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Experiencing an automotive accident is scary, upsetting, and can substantially impact your life.
Auto accidents can leave you with severe physical damage. However, not many people think about the emotional and mental trauma it can cause.
Getting back into a car becomes a challenge for many car accident victims and survivors. 33% of people involved in motor vehicle accidents suffer emotional trauma, and 25% will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The symptoms, whether new or an exacerbation of existing symptoms, can last for months and years. Left untreated, a car accident survivor can carry those symptoms their entire life.
This is where Injury Trauma Counseling can treat people suffering from anxiety, emotional trauma, and PTSD caused in the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident.
Understanding Emotional Trauma & PTSD Caused by Motor Vehicle Accidents
What Exactly is PTSD?
PTSD is a mental health condition that can impact people who have experienced a traumatic event. More often than not, traumatic events that result in life-threatening situations can cause PTSD, from acts of violence to natural disasters, witnessing someone’s death, or experiencing an accident. A person who develops PTSD can experience several symptoms that can become debilitating and impact their quality of life. For some, the trauma from the accident can be more harmful and long-lasting than the physical injuries themselves.
The Symptoms of PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can manifest in the form of several symptoms, including:
- Experiencing the event again, including nightmares, flashbacks, or intense physical and emotional responses to triggers that remind you of the traumatic event.
- Avoidance symptoms that include avoiding people, places, or experiences that can remind you of the traumatic event. Avoiding thinking about or talking to people about it.
- Feeling a significant negative shift in your thoughts and emotions, including:
- Lack of interest in things you’d usually enjoy
- Feeling disassociated and distant from people
- Greater chances of feeling depressed, anxious, or angry
- Harboring negativity about yourself and everyone.
- Feelings of shame or guilt
- Finding it challenging to feel happy
- Emotional and physical reactivity, including:
- Experiencing trouble sleeping
- Becoming reckless and taking unnecessary risks you wouldn’t otherwise take
- Getting angry or aggressive very easily
- Experiencing issues with your concentration
- Constantly feeling alert, uneasy, startled, and on guard
Symptoms of PTSD Related to Car Accidents
Car accident victims and survivors may experience a few specific symptoms. These symptoms may not appear immediately, and it can take weeks or even months for someone to develop them. Some of the symptoms someone suffering from PTSD due to a car accident experiences may include:
- Flashbacks of the car accident
- Night terrors and nightmares
- Intrusive thoughts about self-harm
- Suicidal thoughts
- Refusing to drive or ride in a vehicle
- Feeling increasingly withdrawn from family, friends, loved ones, and society
- Extreme mood swings and emotional outbursts
- Constantly feeling on edge
Seeking professional care and counseling is essential if you have developed PTSD due to a car crash. Failing to do so can make the symptoms worse.
How Seeking Injury Trauma Counseling After an Accident can Help
Auto accidents can do more damage than the physical trauma they cause. That loss of control you feel due to an accident can leave a lasting impact on your brain. The fight-or-flight feeling your brain experiences in the crash can leave a permanent mark on your head, exposing you to the risk of repeatedly re-experiencing the fight-or-flight sensation. It can result in panic attacks, cause or worsen depression and anxiety, and lead to mood swings.
Seeking Injury Trauma Counseling is a viable way to address these issues, allowing you to take back control. We are well-equipped to help you through this, so you no longer need to suffer in silence. At Impact Medical Group, we:
- Boast a team of seasoned Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, and Social Workers who provide professional counseling, psychotherapy, and opinions to those suffering from emotional and mental trauma after an accident.
- Use evidence-based treatment methods like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Supportive Talk Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and more to deliver the most effective solutions tailored to each victim.
- Help counsel the patient through their feelings of apprehension or anxiety about getting surgery.
- Can prescribe medication like antidepressants to help you feel calm and ease your anxiety.
- Offer telehealth visits to effectively treat patients wherever they are in Florida.
- Provide the opinions and documentation necessary to establish when a diagnosis is related to a car crash.
- Accept Personal Injury Protection coverage and medical liens.
- Have partnered with an associate pharmacy that can refill your medical prescriptions under a lien.
Impact Medical Group is Here to Help You Recover From Emotional Car Accident Trauma
The emotional trauma following a car accident can weigh heavily on a victim and their loved ones. Injury Trauma Counseling is here to offer you the support and care you need to get through this. Remember: Seeking proper medical help is critical to your timely recovery and to continue living a happy and fulfilling life.
Impact Medical Group is here to work with you to experience life to the fullest again.