You might have heard that being in a car accident could result in physical injuries. But what about your mental health? A personal injury can lead to PTSD, depression, and other mental health issues that cause problems for years after the accident.
Recently a study was done to measure the psychological distress caused by physical injuries. The distress was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. It concluded that 25% of the study participants reported discomfort 3 months after the injury. Similarly, 15% reported distress at 12, and 16% at 24 months after the injury.
If you’ve been involved in an accident and are experiencing psychological symptoms, it may be time to learn more about how these issues will impact your case.
Can a Personal Injury Impact Your Mental Health?
A personal injury can hurt mental health. The psychological effects of a personal injury can be profound, long-lasting, and debilitating. Psychological injuries affect approximately half of all people who sustain an injury and may include symptoms such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fear, and anger.
The severity of these symptoms will depend on the type of personal injury suffered and how severe it is. For example:
- A broken bone or significant soft tissue damage resulting from a car accident can cause severe pain, leading to depression or anxiety about future injuries.
- Severe burns may trigger PTSD due to their traumatic nature.
- Injuries that involve long-term medical procedures like surgery may result in depression because there is no end date for treatment like there would be with other types of injuries such as fractures.
A study was conducted and published on the NCBI website. The study used different measurement scales, such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), to measure mental health’s impact. It concluded that 22% of the patients who were a part of the study showed scores that indicated a high probability of anxiety, depression, or PTSD after 6 months of injury.
How to Get Help for Mental Health Issues After Being in an Accident?
If you’ve sustained psychological injuries from a car crash, it’s important to seek help. In fact, it’s vital that you get the proper care and treatment to restore your mental health. It’s easy to assume that the physical aspects of recovery are more important than the psychological ones, but this isn’t true.
If your physical wounds are healing, but your mind is not, then you’ll never be able to move on with your life. Here are some steps for seeking help in this area:
Contact a Therapist
Contact a therapist immediately after an accident occurs. You can talk about what happened during therapy sessions; sharing these feelings can help you process and deal with them healthily. You may also find it beneficial to join a support group or meet other people who have been through similar situations. This will help make sense of everything that has happened and provide a source of comfort and encouragement toward greater personal growth.
Seek Legal Help
Seek legal representation from a personal injury lawyer immediately after an accident occurs. The lawyer can help you get compensation for your loss. This compensation can be for medical expenses and troubles you have faced due to the accident.
While selecting a lawyer, opt for a local one. The reason is that every state has a different statute of limitation for filing a personal injury claim. Similarly, each state may also have other differences in fighting the case. Hence, it is vital to choose a local lawyer.
For instance, there has recently been a head-on collision in St. Louis. One person died, and two were injured during the accident. In such a scenario, it is best for the involved parties to hire a St. Louis-based personal injury attorney for legal help.
Personal Injury Can Lead to PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological condition that can occur after a traumatic event. According to data from the National Center for PTSD, around 60% of Americans have PTSD at some point. The symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, and depression.
People who have suffered from a personal injury can develop PTSD if they experience any of the following:
- Witnessing violence or death
- Being raped or sexually assaulted
- Being in or near an accident
- Feeling like you’re going to die
Personal Injury Can Lead to a Loss of Confidence
The injury can be challenging to cope with, but the effects can be even more detrimental. Consider bed rest. When you’re confined to your home for weeks or months, it’s easy for loneliness to settle in and make its presence known.
This feeling of isolation can wreak havoc on your mental health and self-esteem. Without social interaction or motivation from others around you, it’s hard not to lose confidence in yourself or your abilities as an individual (or both).
It may seem like the end of the world when we suffer a personal injury that prevents us from doing what we love most or even just keeping up with our daily routines. But there are ways we can fight back against these negative feelings, so they don’t linger long-term.
Personal Injury Can Lead to Depression
Depression is a severe mental illness that affects how you feel, think, and behave. It can cause a persistent low mood and lack of interest in life or work. According to estimates by WHO, 280 million people worldwide face depression.
Depression is treatable, but it can be hard to get help because the symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses, such as fatigue or stress. Many people with depression don’t realize they’re depressed until they talk with their doctor, which may mean that your depression has gone untreated for some time before you seek help.
Depression can lead to health problems such as heart disease and diabetes if left untreated, so it’s essential to seek treatment if you have symptoms of depression.
Conclusion
In short, personal injury can affect your mental health in many ways. Many different symptoms can appear, which may not be obvious at first. If you think you may have been impacted by an accident or injury, it’s essential to seek help from a professional.
You should also talk with your lawyer about getting compensation for the psychological effects of your injuries if you decide to sue someone else for causing them.