How Car Accidents Can Affect Your Mental Health: Legal Implications

Car accidents, most of the time, are very sudden, and that is the reason why they can be really traumatic and leave a severe impact on your mental health. This effect is far more serious than the physical injuries that are endured. 

The deep emotional scars left after the accidents can be really hard to treat. Along with the physical hurt, there comes emotional suffering, including stress, anxiety, and trauma. 

These emotional wounds are taken for granted a lot of times and can leave the accident victims struggling for a longer period of time than they can imagine. But with serious help and effort, these mental health effects can be dealt with. 

Mental Health Impacts of Car Accidents

Extending beyond the physical injuries, the psychological or mental health impacts of car accidents are very real. These show up in different forms and sometimes in the form of serious mental health issues. 

Some of the mental health issues include: 

Anxiety

Anxiety about the incident after the accident is over is quite common. A lot of times, the survivors of the accidents are seen suffering from serious anxiety disorders where they have to deal with panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, and even bad phobias.

So, a fear inside that makes the person think that another accident like that might happen, or a constant fear inside that something bad will happen, can impact you pretty badly.   

Depression

Anxiety, if it stays for a longer period of time, can end up causing depression that can get out of control at times. The victims of the accidents are seen dealing with loss of hope and the urge to do anything. They can struggle even to carry on a proper task in a day.  

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Car accidents can be very traumatic to handle, and many survivors develop PTSD as a result of them. The symptoms may include nightmares, severe anxiety, flashbacks of the event, and a heightened startle response. The victims can prevent situations in which they are reminded of the accident a lot more than usual.

When it comes to compensation, a car accident lawyer can help you a lot. Click here to learn more. 

Insurance Coverage in Mental Health Cases  

Insurance coverage after a car accident affecting mental health can be a very important aspect when it comes to getting recovery. This is how mental health issues are covered in the insurance policy. 

Health Insurances

A lot of times, health insurance does cover mental health services that are taken by people, including therapy and counseling. This coverage can also include accident-related psychological stress that affects the mental health of the victim. 

To get an idea of the extent to which mental health coverage is provided by your insurance policy, it’s important that you have a look at those policies. 

Worker’s Compensation

A lot of times, it has been seen that if the injury occurs in the workplace or in an area where you don’t have access to the ownership of the property. There can be worker’s compensation that can help you out in such matters. And many times, it has been observed that the employee policies also include mental health coverage.

Auto Insurance

In some of the cases, the auto insurance policy does have mental health treatment covered in it. The mental health coverage can be in the form of Medical Pay or Personal Injury Protection.

Nevertheless, the options of coverage may differ significantly from one insurance policy to another and from one jurisdiction to another.

 Click here to learn more about it.

Statute of Limitation for Mental Health Claims

The statute of limitation is the time frame, in which a claim can be filed after an accident or an incident. If a person does not file a claim in this given time, they can lose all the compensation chances that they had with their case. 

The standard time for this varies between one to three years. So, a limited time window is there for you to follow to get the amount that you deserve. His may start from the day you go, your mental health issues are diagnosed, or the day the accident occured. 

Now, the statute of limitation does vary in each country, so you really cannot put a finger on one state for treating you with less justice. But at the same time, it is important to file a claim as soon as you can so that the needed compensation can be managed. 

Conclusion

When it comes to mental health, it is a very delicate topic to be discussed. Also, when it comes to getting help regarding the issues, it must be kept in mind that the earlier, the better. This way, getting the deserved compensation does increase. 

You can view the original article HERE.