When you’re injured, most people think of broken bones, cuts, bruises, and head injuries. The emotional impact often gets overlooked, and it often causes more long-term damage than physical injuries.

Whether the injuries were deliberate or accidental, the emotional toll shouldn’t be ignored. Any settlement offer needs to weigh the emotional damage you’re undergoing. From PTSD to panic attacks, the amount you’re awarded or receive in a settlement offer needs to consider the mental health issues you experience.

How a Physical Injury Impacts Your Mental Health

Physical pain is just one of the results of an accident or injury. The emotional anguish is equally damaging. Once an accident or attack occurs and results in injuries, it also impacts you emotionally. It affects your sense of safety. It can make you feel worthless, especially if you have a long path to restored mobility.

After an accident or injury, the effects on your mental health may include some or all of the following.

1. Anxiety

Anxiety is defined as a situation where you’re always worried. You’re fearful, nervous, and always on edge. People with anxiety often become irritable for no reason, feel overwhelmed, and experience nervousness at the smallest things.

When anxiety isn’t managed, it can progress into full-blown panic attacks. Panic attacks often manifest in physical ways. You could be watching TV and suddenly feel tense, find your heart racing, and experience chest pain and shortness of breath. Sweating, shaking, and dissociative symptoms are also possible.

As some symptoms of a panic attack resemble a heart attack, that feeds into the cycle of anxiety and panic. It becomes a tough battle to manage without expert help.

2. Depression

Depression ranges is a mood disorder that often follows an injury or accident. The signs of depression include more than persistent sadness. You might find it hard to go to sleep or stay asleep. You might find it hard to function, which makes it hard to go to work, school, or events with friends and family.

Your appetite might change, and you find it hard to eat or binge eat too often. Severe depression might have you thinking of ending your life. Depression needs to be addressed to prevent you from giving up.

3. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a common reaction to a traumatic event, such as a serious car accident or mugging. You may experience nightmares and flashbacks. Certain triggers, like the sound of breaking glass or a backfiring car, may trigger immediate, panicked responses.

You feel a sense of unease and are jumpy and always watching and waiting for another accident or intentional act to happen. PTSD can prevent someone in a car accident from wanting to drive again. It can keep a victim of a mugging from wanting to leave the house. Experts can help you manage PTSD and live a fulfilling life.

4. Chronic Pain

In addition, chronic pain often impacts mental health. Chronic pain becomes difficult to bear, which can increase the chances of becoming depressed or anxious. Sometimes, there is no underlying cause for the chronic pain, which feeds more into anxiety and depression.

California’s Legal Landscape Regarding Emotional Distress

Victims have the right to recover damages if the accident or intentional act caused serious emotional distress. There are two types of claims:

1. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress – Reckless conduct caused the emotional distress.
2. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress – Negligence led to emotional distress.

No matter whether the distress is intentional or caused by negligence, there’s a two-year statute of limitations. You need to file an emotional distress claim quickly. 

California law includes the following as aspects of emotional distress:

• Anguish
• Anxiety
• Fright
• Grief
• Horror
• Humiliation
• Nervousness
• Shame
• Shock
• Suffering
• Worry

Suppose an older driver mixed up the brake pedal and accelerator and crashed into a store you were shopping in. You suffered cuts that needed stitching, a broken leg, and a head injury. 

You’ve healed, but you’re fearful of being in that store. It makes it difficult to get the groceries you need. You’re scared to leave the house, so you’re at risk of losing your job. All of this is emotional distress. You’re entitled to financial damages for your emotional distress.

You need to be able to prove a link between those actions and your mental health, however. This is where you need expert witnesses who can prove the accident or act led to the emotional distress you’re experiencing. You need a personal injury attorney skilled in emotional distress settlements.

The Value in a Medical Assessment

When you hire a personal injury attorney, it’s that legal expert’s job to prove you suffered emotional distress as well as the physical injuries. A doctor or surgeon can prove physical injuries through medical records and testimony. 

You need a licensed mental health professional to prove emotional trauma. This is done by:

• Diagnosing your mental health issues.
• Sharing documentation like clinical notes, test results, and current treatments.
• Providing expert medical testimony regarding your mental health and how the accident links to your emotional distress.

Without this professional documentation, an insurance company or a jury may dismiss or downplay your emotional suffering, significantly reducing the value of your settlement.

Steps Californians Need to Take After an Injury

You’ve experienced an injury. Go to the hospital, urgent care, or your primary care physician and make sure you’re examined and treated for all injuries. After that, you want to follow these steps.

• Hire a California Personal Attorney: Ensure you have legal representation and file your claim in a timely manner. Your attorney also has connections to mental health experts who will help you navigate your experiences with emotional distress.
• Talk to Others: Your friends and family are ideal witnesses to prove that your emotional health has changed. It backs up the things you say and things medical professionals claim.
• Keep Records: Write down every struggle you face after your injuries. You want to document anything that changes, including your appetite, sleep patterns, mood, and loss of interest in things you used to enjoy.

We Understand the Mental Impact of an Injury

Whether you’re dealing with an injury from a slip and fall at work, a car accident, or an intentional attack, Shegerian Conniff understands the toll it has on your emotional health. Your mental health is just as important as any physical injuries you experience. It must be considered when considering a settlement.

Reach our attorneys online or by phone. We’re here to ensure you’re treated fairly. You don’t have to accept what happened. Let us fight for a fair settlement. Arrange a free consultation today.