Most people know that trauma survivors may develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a very genuine mental ailment. It is frequently associated with military veterans because it was initially discovered in soldiers who had just returned from combat. However, PTSD can affect anyone who has gone through or encountered a traumatic incident, such as an assault, a natural disaster, or a car accident. Make sure you learn more.
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What Does PTSD in an Accident Victim Look Like?
After an accident, you may well have completely healed from your physical wounds, but worry and anxiety have prevented you from engaging in your usual activities. This can be a sign that you are experiencing PTSD. PTSD manifests itself in car accident victims in the following ways:
- panic attacks while operating a vehicle or riding in one
- recurring memories of the incident
- Sleeplessness brought on by accident-related nightmares
- anxiousness in general about leaving home
- Concerning automobile safety, excessively
- feeling like you have no control over your memories or thoughts related to the disaster
- Medical test and treatment refusal
Diagnosed PTSD should be covered by the negligent driver, much like a traumatic brain injury or bone fractures.
How Could a Car Accident Lead to PTSD?
Vehicle accidents can cause a mental reaction that has a crippling effect on the person, similar to other violent and disturbing experiences like combat situations, attacks, house fires, or seeing an attack. The following situations, whether they included a vehicle, truck, or motorbike crash, can result in PTSD:
- crashes that occur quickly or violently, including rollovers or head-on collisions
- being present when another person is killed or suffers a serious injury in an accident
- observing blood, open wounds, unconsciousness, or dismemberment
- being pinned or stuck in a car following a collision
- being transported by plane to a hospital for treatment
- Taking the ambulance
- seeing a lot of injuries, like in a multi-car collision
- Knowing that someone, even a stranger, perished in the collision
Everyone responds to traumatic situations in different ways. Thus, PTSD may not require an event as severe as one of these. Even a minor collision might produce long-lasting emotional damage for certain people.
Establishing PTSD Damages
Emotional ailments like PTSD are more difficult to demonstrate than physical ones are. Pain and suffering are classes of experience that include PTSD and other mental illnesses. You can present a claim for these losses with the assistance of a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer.
It would be better to speak to an attorney and assist you. Since attorneys are experienced, they can help you establish damages and ensure you get the deserving compensation.
