Mental Trauma after a Serious Accident: When Are You Eligible for Compensation?

Your physical health isn’t the only thing that suffers after a severe accident. You also have to worry about your mental and emotional health in the aftermath of a traumatizing accident. But while obtaining evidence of and compensation for physical damages can often be a straightforward process, proving your mental trauma is usually more complicated and difficult.

Because your mental trauma isn’t visible in the same way as physical or property damage, it’s easier for the other party to dismiss your accusations. You may need documentation of your emotional scars as well as the impacts of them on your life before obtaining compensation for your losses. 

Proving Your Emotional Damages

Claiming that you’re experiencing mental trauma after your accident is not enough to prove your emotional damages. Similar to a physical injury claim, you will have to prove that your psychological trauma has negatively impacted your way of life. On the surface, this may seem like an impossible task, but there are ways to accomplish this. 

For example, you can begin visiting a therapist who can help you cope with emotional trauma. Not only is this an excellent way to receive treatment for your emotional damages, but it can serve as proof that your mental trauma had a significant impact on you. You can even use the diagnosis given by your therapist, along with much more, within your claim. 

The following are potential conditions sometimes related to serious accidents that your therapist may diagnose you with after visiting them: 

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Panic disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

You can also ask witnesses of your emotional trauma to write statements about how the accident impacted your mental health. For example, if your co-workers know you as a happy-go-lucky employee, you can have them write a statement describing your current mental state. The more evidence of your mental trauma, the better. 

What Compensation Can You Recieve for Your Mental Trauma?

Putting a monetary value on your mental trauma itself is very difficult. For this reason, there is no standard value for psychological trauma because emotional distress varies from person to person. Yes, while you can receive compensation for your mental trauma, it’s challenging to predict how much you can receive, even with evidence.

However, when you connect your mental trauma with tangible damages, such as medical bills or the costs of therapy sessions, it’s easier to place a monetary value on your psychological trauma. Lost wages resulting from your psychological trauma are also another type of damage that makes it easier to add a monetary value to your emotional trauma.

Reach Out to an Injury Lawyer

Mahoney & Mahoney, LLC understands the trickiness of receiving compensation for mental trauma. Although your emotional trauma may seem easier to discredit than physical trauma, you can still gather the evidence and proof of your damages to file your claim.

You can speak with one of our injury lawyers by calling us at 815-656-4600 or filling out the online contact form located at the bottom of this page.