The mental health C&P exam is conducted by a psychologist or psychiatrist and typically lasts 60 to 90 minutes. The examiner completes a Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) for mental health conditions that evaluates your symptoms and their impact on occupational and social functioning. Understanding the exam structure helps you prepare to present your condition accurately.
The examiner will cover several areas: your military service history and stressor events, current symptoms and their frequency and severity, mental health treatment history (therapy, medications, hospitalizations), occupational history and how symptoms affect work, social functioning and relationships, and daily activities and self-care.
The examiner assesses your symptoms against the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. They will note which symptoms are present, their severity, and the overall level of occupational and social impairment. The examiner selects one of the six rating levels (0% through 100%) that best describes your functioning.
Preparation tips: write down your symptoms before the exam, including frequency and specific examples of how they affect your life. Bring a list of medications and dosages. Consider bringing a written statement from a family member who observes your daily functioning. Do not minimize your symptoms — many veterans underreport out of stoicism or because they have adapted to living with their condition. Describe your worst and most typical days, not just the day of the exam.
Specific things to address if they apply to you: sleep disruption (how many hours, nightmares, frequency), social withdrawal (do you avoid people, places, crowds), occupational impact (missed work, conflicts, inability to concentrate), relationship effects (divorce, estrangement, difficulty maintaining friendships), hypervigilance and startle response, irritability and anger, memory and concentration problems, and any thoughts of self-harm (report honestly — this is clinically important and relevant to the rating criteria).
After the exam, request a copy of the DBQ through your VA.gov account. Review it for accuracy — if the examiner did not document symptoms you reported, or if the findings do not match what you described, this information is important for any appeal.
Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).