The Impact of Car Accidents on Mental Health

When people think about car accidents, they mainly think about the physical pain, challenges, and complications that emerge. However, it is important to realize that physical injuries and impairments are not the only consequences that arise from car accidents.

It is extremely common for car accident victims to suffer mental and psychological effects for several months or even years after the car accident. Many people heal from their physical injuries, but mental and emotional damage after a collision can last a lifetime.

What types of mental health challenges do victims of car accidents frequently suffer?

There are a variety of different mental health challenges that victims of car accidents may suffer post-accident. Some of the most common include:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): According to the Mayo Clinic, PTSD “is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event.” Since car accidents can be traumatic and devastating, they have the ability to cause PTSD. Those that have this disorder may experience flashbacks, unwanted memories, nightmares, and severe anxiety. Another common sign of PTSD is avoiding certain areas or places. Therefore, victims of car accidents may frequently avoid certain roads or areas where their accidents occurred.
• Depression: Depression is described as a very serious medical condition that impacts your thinking, feelings, and actions. Some of the common symptoms of depression are feeling sad, experiencing suicidal thoughts, feeling tired, inability to think clearly, having problems focusing or concentrating, and more. Most people who have depression describe it as feeling completely lost or hopeless.
• Anxiety: Immediately after an accident, you must deal with your injuries, bills, expenses, and more. Car accident victims frequently become anxious and worried about how they will get by and provide for their families during their long road to recovery.
• Mood swings: Whether you have a traumatic brain injury or are just stressed about your accident, mood swings may arise. This can cause sudden changes in both your personality and the way you feel. As a result, you may notice that you are lashing out at your family members more often or are easily frustrated and annoyed.
• Sleep problems: Everyone is aware of how important sleep is for their health and wellbeing. However, car accident victims frequently experience sleep problems. This may be due to stress, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, depression, or even pain from injuries. However, regardless of what exactly is causing your sleep problems, it can affect your overall ability to heal and recover from the accident.
• Vehophobia: Car accident victims are known to develop a specific phobia called vehophobia, which is the fear of driving. Individuals who have this type of phobia and live in a car dependent place, such as Oklahoma City, may have many challenges. For example, they may have difficulties getting to work, school, the grocery store, doctor appointments, and other essential places. This is because they may experience panic attacks, avoidance, or feel very uncomfortable when behind the wheel.

What should I do if I suffer from mental health and psychological issues after my car accident?

If you begin to notice small signs of mental health and psychological problems after a car accident, it is crucial that you do not ignore these warning signs. If you choose to ignore them, they could become worse and lead to long-term and permanent psychological issues. Once you decide that you need to do something about your mental health, the best thing you can do is to find a psychologist or counselor who you can talk to about your mental and emotional trauma and distress from the accident.

At your appointments, you will likely go over your accident and what happened to you as well as how it is impacting your mental health. Your psychologist or counselor will determine what you need to recover from your mental health problems. However, you must remember to be open, honest, and transparent to get the proper treatment you need to make a full recovery.

Depending on how serious your mental and psychological issues are, your psychologist or counselor will likely teach you how to manage your stresses and frustrations as well as how to deal and cope with your feelings. They may also prescribe medications to help you. Throughout your entire journey to gain back your mental health, your psychologist or counselor will be documenting and making reports about your recovery. This is critical evidence that can be used in your car accident claim to show that you have mental and emotional trauma, how severe it is, and the type of treatment you are undergoing.

Can mental health problems affect compensation in a car accident case in Oklahoma City?

If your mental health problems emerged after your car accident, you may be able to include them in your claim. Mental and emotional issues are considered noneconomic damages, but you must have significant proof that these damages occurred due to your accident. Here are a few different pieces of evidence that an attorney may use to prove that the accident psychologically affected you:

• Therapist reports: As mentioned, when you see your therapist, they will make reports of your progress. These reports are critical to showing that your mental health condition is serious enough to require psychological treatment.
• Expert testimony: Your attorney may hire an expert witness to explain how the accident caused your mental health problems. In this type of case, the expert witness would be a psychologist or counselor who has experience and knowledge of mental and emotional effects caused by collisions.
• Medical reports: Your medical reports may also be beneficial to proving your mental health issues. This is because your doctor may have pointed out various factors that you are experiencing such as weight loss, frequent headaches, weight gain, high blood pressure, or any other symptoms that typically indicate that an individual suffers from emotional or mental trauma.
• Personal testimony: Your own personal testimony may give the jury or judge an understanding of how the accident affected your mental health. During your personal testimony, you can refer back to notes that you kept in a journal or notebook about how you felt during certain parts of your recovery after the accident.

In order to get the maximum amount of compensation possible, you must have a car accident attorney by your side who knows how to prove that your accident and injuries impacted your emotional and mental wellbeing. At Cunningham & Mears, we will do everything we can to secure compensation for these noneconomic losses. Our lawyers take our clients’ mental health seriously, which is why we will stand up and fight for an award that covers the psychological effects caused by your accident. Call our office or complete our contact form to schedule your free, no-obligation case evaluation today.