When it comes to aftermath of a car crash, most people think of physical injuries and the damage done to the vehicles involved. While those are the primary results, individuals also tend to experience emotional distress and psychological trauma.
Anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are more common than most people realize. In fact, car accidents are leading cause of PTSD in non-military individuals. Developing after the initial accident, these conditions are debilitating and require treatment to heal. Here’s how you can claim emotional distress after a car accident to get the compensation you need to heal.
The Realm of Personal Injury
Car accident claims fall under personal injury law, allowing claimants to seek compensation for their physical injuries and the damage done to their property. These individuals can also seek restitution for financial losses as they recover, medical bills, and more.
During personal injury cases, you can also sue for emotional damages. Your car accident attorney will gather evidence to show the judge you are suffering from emotional distress in the forms of anxiety, depression, and/or PTSD.
Proving that emotional distress has impacted your quality of life and finances, this end of the cases is now treated like a physical injury as you seek compensation for time lost at work, the cost of treatment, and the damage of emotional distress itself.
How to Prove Emotional Distress
Insurance companies rarely pay what they should, if anything at all, for emotional distress. It takes a skilled lawyer to have the judge force the company to fork over the cash. Thankfully, there are set standards to prove emotional damages in court. Your lawyer will show:
· The other driver breached their duty of care when they caused the accident, making them legally responsible for all damages
· Negligence or carelessness was at play when they caused the accident
· Your emotional damage has caused psychological trauma, lost wages, and pain and suffering
· Those emotional damages are the direct result of the accident
The insurance company will always ask to see your past medical history, hoping to prove that your emotional distress was ongoing and not caused by the crash. So, expect to see all and any past diagnoses used against you. Don’t worry, though, a skilled attorney will help prove that any prior conditions were made worse because of the accident.
Symptoms of Emotional Distress and PTSD
Of course, the first step is identifying that you are suffering from emotional or psychological problems. Your lawyer has a skilled network of professionals who can evaluate and diagnose you if necessary, but you’ll need to let your lawyer know that you’re suffering from any of the following symptoms:
· Anxiety about getting into a car again
· Nightmares about the accident
· Insomnia or unusual difficulty sleeping
· Quickly becoming irritable or angry
· Being jumpy, especially around noises like those you heard during the crash
· Recurring flashbacks of the accident that disrupt your life
· An inability to work
· Fatigue, high blood pressure, and body aches
· Worsening depression
· Paranoia about you or loved ones getting into another accident
