeting the Schedular Thresholds with PTSD
If PTSD is your sole service-connected disability, you generally need a 60% or higher rating to qualify for schedular TDIU. However, because PTSD is rated in odd increments, many veterans with severe PTSD may already have 70% ratings due to symptom severity. If PTSD is combined with other service-connected disabilities, you may qualify if the combined rating is at least 70% with at least one condition rated at 40% or more.
At a 50% rating, veterans may have reduced reliability and productivity due to symptoms such as memory issues, panic attacks, impaired judgment, mood disturbances, and difficulty maintaining work and social relationships. At 70%, veterans may exhibit deficiencies in most areas, including work, school, family, judgment, thinking, and mood.
Showing That PTSD Prevents Work
To prove that your PTSD prevents you from keeping a job, you must show how your symptoms interfere with reliability, attendance, ability to complete tasks, relationships at work, and stress tolerance. Lay statements from family, caretakers, and coworkers describing observed impairment can support your case. Additionally, private medical opinions or treating mental health provider assessments that tie PTSD symptomatology to occupational limitations are beneficial. Opinions from vocational experts may also help compare the demands of specific jobs to your functional limitations under PTSD.
It’s important to note that being considered disabled from substantially gainful employment doesn’t mean you can’t work at all. Rather, it means that the amount or type of work you can do is limited and infrequent enough to net wages below the annual poverty threshold.
Extraschedular Consideration for PTSD
Due to high rates of PTSD among veterans, the VA created a schedular disability rating system for PTSD that determines the rate of compensation granted to those with PTSD. If your PTSD does not meet the schedular thresholds, you might qualify for extraschedular TDIU on a case-by-case basis if your symptom picture is exceptional or unusual. In those cases, you must clearly show why your PTSD is more disabling than the rating schedule contemplates.
Evidence & Documentation Needed in a PTSD TDIU Claim
Service connection for PTSD requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition in accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, or DSM-5. If a veteran has been diagnosed with PTSD, they must also prove a link, established by medical evidence, between their symptoms and an in-service stressor.
To prove your diagnosis, service connection, and unemployability due to PTSD, you can use the following evidence and documentation:
- VA C-file records, including all mental health treatment, hospitalizations, therapy notes, and medication history
- Statements and reports from treating psychiatrists/psychologists explaining how PTSD affects daily work functions
- PTSD Disability Benefits Questionnaire forms and DBQ evaluations. Use the official PTSD DBQ.
- VA C&P exam: Be prepared to fully describe your symptoms and their functional impact.
- Lay evidence: Statements from family, friends, supervisors, and coworkers
- Employment & education history: Work record, performance reviews, reasons for leaving or job changes
- Vocational or nexus reports comparing job requirements to your functional limitations
Let Us Help You Connect the Dots
When properly documented to show it interferes with work, PTSD can be a strong basis for TDIU. However, meeting schedular thresholds, providing strong functional evidence, and receiving tailored medical opinions are critical. If you or a loved one is a veteran suffering from PTSD that inhibits the ability to work, review your records, gather evidence, and consider seeking outside assistance to help build your claim.
At Veterans Guide, we’re committed to advocating for U.S. service members and veterans, ensuring they can access the benefits and support they’ve earned through their sacrifice and service. We help disabled veterans raise their VA disability rating, appeal a denied VA disability claim, and learn more about other potential benefits.
If you need assistance building your PTSD TDIU claim or raising your disability rating for PTSD, contact Veterans Guide today.
Client Reviews
ANN WILLIAMS SHELLY DONNETT'E Want to Increase Your VA Rating?
