Car accidents inflict not only physical damages but also emotional ones. That’s why car accidents are considered traumatic events. The trauma leaves you unable to get behind the wheel again. Worse, you’ll end up in a hospital for severe anxiety aside from the physical damage you got.
A lot of people experience some kind of anxiety following a car accident. In a study, 46.5% of those who survived the accident reported developing PTSD with severe symptoms. And this affected their work and personal life significantly.
The good thing is that you won’t always have to feel anxious on the road forever. There are ways that can help you manage anxiety after a car accident. This article explores how you can cope with car accidents and get compensation for the damages.
How Do You Develop Anxiety After a Car Crash?
Before you can get rid of anxiety, you need to understand how it occurs.
When people encounter stress, their automatic response is either fight, flight, or freeze, which helps them survive. But there’s only so much stress that your body can handle.
Stress levels that go over your natural threshold lead to serious issues. But, it’s important to remember that everyone has different responses to car accidents. This means that not everyone who got into an accident will experience anxiety. But if you do, it will manifest in different ways, such as:
- Difficulty in breathing
- Rapid heart rate
- Restlessness and nightmares
- Mood swings
- Pain or discomfort in the chest or abdomen
- Numbness or tingling sensations
Suing For The Emotional Damages That The Accident Brought
It feels unfair to spend a lot of money on treatments when the car accident isn’t even your fault. A personal injury settlement won’t cure your illness. While that is the case, it will give you peace of mind and the right resources to go through your healing process.
But companies that offer insurance for injury are often dubious about mental health injury claims. Some may lower the value of your claim or deny it entirely. It doesn’t help your case and can even lead to serious mental health problems.
Get help from personal injury lawyers when you decide to file a personal injury lawsuit. After all, they are the experts in seeking justice, even for minor damages.
They can guide you throughout the entirety of the personal injury case. They’ll gather enough evidence and create a persuasive case for why you should get fair compensation. With their help, you can focus on yourself and manage anxiety better.
Damages in a personal injury claim can include mental health issues such as anxiety.
Economic Damages
You can include the cost of your psychological check-up since the accident directly caused it. Similarly, the medicines that the physician will prescribe you are also tangible medical expenses.
Non-Economic Damages
Mental health issues are non-economic damages (pain and suffering) in your personal injury claim. But since the degree of trauma is different for every person, it can be difficult to place a value on it. That’s why you need a personal injury lawyer to help you get the compensation you deserve.
How to Manage Anxiety After a Car Accident?
If you’re experiencing anxiety after the accident, remember that you’re not alone. Car accidents often cause mental health conditions such as anxiety. And this is not something that you can ignore and never treat.
Having anxiety for a long time puts you at risk of some psychological disorders, which affect your everyday life.
You need to manage anxiety before it gets serious. Consider the following suggestions for dealing with such emotional distress:
- Seek Professional Help After The Accident
Anxiety is a natural reaction to a stressful event such as a car accident. And while people are more concerned about their physical injuries, you should also keep your mental health in check. If your anxiety symptoms worsen or interfere with your everyday life, it’s time to see a mental health doctor.
These experts can help you develop coping strategies to manage anxiety. They’ll teach you how to emotionally process the trauma and which medicines can alleviate your symptoms.
- Create a Support Network
You need all the assistance you can get while you’re recovering from a car accident. You don’t need to go through it alone. Instead, reach out to your friends and family to have a shoulder to lean on when things get worse.
Support groups also offer great help in managing your anxiety. You’ll find that there are people who are going through the same thing as you. With their help, you’ll realize that things get better even for car accident survivors.
- Don’t Avoid Your Anxiety Triggers
After a car accident, you’ll develop some triggers that remind you of the accident. This includes getting behind the wheel, turning at an intersection, or passing by a moving car. This can set off your fight-flight-freeze reaction, which results in anxiety.
Avoiding your anxiety triggers is not a good idea. Eventually, you’ll have to face them if you want to manage anxiety. The more you avoid the source of your anxiety, the more you will stress about it.
But in cases when the trigger causes overwhelming anxiety, it’s best to avoid them. Talk to your doctor about these circumstances and work with them to manage your triggers.
- Learn How to Manage Your Triggers
Surviving a car accident is great, but the repercussions make living difficult for survivors. For one, cars can trigger you, whether it’s moving or not. And triggers make it impossible to focus on what you’re doing. This can be dangerous in situations like trying to cross the street and experiencing a panic attack.
For this reason, you need to know how you can manage your triggers and handle panic attacks. Get help from mental health experts. You can also use stress relief devices to know your stress level in certain situations. This wearable technology for anxiety alleviates the stress you’re feeling using low-frequency noises and vibrations.
- Focus on Taking Care of Yourself
Anxiety can interfere with how you live your life. This means there will be days when you’ll skip meals or have sleepless nights. Prioritizing self-care is important now more than ever. This involves making sure you get your basic needs, like having adequate sleep and exercising.
Make time for hobbies or leisure activities that you like. Physical activity is an important part of self-care, and it can distract you from worrying. But be sure to check with your doctor before starting any new physical activity, especially right after the accident. You don’t want your injuries to get worse.
Self-care can also include journaling or writing about the accident and how you feel. Your doctor will also want to know these things, so bring your journal to your next treatment session.
More importantly, leave the stressful personal injury lawsuit to your attorney. During these times, your main goal is to heal from the trauma caused by the car accident. Trying to win a case on your own will put you under great stress, which doesn’t help you manage anxiety. A personal injury attorney can handle your case while you manage anxiety.
Final Thoughts
Damages from car accidents go beyond physical injuries. Most people often ignore the emotional trauma that car accidents bring. Don’t wait until your anxiety worsens. Get immediate help from mental health doctors for early treatment. At the same time, hire a lawyer to fight for what you deserve.