When claiming for a personal injury after an accident, most people think about compensation relating to physical damages sustained, such as injuries or loss of wages. But there is another side to medical injury compensation, designed to help those who have developed a mental injury. Let’s start by defining mental injury compensation.
What is mental illness injury compensation?
During an accident, the injuries sustained to your mental health are just as serious as those sustained to your body. The accident can leave you with lasting damage that could impact your life for many years to come.
Mental injury compensation is designed to recognize the impact that mental illness injuries can have on a person’s life. The point is for you to receive suitable compensation for your treatment and suffering.
How can you become mentally injured?
Accidents can be extremely traumatic events, leading to mental illnesses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. It is important to realize that mental illnesses are not a one-size-fits-all symptom of an accident.
While some people may experience a car crash and be completely fine from a mental standpoint, others may relive that moment for many years to come. That causes them significant mental trauma. Knowing when to hire a personal injury lawyer and get compensation is important – even tiny injuries are worthy of financial help!
The most common types of mental injury compensation:
1. PTSD
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the most common type of mental injury and can affect a person’s life for many years after the accident. A person with PTSD may regularly re-live their accident, causing them to experience certain triggers. They may also have trouble sleeping or experience other emotional pain.
PTSD can also follow a traumatic event like 9/11. Find out about looking for a 9/11 attorney in this guide.
2. Anxiety
Just like PTSD, anxiety can also occur after a traumatic incident, causing a person to alter their daily lives and behavior to try and cope with daily life.
3. Depression
Depression can be severely disruptive to a person’s life. The individual may feel immense sadness, grief, and hopelessness. Depression can sometimes be a symptom of PTSD, but can also present on its own.
Proving mental health injuries
Just like any damages within a personal injury claim, it is important that you are able to prove that your mental health injuries were caused as a direct result of your accident. Because of the stigma that still remains around mental health, many people are afraid to speak up about their mental injuries for fear of how they will be perceived, unfortunately.
But it is important to raise your mental health injury with your lawyer so that they can include it within your case. The defendant may try to claim that your mental health condition was present prior to or developed as a result of events after your accident. Thankfully, with the help of a psychiatrist and a thorough analysis of your medical records, experienced personal injury lawyers can help fight your case.
How mental injury compensation can help
Mental illness has the capability to impact your life in many ways, but mental health injury compensation has the ability to make things a little bit easier. If you are unable to work, mental health injury compensation can help to make up for lost wages, for example.
Your compensation can also be used for counseling and therapy to help you improve your mental health. Also, a portion of the payout will help to compensate for your suffering.
If you’ve sustained a mental illness injury as a result of an accident, don’t suffer in silence. Speak with a personal injury lawyer and other supportive people after the accident as soon as possible. Doing so can help you get the emotional, mental and physical support you need and see about getting the mental injury compensation you need and deserve.