While recovering from accidents, victims may experience a wide range of emotions including sadness, shock, frustration, hopelessness, and fear among others. For many of our clients, these emotions resolve as their physical injuries heal over time. However, for many this is not the case. These emotions can persist and become just as debilitating as any physical injury. Common symptoms include:

• Difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep
• Problems with concentration and memory
• Nightmares and flashbacks
• Lack of motivation
• Social withdrawal

Some of our clients, particularly those who have suffer from chronic pain or injuries to the brain or spinal cord, suffer from depression, anxiety, or PTSD on top of their physical injuries. Other clients may have overcome all of their physical injuries, but still have to deal with the emotional fallout.

Often, there is a progression to the emotional effects after an accident:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Immediately following an accident, it’s not unusual to experience fear and anxiety, especially if the accident was particularly violent or resulted in the loss of a loved one. Nightmares, flashbacks and extreme fear can make life extremely difficult following an accident, especially when the accident occurred while doing something supposedly safe. Pedestrians struck by vehicles, and parents of children who’ve been hurt are particularly vulnerable.
• Depression: While many victims of accidents recover and see their mood improve dramatically, others experience a more uncertain recovery. This is especially so in cases involving chronic pain as extreme sadness and lack of energy can make recovery or adaptation even more difficult.
• Anxiety: Anxiety can arise from a failure to recover along with an increasing fear about how you will cope in the future. Anxiety can cause a crippling inability to work and care for yourself and your family, especially as bills pile up and life gets more out of control.

At Wolfe Lawyers we take your psychological injuries seriously. We understand that it takes time to deal with these issues. And we regularly work with mental health care professionals that have devoted their entire careers to helping people deal with the emotional fallout from accidents. Call or email Wolfe Lawyers and allow us the opportunity to be a part of your recovery.