Car Accident Anxiety | Get Compensated For Your Mental Suffering
Last updated Tuesday, March 14th, 2023
Car Accident Anxiety
Are you still feeling stressed and anxious after your car accident? Is the trauma holding you back from moving on with your life in peace?
You’re not alone. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, car crashes are among the most common causes of mental trauma.
Not all scars leave a mark. Your anxiety or PTSD may not be as evident as broken bones and bruises, but it can be just as devastating. These issues can destroy your peace of mind, impact your work, and sabotage your relationships. And it’s hard to know how long it takes to heal them. It could take weeks, months, or even years.
No seatbelt can protect your mind.
However, your car accident lawyer can get you the mental care and financial support you need after the accident.
How?
By filing a car accident compensation claim for your mental anguish.
However, a claim for anxiety or other mental issues is more complicated than a claim for physical injuries or property damage. Documenting a broken leg or a damaged windshield is easy, but your anxiety or PTSD is not visible for everyone to see.
It isn’t easy to even talk about it. And the thought of taking on the stress of a compensation claim for trying to prove you’re stressed sounds insanely stressful.
At Rebein Law, our experienced team of car accident lawyers knows how challenging and sensitive these issues are. We’ve helped hundreds of accident victims with anxiety or PTSD get the care and compensation they deserve.
Call us right now, and we’ll give you a FREE case review, letting you know what your case is worth and getting the ball rolling to win it.
Hurt in a Car Accident?
CLICK TO CALL (813) 544-4225
Our experienced Tampa car accident lawyers know exactly what to do to get YOU the Maximum Settlement.
Understanding Anxiety After a Car Accident
Anxiety is a natural symptom of being in a car crash. Your body naturally goes into a fight or flight mode when you’re involved in a life-and-death situation.
But your mind can keep you stuck there for a long time.
You start replaying the scenario in your head repetitively and start getting triggered quickly. You struggle to live in the present and start overreacting in situations.
Emotional trauma is unpredictable and can take on many forms, such as:
- Chest pain
- Irregular heartbeats
- Breathlessness
- Trembling
- Dizziness
- Tiredness
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Fear of death
- Impatience
- Irritation
- Getting chills
- Hyperactivity
- Lack of focus
You can file a claim if you’ve been suffering from any of these symptoms after your car accident,
But it’s important not to diagnose yourself and start taking any medication without supervision.
Schedule an appointment with a mental health counselor and allow them to diagnose and treat you.
They will show you the right path to recovery and document your condition officially, which will be critical in building your claim.
Compensation for Anxiety After a Car Accident
Florida law allows victims to seek damages from the party responsible for the car accident. You can seek compensation for both physical and mental injuries.
However, you have to prove there was some impact involved in order to make a legitimate compensation claim for anxiety.
So you can’t file a claim if there was no direct impact to your body or the car in which you were traveling.
Filing a car accident claim for anxiety is an uphill battle in Florida. Why? Because it’s a no-fault state. It requires every driver to carry personal injury protection (PIP) of $10,000. So you must go through your PIP coverage first to seek compensation.
Unfortunately, your insurance provider will give you a tough time claiming it for issues that can’t be as easily documented as injuries or property damage. Secondly, even if your claim goes through, your PIP coverage may not compensate for your mental health therapy, medication, lost wages, and other struggles.
You need an experienced Florida car accident lawyer to prove beyond doubt that you’re still struggling with severe mental trauma.
Here are three questions you need to convincingly answer if you’re trying to present a strong claim for your anxiety:
What kind of mental health effects are you still struggling with?
It’s common for most accident victims to go through some short-lived anxiety, but that’s not enough to support your claim. You have to conclusively prove that your mental health has taken a serious downturn since the accident, and you’re still struggling to get your life back on track.
You must produce documents clearly showing your diagnosis and ongoing treatment by a licensed mental health professional.
Can you establish a direct link to the car accident and your declining mental health?
Seeking mental health care as early as possible is vital in strengthening your case. You have a narrow window after your car accident to establish you’re your injuries are directly caused by it.
The longer you wait, the bigger opportunity you give insurance providers or other parties to deny your claim.
They can dismiss it by reasoning that you didn’t urgently act to take care of your health. They can claim your mental issues are not linked to the accident.
Document issues like experiencing heart palpitations when you’re on the road or getting flashbacks of your accidents. They can help establish a clear link to your car accident.
Are there any physical symptoms connected to your mental health issues?
What happens in your mind will eventually show up in your body too. So your insomnia, hair fall, ulcers, headaches, and asthma attacks could be physical symptoms of your anxiety.
Documenting physical symptoms like these is easy, which will help strengthen your lawsuit.
What Courts Look for While Reviewing Your Claim
There are only two things a court looks for when it comes to your car accident compensation claim:
· Negligence of the driver who caused the accident.
· Seriousness of your physical and mental symptoms caused by accident.
1. Proving the negligence of the driver
Your compensation claim is only as strong as the liability you can prove. You can only do that by demonstrating the driver’s negligence beyond doubt.
A judge will go through a checklist that looks something like this when they’re evaluating negligence:
- The driver at fault owed a duty of care to other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians sharing the road.
- This duty included obeying all Florida road safety and vehicle safety laws.
- The driver failed to fulfill his duty on one count or multiple counts.
- The driver failed to perform his duty, which directly led to your injuries.
If the driver at fault checks all these boxes, your lawyer has established liability well, and you’re one step closer to winning your claim.
If the driver was texting and driving, drunk, fatigued, or intentionally reckless, our team will do whatever it takes to prove their negligence.
We’ll coordinate with police authorities, insurance providers, health professionals, witnesses, or anyone else involved to achieve this.
2. Proving your mental anguish
As a car accident victim, you need to meet the following conditions to prove your mental trauma:
- The seriousness of diagnosis and treatment
- Establish a direct link between your mental health condition to the car accident
- Physical symptoms connected with your mental issues
Get the Compensation You Deserve!
CLICK TO CALL (813) 544-4225
Our experienced Tampa car accident lawyers know exactly what to do to get YOU the Maximum Settlement.
How Much Compensation Can You Expect?
Most injury lawsuits in Florida use two simple ways for awarding compensation to victims:
Multiplier 
The first step involves calculating the total economic losses you’ve faced caused by your car accident trauma. It includes mental health consultation charges, medical bills, lost wages, or any other miscellaneous costs for your recovery.
Your lawyer will also consult with your health professional to account for any probable future expenses too. Then, based on the intensity of your suffering, you can multiply your total losses by a number between one to five.
For example, if you had to bear a loss of $30,000, you can use a multiplier of three and seek a $90,000 compensation for your struggles.
Per Diem
We determine an appropriate daily expense for your suffering based on its severity. Next, we estimate how long it will take to recover from your mental health issues. Now, we multiply the daily expense by the estimated recovery period to determine your compensation amount.
For instance, if your per diem rate is $200 and you expect to continue treatment for another year, your compensation amount would be $200*365 = $73,000.
The root cause of all anxiety is fearing the worst. For victims who have come out of a car accident alive, it appears the worst is behind them already. But their mind has been so traumatized that they helplessly keep anticipating the worst. It’s common to see them get easily triggered when they get behind the wheel or inside a car after an accident. It’s also common to experience anxiety related to the financial burden and paperwork they’ll have to cover on their road to recovery. Anxiety over lost earnings and broken relationships due to the stress of the accident is another common cause. Here are the most common symptoms faced by car accident victims struggling with anxiety: Here are 3 essential steps you need to prove that your anxiety was directly caused by your car accident: The State of Florida has established a strict statute for personal injury claims. You have up to four years from the accident date to file your claim. It’s not possible to take any legal action after that period. The sooner you hire your attorney and file your suit, the more likely you’ll be compensated when you really need it. Yes. You can file for a claim under your PIP coverage and get compensation for your physical and mental health issues. However, Florida laws require you to seek medical care within 14 days of the accident to qualify for filing a claim. So it’s important to consult with a licensed mental health professional to document your struggles. Insurance companies prioritize their profits over your payouts. So don’t be surprised if they use any loophole or vague reason to deny your claim. You still have the option to hire a personal injury lawyer and file a suit to collect damages. Our lawyer will review your rejected claim and the evidence you presented and guide you to pursue the fastest and most rewarding legal action. You can seek compensation even if you were partially at fault for causing the car accident. Florida follows a comparative negligence standard, which means both drivers involved in a crash may share some liability. Your compensation amount will directly depend on how much responsibility you share in causing the accident. For instance, let’s say the court awards you $50,000 as compensation. It also determines that you shared 20% responsibility for the car accident. In that case, you’ll only receive 80% of the overall compensation amount.Frequetly Asked Questions
What are the common causes of anxiety after a car accident?
What are the common symptoms of anxiety after a car accident?
How can I prove that my anxiety is caused by a car accident?
How long after a car accident can I make a claim for anxiety compensation?
Will my insurance cover the compensation for anxiety after a car accident?
What should I do if my insurance company denies my claim for anxiety compensation?
Can I receive compensation for anxiety if I was partially at fault for the car accident?
Call us for a FREE case review today and let’s start getting your life back on track.
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