The Emotional Toll of Recovering from a Serious Accident
After a serious accident, physical injuries aren’t the only thing that you may endure. The emotional toll it takes can harm your mental health.
You may suffer physical symptoms such as broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, and chronic pain. Even if your injuries are expected to heal at some point, the emotional impacts they can have could last for much longer.
According to a Covington Personal Injury Lawyer | Jorge Flores Law, it is incredibly common for those who have been injured in serious accidents to develop mental health conditions. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, and fear are some of the most commonly documented mental health issues that arise from these situations.
How Personal Injuries Can Affect Mental and Emotional Health
When you have endured an injury due to the careless or negligent actions of someone else, it can set off different kinds of psychological conditions. These can additionally manifest in physical ways, causing more pain and suffering.
Depression
It is common for those who have been in a serious accident to feel sad and hopeless. You may have had an active life before the accident and now your physical movements are limited. Additionally, the financial burden created by this event can contribute to depression. You may experience insomnia, suffer constant fatigue, have changes in appetite, and lose interest in things you once loved.
Anxiety
Traumatic experiences like these often caused victims in accidents to become anxious. You may experience restlessness, constant worry, and panic attacks. Fear may prevent you from getting into any vehicle, causing you to isolate yourself even further.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is marked by nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks. After an accident, it is common for victims to experience this disorder, leading to great disruption in daily life.
Range of Emotions
When you are hurt because someone else was negligent, you may experience a range of emotions. You will likely be angry, frustrated, sad, and heartbroken, especially if this accident caused you to lose a limb or hindered your mobility.
Stress
In a matter of seconds, your entire life changed all because of someone else’s careless actions. You are now left with painful injuries and trying to keep from going into debt because of the additional financial burden of these expenses.
Can You Recover Damages for the Emotional Tolls of Your Accident?
When serious injuries have occurred from personal injury accidents, it is possible to recover more than just the economic losses you’ve experienced. Known as non-economic damages, these include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, chronic pain, and mental anguish.
Most lawsuits will settle outside of court, which will require your attorney to calculate a fair amount based on your economic damages. In the event your lawsuit does go to trial, the judge or jury will decide on the award to provide you for non-economic damages.
What to Do About the Emotional Impacts from Your Accident
If you are feeling any of these emotional impacts after your accident, you should seek immediate support for your mental health. There are many kinds of therapies that mental health professionals can provide to help you through these conditions.
You should also seek legal counsel through a personal injury attorney to help you through the legal process. You have been through enough and by having someone with a deep knowledge of applicable laws advocating for you, you may be able to recover compensation for these emotional tolls.
In a personal injury lawsuit, you can seek economic and non-economic damages. The compensation you receive can help reduce your stress for those financial impacts and ensure you get the mental health care that you need.
