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If you have ever experienced being in an accident and incurred some injuries, you have most likely tried to focus on how the accident has damaged you physically. Broken joints, tense muscles, torn ligaments, and bodily bruises are some of the most prominent indications of any accident. These injuries are also the ones that frequently get the attention from the medical team. Unfortunately, physical damages are not the only issues that you encounter in the aftermath of a minor or major accident. In a lot of cases, accident-related injuries affect you emotionally and mentally as well.
The Forgotten Effects
Car accidents take a tremendous toll on the country’s citizens, with thousands and millions of these types and over a million injuries reported yearly. In addition to these, plenty of victims go through months of treatment, leave from work, and stress and anxiety secondary to managing their ordeal and their medical and insurance providers. These anxious and stressful circumstances can often overshadow the mental health problems that developed due to the trauma of the accident.
The Impact On The Victims
Victims who have suffered mental health conditions often struggle with the negative impact that it has had on them. Also, they experience issues in the workplace, sleep disturbances, and erratic emotional outbursts. Many of them say that they are stressed because of their injuries, and they don’t seek help. Some also encounter relationship problems for months after the accident. Additionally, it is common for most victims to become restless, lose appetite or gain weight, experience a decrease in their sex drive, or become disinterested in the things that previously made them happy.
Studies have revealed, however, that there is proof indicating the stress that car crash sufferers experience may take the form of what medical professionals call ‘subsyndromal PTSD,’ which is a partial type of PTSD that usually causes accident victims to manifest only with some of the more typical symptoms related to stress – the propensity to feel like he is continually experiencing the accident over and over, and hyperarousal. In cases like this, patients usually encounter avoidance issues or surges of emotional detachment. Research suggests that accident victims who go through partial symptoms are inclined to recover much faster than those who experience complete PTSD.
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Mood instabilities develop as one of the most usual types of mental health complications ever experienced by car crash victims who are diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. One study revealed that more than 50% of these diagnosed individuals also suffered from a major mood disturbance. What’s worse is that more studies show that women who have PTSD are more likely to have alcohol or drug abuse issues than those who don’t have PTSD. Additionally, males have five times more likelihood of turning to alcohol or drug abuse when they have PTSD.
Distress And Pain
Some studies have been performed to identify how to associate cases of PTSD with chronic pain symptoms. Numerous research efforts have confirmed that chronic pain seemed to affect the building up of different forms of post-traumatic stress, and there has been evidence suggesting that most of the stress that these patients encounter may be due to some form of impairment and physical discomfort.
As expected, there have also been studies that tried to identify whether or not there was a connection between lawsuits and reported cases of psychological distress. Hence, anyone who informs you that you may think your accident was due to some psychological damage is possibly falsely assuming that your Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is doing this to reinforce your litigation claims.
Conclusion
An essential thing that you can do after an accident that causes an injury is to be aware of your own mental and emotional well-being. If you are confused, depressed, scared, or irritable days or weeks after the incident, know that this is not abnormal at all, though if it persists, you must inform your physician and let him know what you think or how you really feel. It would be very disappointing to ignore your mental health concerns and hope that what you are feeling will disappear.
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It is also crucial for you to report any issues about your physical, mental, and emotional state to your lawyer, particularly if you are making a legal claim for damages from the sustained injuries. Your personal injury lawyer must know if you are suffering from any pain or enduring other signs and symptoms so that he can legally provide you with the medical treatment that is required for you to recover. The great news is that with much attention, care, and wise counsel of a seasoned lawyer, you will successfully recover, claim what you deserve, gain back that confidence and self-worth, and ultimately become whole again.