Traumatic car accidents and the injuries they cause can take a psychological toll on auto accident victims.
Summary
- Car accidents can cause significant mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and phobias.
- Research shows that both minor and severe car accidents can lead to psychiatric symptoms and disorders, such as PTSD and depression, which can be disabling and affect work performance and personal relationships.
- Coping strategies for the psychological impact of car accidents include therapy (especially Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), rebuilding self-efficacy, practicing mindfulness, and getting adequate rest.
- Poor psychological health can impede physical healing and weaken the immune system, highlighting the importance of mental health in recovery from car accident injuries.
- Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia offers comprehensive legal support to help car accident survivors secure compensation for both physical and mental losses.
When car accidents take place, it is easy to think solely about the physical injuries and the possibility of a totaled car. The mental impact of a car crash is more of an afterthought. The intangible effects of a car accident, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and a subset of phobias that can be a consequence of PTSD, can negatively impact everyday life and relationships.
While you focus on moving past these struggles, let the car accident lawyers of Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia focus on getting you the compensation you deserve for your mental, physical, and financial losses. Our team is a leading personal injury law firm intent on maximizing compensation for our injured clients.
We encourage you to reach out to us to schedule a free consultation as soon as possible. You can give us a call at (800) 320-HELP or fill out a contact form on our website. At WHG, we prioritize your needs, so you can feel comfortable relying on us to advocate for you.
Research Links Experiencing a Car Accident With Subsequent Mental Health Issues
In the 1990s, a report by Dr. Ricard Mayou, Robert Duthie, and researcher Bridget Bryant found that following both serious and minor traffic accidents, psychiatric symptoms and disorders such as PTSD, depression, and travel anxiety are common in survivors. They also note that these auto accident-related mental health problems can be disabling.
Some of the signs of these mental health conditions are prolonged sadness, memory lapses, trouble focusing on tasks, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, difficulty sleeping, irritability, and mood changes. These mental states can adversely impact work performance, relationships, and daily habits.
This adds to the intangible costs that injured car accident victims accumulate after a collision. A Florida car accident attorney can assist you in calculating your non-economic damages, such as mental distress, and securing compensation for your losses in a personal injury lawsuit.
Coping With the Mental Impact of a Car Accident
In the aftermath of an auto accident, many survivors suffer from secondary conditions related to their physical injuries. Despite facing these difficult circumstances, moving past the trauma of a car accident and taking back your life is possible.
The following are practical strategies auto accident victims can use to avoid being overwhelmed by the psychological repercussions of experiencing a car crash.
Talk About Your Experience With a Mental Health Professional
Find relief by processing your car accident through therapy and support groups. Having someone trained to help you mentally overcome the trauma of a car accident can be helpful. There are many types of therapy available, so you can choose the kind that best suits your needs.
Some researchers specifically recommend Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for car accident survivors experiencing mental health issues. According to the research of Yvonne Tran, Bamini Gopinath, and Ian D. Cameron, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, for those who were in motor vehicle crashes has proven to “reduce psychological distress” and symptoms of depression overall.
Gain Back Your Self-Efficacy After an Auto Accident
Self-efficacy refers to your belief in your ability to carry out the actions required to produce desired outcomes, like driving on the road again. As car accidents are usually unexpected and out of your control, experiencing one can have a ripple effect, causing you to feel out of control in other areas of your life.
This can impact the confidence you have in yourself, causing depression and the fear or feeling of being unable to get behind the wheel again. A way to build back self-confidence and comfortability to drive again is to accomplish small goals and prepare yourself to get back on the road. Traveling short distances and enrolling in driving classes are good places to start.
Practice Mindfulness to Promote Recovery from Car Accident Injuries
Decades of research on the impact of mental stress on physical health conducted by Annina Seiler, Christopher Fagundes, and Lia Christian have shown that poor psychological health can impede the healing of physical wounds and weaken the immune system.
Practicing mindfulness while experiencing anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or trouble focusing can help your mind. It can also help heal car accident injuries that may have been inflicted in the collision. Mindfulness is not about suppressing emotions and catastrophizing thoughts, but about allowing them space to come and go and allowing yourself to change the narrative regarding your recovery.
Get Rest and Practice Patience for Your Physical and Mental Health
Getting sleep is good for your body and mind. It gives your body a chance to heal faster and gives your mind a chance to process the trauma. This releases stress and removes your body from a state of shock. Recovery is possible but takes time; how much time varies from person to person, as does the severity of car accidents.
Practicing patience is needed to not create further frustration and stress. Focusing on the improvements you do make while recovering can help. You can also apply this mindset to the personal injury claims process, as it can take months or years to negotiate a personal injury claim. Patiently pursuing the maximum compensation available instead of accepting the first settlement offer often leads to a fairer settlement.
Contact Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia to Speak with an Experienced Car Accident Attorney
As we have a greater discussion on mental health, the correlation between car accidents and developing mental anguish is evident. At WHG, we want to reassure you that your experience is valid. Taking steps towards full physical, mental, and financial recovery can be challenging but overall worth it.
Most importantly, it is possible. If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident, our team at Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia is here to help ensure that you get the maximum car accident compensation you deserve for both your physical and mental symptoms.
Recovering from a car accident can be difficult, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Our Florida auto accident attorneys have the skills needed to effectively negotiate your claim. To learn more or to speak with an experienced auto accident attorney, please contact us at (800) 320-HELP or fill out a contact form on our website.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of emotional losses can I recover compensation for in a car accident claim?
A personal injury attorney can help you recover car accident damages for non-economic losses. Examples of damages related to mental or emotional losses include:
- Mental pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium
How much time do I have to file a wrongful death lawsuit after a fatal Florida car accident?
After a deadly car accident, a victim’s family often suffers emotionally and financially. To recover compensation for these damages, they can file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the deceased’s estate. The Florida statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is 2 years from the date of the victim’s death.
What evidence do I need to prove the impact a car accident had on my mental health?
There are many ways to document the psychological toll of a car accident. For example, therapy notes, statements from friends or family about your behavior, testimony from colleagues on your job performance, prescriptions for mental health medications, and journal entries can all serve as evidence of your mental state in a car accident claim. A Florida car accident lawyer can review your case and offer more specific advice.
