Millions of people are involved in motor vehicle crashes annually. In 2020, almost forty thousand individuals lost their lives in car accidents, while 2.3 million sustained injuries. Some of these victims of car accidents suffer life-altering or fatal injuries.

Sadly, when you are injured in a car crash, most focus is on the visible injuries. Medical professionals focus on stabilizing, diagnosing, and treating bodily injuries, forgetting that vehicle accidents can be traumatic for some individuals. Per the American Psychological Association, vehicle accidents are the primary cause of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among civilians. PTSD is a mental disorder you develop after a traumatic or terrifying experience like a crash.

Vehicle accidents-PTSD receives little or no attention because people barely talk about it. Additionally, people hardly recognize the signs of the conditions. If you are involved in a car crash and sustained severe injuries or were traumatized by the crash, you must be in a position to identify PTSD signs and seek compensation for the damages.

Vehicle Accident PTSD at a Glance

PTSD is a psychological disorder resulting from stress or a traumatic experience when your brain fails to sufficiently turn off the flight reaction stemming from a stressful event. Previously, the condition was associated with military men returning from war. The disease was controversially diagnosed as shell shock in the First World War.

Today, the American Psychological Association considers PTSD to be triggered by stressful or traumatic life events. Even the non-military can suffer from the condition.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DMS-5) recognizes PTSD as a trauma or stress-related illness that could be caused by threat or actual death, severe injuries, or sexual assault. The DMS offers diagnosis and treatment for the condition so insurance firms recognize it.

You must understand that PTSD differs from typical challenges when adjusting to challenging events. After a vehicle collision, some people experience a few upsets but improve over time. However, if you develop PTSD after the crash, the illness will last for months or years and adversely impact many of your life aspects.

Car Accident PTSD Signs

Typically, you will begin to experience PTSD signs shortly after the crash. Other symptoms manifest months or years after the injuries. PTSD is complicated because it is not visible, unlike physical injuries that are easy to identify. Medical experts will treat your injuries, but it can take years to recognize that you have the illness. When you experience any of the following signs, you must speak to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment:

  1. Intrusive Memories

You can tell that you have developed PTSD after a car crash when you start having vivid, unwanted flashbacks of the moment the accident happened. Usually, you will find yourself reliving the events leading to the accident, trying to find ways to prevent it, or just thinking about it over and over. Again, when the unwanted memories make you relive the events at the accident stage, it is PTSD. Likewise, you can develop significant anxiety or stress around the time or location where the accident occurred. Sounds or smells can even trigger the memories of the motor vehicle accident.

  1. Avoiding Talks or Events that Remind you of the Car Accident

You can tell you have developed PTSD when you notice you are dodging talks or events that make you think about the car accident. This symptom is known as avoidance, and it is virtually the reverse of intrusive memories, where you try to stop thinking about the accident but cannot do so. If you notice that you are doing everything you can to avoid thinking about the collision or discussing the events with your loved ones, the accident has caused more than physical injuries.

Another way you will try coping with PTSD is by avoiding driving or being in a car. In the same way, if you avoid discussing the accident, you could find that you do not want to drive a car, especially the one that caused the accident or be a passenger in the vehicle. Also, you will notice that you take detours to avoid passing through the crash scene. Some people will even avoid interactions with other individuals involved in the accident because it triggers accident memories or feelings.

  1. Having Nightmares of the Vehicle Collision

Having trouble sleeping due to nightmares of the accident is another symptom of PTSD. When you realize that you wake up at midnight due to nightmares regarding the accident or are shunning sleep because of fear of having nightmares when you fall asleep, you could have PTSD. Apart from nightmares, if you notice you are napping longer than usual to elude waking up to your new reality, it could be due to PTSD.

Nevertheless, having trouble sleeping because of pain from car accident injuries does not necessarily mean you have PTSD. Talk to your doctor for clarification of the symptoms.

  1. Hyperarousal or Behavior Changes

Behavior change, also known as Hyperarousal, is also associated with PTSD. After the crash, your body can feel on edge, jumpy, easily angered, or startled. Also, you could find yourself mad for extended durations without any reason. When you develop PTSD, you become aggressive or snap at your loved ones. Further, most of the time, you will feel like danger is lurking in your corner.

  1. Having Mood Swings

PTSD can manifest itself in the form of mood swings. You can easily overlook this symptom because it can appear as if it is unrelated to your car accident. However, if you feel hopeless, guilty, or have intrusive thoughts, you could have PTSD. It will be a warning sign for PTSD if one minute you are happy and the other you are bursting with anger; it could indicate you have PTSD.

  1. Having Problems Concentrating

It could be a warning sign you have PTSD if the following is true:

  • You feel constantly distracted.
  • You have brain fog.
  • You feel anxious or cannot focus on tasks.

PTSD makes the part of your brain that detects threats, called the amygdala, hypersensitive, causing anxiety. Another part of the brain affected by the condition is the prefrontal cortex, which regulates your decisions and emotions. PTSD makes this part less sensitive, which is why you find that after an accident, you could have problems paying attention and focusing on relationships, work, or other activities that previously made you happy.

  1. Withdrawing from Society

Because most people rarely understand the difficulties you face after suffering injuries in a crash, PTSD can occasionally be overpowering, forcing you to withdraw from friends, coworkers, and family members. Therefore, when you realize you are spending more time alone or do not want to interact with people, it could be a warning sign of PTSD. As much as you want to keep to yourself, you must understand that spending time alone will not help your recovery. It only escalates hopelessness and anxiety.

It would help if you had social support when suffering from this mental disorder. Withdrawing from society will worsen your symptoms because you could develop social anxiety or depression.

  1. Feeling Numb and Depressed

When you develop PTSD, you could begin feeling worthless, numb, or unhappy. If the problem is not diagnosed and arrested early, you could develop suicidal thoughts. Whenever you feel like you want to harm yourself, call 988 to talk to a professional about your suicidal thoughts.

Treatment of Car Accident PTSD

PTSD is difficult to diagnose and treat because people experience different symptoms. It could manifest in anxiety, avoidance, intrusive memories, or nightmares. The most severe signs are suicidal thoughts, paranoia, or auditory hallucinations.

Some injuries from car accidents do not show up immediately after the crash. Even if the signs manifest, others will show up later; this is why a medical examination is mandatory after a collision, whether or not you have sustained injuries. As a result, even after receiving treatment for physical injuries, your PTSD symptoms could take longer to manifest or appear later.

PTSD can adversely impact your life, career, relationships, and health. You do not need to go through these effects when you pursue treatment.

A psychological exam should be used first to diagnose the condition. Once it is determined that you have PTSD, your doctor can suggest different treatment plans based on your requirements. The standard treatments for vehicle collision PTSD are:

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) lasts for around three months and involves sixty to ninety-minute sessions. The treatment can be performed individually or in a group. The therapy consists in educating you on trauma coping mechanisms. The therapist teaches you new techniques for managing the condition, like developing self-confidence.

Once you have learned your self-worth or regained your self-esteem, the next phase involves helping you process the trauma from the car accident. Through therapy, you can recognize unwelcome car accident flashbacks and comprehend why the memories are ingrained in your mind. By doing this, you can identify the patterns preventing you from moving forward and conquering. After that, your therapist will evaluate your progress and take action to prevent a relapse.

Exposure Therapy

If you cannot discuss or talk about the car accident because of fear, exposure therapy helps you face these fears. When you suffer trauma from a car wreck, you develop an avoidance of vehicles, other car victims, or activities like driving that you used to enjoy in the past. The symptom makes you less afraid, but the fear becomes worse in the long run. Under these circumstances, your therapist will recommend exposure therapy to break the avoidance patterns.

Your therapist exposes you to the fear-inducing environment during treatment and advises how to avoid it. The therapist uses virtual reality exposure, which relies on a computer program to stimulate the phobic situation, whether driving a car or being an occupant, to treat anxiety brought on by auto accidents. Also, the professional can expose you to images of the accident and ask you to imagine your fears while simultaneously exposing you to relaxation techniques. That way, you can beat the anxiety and avoidance behaviors.

Use of Medication

Your doctor can recommend medication to treat PTSD. Usually, they combine the therapy with drugs for effective treatment. The common medications you will be taking include:

  • Antidepressants like Zoloft.
  • Prazosin to help with nightmares.

You should combine both group and individual therapy when treating PTSD.

Recovering Damages

After an accident, the liable party should offer you compensation for PTSD. You must, however, demonstrate that the negligent behavior of the driver of the car that collided with you directly contributed to the development of your PTSD. Additionally, you must prove that the condition has negatively affected several aspects of your life and that you should be compensated.

You should be aware that to demonstrate the integrity of the traumatic condition, you will need a medical report and receipts. The compensation you will recover from your injury claim includes the following:

  • Cost of diagnosing and treating PTSD.
  • The cost incurred in inpatient treatment for the condition.
  • Loss of current earnings because of your inability to perform tasks.
  • Commuter expenses for attending therapy sessions.
  • Loss of life enjoyment.
  • Pain and mental anguish caused by the PTSD.

You are eligible for compensation to cover all the expenses incurred in PTSD treatment. You should also be paid for the emotional distress. The factors that will determine the amount of reimbursement are:

  • Whether the car wreck resulted in severe injuries or deaths.
  • The possibility of recovering from the PTSD.
  • The financial impact of the diagnosis.
  • The pain caused by the mental condition in your life.

Find an Experienced Injury Attorney Near Me

When you are involved in an auto crash caused by someone else’s negligence, you should file a compensation claim. Florida statutes allow you to recover damages from car crashes, including for PTSD. Your claim will be customized to your needs. However, seeking PTSD compensation is difficult, considering you are fighting anxiety and avoidance. Again, insurance companies will be reluctant to offer compensation. Having the Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney fight for your rights will ensure you obtain well-deserved compensation. Call us today at 904-800-7557 for a free consultation.