What’s one of the first types of injuries noticed right after an accident takes place?
It’s one that most probably don’t consider an injury.
It’s emotional distress: seeing someone trembling, afraid, anxious and physically shaken by what just occurred.
For some, it’s only the beginning of the emotional and sometimes debilitating effects that personal injury accidents can cause.
Defining emotional distress
In a nutshell, emotional distress can be described as something that has such a negative effect on you that it changes the way you operate.
These negative effects could present as loss of sleep, which negatively affects your waking hours. Others could be anxiety, depression, an overwhelming sense of fear or PTSD.
Be sure to explain to the doctors who are treating you exactly how you’re feeling and how your life is being affected by these feelings.
Demonstrating emotional distress
It can be hard to prove injuries that are not seen, so it’s important to have plenty of documentation from the doctors that are treating you.
In cases of emotional and psychological distress, treat your injuries the same way you’d treat a physical injury. Getting different perspectives of your injury from a few different doctors, medical and psychological, can bolster your claim of emotional distress.
Others that can give testimony to your condition include your spouse and close family members. Those closest to you can provide a great before-and-after account of how the accident has affected you.
Damage claims for emotional distress
Not only can your claim for damages include the period since the accident, but also future treatment that your providers deem necessary for you.
In addition to recouping money for current and future medical bills and treatment, you may also recoup wages that have been lost as a result of your emotional distress. If you are unable to work due to depression, panic attacks, or loss of sleep, it’s important to include this loss of wages in your claim.