—
The trauma of a car accident extends far beyond the physical injuries a victim endures. Often, those who are involved in these events experience major psychological impacts that can have debilitating effects in their daily lives.
While much of the focus is on physical injuries, these psychological effects should not be ignored. Understanding and addressing them is the key to helping victims move forward.
Common Psychological Impacts Resulting from Car Crashes
Any type of car accident can affect a victim’s mental health status. These are the most common experiences, even after a minor crash:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Military veterans aren’t the only ones who suffer from PTSD. This condition can cause flashbacks, make victims easily startled, and interfere with the ability to function daily.
Vehophobia
Vehophobia, a fear of driving, is another common psychological impact that arises from a car accident. Many victims become terrified of driving to the extent that they avoid it altogether. Some are even too afraid to get in a vehicle, even with someone else driving.
Emotional Distress
Accident victims who suffer from chronic pain, as well as the financial stress of all the medical bills that have piled up, often suffer from emotional distress. They may have fluctuating moods and feel mentally overwhelmed by everything.
Sleep Issues
Insomnia, nightmares, and other sleep disturbances can further take a toll on victims who are already emotionally antagonized by the accident. When they can’t sleep or don’t get proper rest, it can make recovering from physical injuries an even greater challenge.
Survivor’s Guilt
In car accident cases where a victim witnesses the severe injuries or death of loved ones, they may feel guilt for having survived. This guilt compounds with depressive symptoms, making it difficult to cope with their emotions.
Why Personal Injury Cases Need to Focus More on Emotional Trauma
Personal injury cases, particularly those involving car accidents, have historically focused on physical injuries and damages. As mental health advocacy has become more normalized, it is clear that there must be greater acknowledgement of psychological impacts.
When a victim experiences emotional trauma, it can directly affect physical recovery, often hindering it and making it more likely for this injury to have a permanent effect. Additionally, untreated emotional trauma can contribute to higher healthcare costs, lost wages, and a diminished quality of life.
Victims in car crashes they did not cause should not just focus on the medical bills, lost income, and property damage they have endured. They should also seek compensation for the intangible losses that the at-fault driver caused them to suffer, including mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
What Car Accident Victims Can Do to Address Their Psychological Impacts
Emotional trauma may become apparent immediately, or it may take weeks or months to develop. Sudden movements, loud sounds, and other stimuli may cause you continued suffering. The key to addressing it is by getting help immediately to mitigate the potential long-term impacts.
Seek Prompt Mental Health Care
If you have recently been traumatized in a car accident, know that it is healthy to ask for help. Therapists and counselors with training in trauma can help you work through your emotions in the right way, allowing you to finally move forward.
Choose Physical Therapy
If your emotional impacts are directly connected to a physical limitation caused by your injury, address that injury through physical therapy. You’ll reduce your chronic pain, increase your mobility, and find renewed purpose in your day.
Join a Support Group
Even with all of your loved ones, you may feel alone in what happened. Try as they might, they may not understand exactly how you feel. Support groups are a great way to connect with others who have endured the same experience, which will make you feel understood. These groups are especially helpful for those who have lost a loved one in an accident.
How Can a Personal Injury Attorney Help in Addressing Psychological Impacts?
If you’ve been in a car accident, the Milwaukee accident lawyers fighting for you will recommend that you seek mental health care. It’s for your benefit in being able to cope with your emotional trauma, though it will also help you in recovering the damages you’ve suffered as a result of the other person’s negligence.
Personal injury claims that involve psychological trauma will need to prove it, and that can be a challenge since this type of trauma is an intangible loss. How do you associate a cost with a subjective factor? To do this, your lawyer will:
Hire Expert Witnesses
Expert witnesses are essential in any car accident case. While your attorney will likely hire accident reconstructionists to prove how the crash occurred and doctors to testify about your physical injuries, they will need to collaborate with other experts. These may include psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists who can provide a detailed evaluation of your emotional injuries.
Present Medical Documentation
Documenting your mental health diagnosis helps make it tangible in terms of proving your losses to the courts. By taking this step, your personal injury lawyer can substantiate the severity of your emotional trauma.
Request an Analysis on Vocational Impact
If your psychological impacts have affected your ability to work, this analysis will create a physical account. This can help you get fair compensation for your lost earning potential.
Journaling Your Daily Life
Documenting your struggles in a journal each day can show a judge or jury how the emotional trauma caused by the accident has interfered with your life.
Requesting Testimony from Friends, Family, and Coworkers
Your personal injury attorney will likely ask the people in your life to come forward with testimony about how your physical injuries and the experience of the crash itself have affected you. This may include your immediate family members, your closest friends, and even your coworkers.
Ultimately, it’s this development of a comprehensive legal strategy that includes your physical and emotional injuries that will provide you with the full and fair compensation you need for closure and healing.
—
This content is brought to you by gtwlawyers.com
Photo provided by gtwlawyers.com
