Anxiety Disorder, OCD and Panic at the Military Medical Board

The short answer: anxiety disorder, panic attacks and OCD are all assessed under a single article, 17 of the Schedule of Diseases — as neurotic disorders. The category is determined not by the label but by severity and duration: moderately pronounced disorders, whether prolonged or short-lived, yield category V in column I. Only clause «g» leaves you fit — a mild short-lived adjustment disorder that ended in recovery.

Which fitness category anxiety disorders yield

Article 17, "Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders", covers neurotic, dissociative and somatoform disorders, reactive psychoses, psychogenic depressive states and PTSD. Obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders belong here too.

For a conscript, clauses «b» and «v» produce the same result — category V. The difference appears in column III, where «b» keeps V and «v» gives B.

Panic attacks: what exactly must be recorded

Panic attacks have no separate line in the Schedule — they are assessed as a manifestation of an anxiety or panic disorder through the same severity and duration. What matters is therefore not the episode but the picture: how many attacks, over what period, what was done, whether it helped.

The regulation lists what the assessment rests on:

The severity of neurotic disorders is based on: analysis of their duration… and dynamics, the psychopathological structure and severity of the disorders, the effectiveness of therapy… clinical and social compensation of the morbid state, and the level of social adaptation in the main spheres of life (occupational, family, everyday, social).

Complaints are not on that list — duration, dynamics, treatment and adaptation are. What lies behind attacks medically and which conditions mimic them is covered in the piece on panic attacks and lab tests.

OCD: same article, same criteria

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a neurotic disorder and is assessed under article 17 with no separate thresholds. In practice the same four things decide: how pronounced the obsessions are, how long they last, whether therapy helps, and how the disorder affects study, work and daily life. A recurrent or prolonged course of moderate severity is clause «b» and category V.

Personality and organic anxiety: similar names, different articles

This is an easy place to go wrong, and the cost of the error is a different category:

• Anxious personality disorder is not article 17 but article 18, "Personality disorders", with its own criteria and logic.
• Organic anxiety disorder follows brain injury or disease and is assessed under article 14, "Organic mental disorders".
• Endogenous affective disorders fall under article 15, where column I gives category D.

The wording of the diagnosis in a psychiatrist's conclusion therefore has direct consequences: one word changes the article.

Generalised and severe forms: what "pronounced persistent" means

Clause «a» is defined through a measurable criterion:

pronounced neurotic, dissociative and somatoform disorders, where the manifestations, despite treatment provided on an outpatient or inpatient basis (including day hospital), persist and exceed the average duration of continuous treatment by more than 2 times and (or) more than 4 months, and are expressed to a degree that impedes the performance of military service duties, and lead to maladjustment in the main spheres of life.

Three things at once: treatment was given, symptoms outlived it, and duration was twice the average or over four months.

What your records must contain

• A psychiatrist's conclusion with the exact diagnosis — the article follows from it.
• A dated follow-up history: when it began, how long it lasted, whether it recurred.
• The therapy regimen and its outcome — treatment effectiveness is named as a criterion outright.
• Records of the impact on life: study, work, daily routine, relationships.
• Results of a work-up excluding somatic causes of anxiety: the thyroid in anxiety and similar conditions genuinely produce a comparable picture.
• Before seeing a doctor, an anxiety questionnaire can give a bearing — not a diagnosis, but it helps put complaints into words.

What is usually missing

• The anxiety was endured without seeing a doctor — the chart is empty.
• There is one appointment but no dynamics or follow-up visits.
• The diagnosis is worded vaguely, leaving article 17, 18 or 14 indistinguishable.
• Medication was taken independently; why that does not work as evidence and what prescribed drugs actually do is worth understanding — see anti-anxiety medication.
• Somatic causes were not excluded: anaemia, deficiencies, thyroid disorders. Which tests are taken for anxiety is covered separately.

Questions for your doctor

• What is my diagnosis in its exact wording, and under which article is it assessed?
• Is the disorder considered prolonged, recurrent or short-lived?
• How many documented visits are there, and over what period?
• Which therapy was prescribed and what was its result?
• Is the impact on study, work and daily life recorded?

Mental health at departmental boards

The above concerns assessment under Government Decree No. 565. The Interior Ministry, National Guard, Federal Security Service and Emergencies Ministry use their own schedules of diseases, with stricter mental-health requirements. A review under article 17 shows how complete your records are but is not their regulation.

The short version

Anxiety disorder, panic attacks and OCD share one article and one method of assessment: severity, duration, treatment effectiveness and social adaptation. Moderate severity in any variant means category V; only a mild short-lived adjustment disorder ending in recovery leaves you fit. The one thing worth preparing in advance is that the condition appears in the records as a trajectory rather than a single entry. Only the military medical board determines the fitness category.