The most common psychological problems after car accidents are anxiety, depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These invisible injuries disrupt your life far more than the visible damage to your vehicle, affecting everything from your ability to work to your relationships.
Thankfully, California law recognizes that you’re entitled to compensation for psychological problems resulting from someone else’s negligence. However, because these damages aren’t immediately visible, it’s challenging to get fair compensation for them.
If you’ve suffered both physical and psychological injuries in a car accident, a car accident lawyer can help protect your rights. Call the Law Offices of Mickey Fine at (661) 333-3333 to discuss how we can build a case that accurately reflects the totality of your suffering.
A Deeper Look: The Most Common Post-Accident Psychological Conditions
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Motor vehicle accidents are the single leading cause of PTSD in the general U.S. population. Getting PTSD after an accident is a deeply disruptive experience that can affect nearly every part of your daily life. Key symptoms include:
- Intrusive Memories: Unwanted and recurring flashbacks, nightmares, or vivid, distressing memories of the crash that feel as though they are happening again.
- Avoidance: Actively staying away from people, places, or activities that remind you of the accident. This might mean refusing to drive, avoiding the crash location, or being unable to watch movies with car chase scenes.
- Negative Changes in Mood: Persistent feelings of fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame. You may feel detached from friends and family or lose interest in all the activities you once enjoyed.
- Arousal and Reactivity: Being easily startled, constantly on edge (hypervigilance), having trouble sleeping, or having angry outbursts. This is your nervous system stuck in “fight or flight” mode.
Anxiety and Driving Phobia
It is normal to feel nervous in a car after a collision. But for many, this nervousness escalates into a full-blown anxiety disorder or a specific driving phobia (vehophobia). Studies have found that a significant portion of crash survivors develop persistent anxiety.
This comes with physical manifestations: gripping the steering wheel so hard your knuckles are white, breaking into a sweat in heavy traffic, or having a full-blown panic attack when a car pulls out in front of you, for example.
Depression
Depression is a persistent state of hopelessness that can be directly caused by the trauma of the event, the financial stress of medical bills and lost wages, or the chronic pain from your physical injuries.
A recent study noted that over 17% of accident victims reported depressive symptoms, and this was often linked to the severity of their physical injuries and the resulting economic hardship. People who sustain debilitating injuries, such as a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or spinal cord damage, have a much higher vulnerability to long-term depression and psychological distress.
Insomnia and Nightmares
Sleep problems should not be viewed as a minor side effect. They are a severe symptom that is deeply intertwined with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The inability to sleep, whether from insomnia or recurring nightmares about the crash, prevents both your body and mind from healing. Chronic sleep deprivation worsens every other psychological symptom and can significantly impede your physical recovery.
Your Rights and Available Support Systems
While pursuing a personal injury claim is a primary avenue for recourse, you should also be aware of other protections and resources available to you. These systems are available to provide support during and after your legal case.
- California’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA): Enacted by Proposition 63, this act provides significant funding for county-level mental health programs.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): This federal law can offer powerful protections in the workplace. If your post-accident PTSD, depression, or anxiety is severe enough to substantially limit one or more major life activities, it may qualify as a disability. The ADA then prohibits employment discrimination and may require your employer to provide “reasonable accommodations,” such as a modified work schedule or a less stressful assignment.
- Criminal vs. Civil Liability: The at-fault driver’s actions may have consequences beyond your civil claim for damages. For example, if the driver fled the scene after causing an injury, they could face felony charges under California Vehicle Code 20001. A criminal conviction can significantly strengthen the leverage in your civil case for damages.
Tying Emotional Distress to Physical Injury. This is the bedrock of your claim for psychological damages in California. You cannot, in most circumstances, file a lawsuit only for emotional distress following a car accident. The legal system requires a “hook”: a direct link to a physical injury you suffered because of the same negligent act.
- What counts as a “physical injury”? It does not have to be a catastrophic injury. Conditions like whiplash from a rear-end collision, a concussion from hitting your head, a broken arm, or even deep bruising and soft tissue damage can serve as the necessary anchor for your emotional damages claim. The key is that a medical professional documents it.
- Defining Legal Terms: While often used interchangeably in conversation, “emotional distress” and “pain and suffering” have distinct meanings in a legal context.
- Pain and Suffering: This is a broad legal term covering all the non-economic damages you endure, including physical pain, discomfort, anguish, and the emotional trauma that comes with an injury. Many clients understandably ask how much is pain and suffering worth in their specific case. While there’s no universal formula, we fight for the maximum compensation available under the law to account for these deeply personal losses.
- Emotional Distress: This refers more narrowly to the mental suffering itself—the anxiety, fear, depression, humiliation, and trauma that arise from the experience.
- The legal principle of causation: To succeed, we need evidence. This evidence must connect the at-fault driver’s negligence directly to your physical injuries. Then, it must connect those physical injuries to the resulting psychological trauma. The insurance company’s entire strategy is to find a weak link in the evidence.
Building Your Case for Psychological Damages
An insurance adjuster is trained to be skeptical of anything they cannot see on an X-ray or in a photo. Proving the existence and severity of psychological injuries requires a strategic approach.
Medical Treatment is Your Loudest Megaphone
Your own words to a doctor, recorded in your medical chart, become powerful evidence. However, you must be specific. Vague complaints of “feeling down” are easily dismissed.
- Instead of: Telling your doctor, “I’ve been depressed since the accident.”
- Try: “Since the crash four weeks ago, I have nightmares about it every night and can’t sleep more than a few hours. I have a constant feeling of panic when I think about driving, and I’ve started having heart palpitations in traffic. I’ve completely lost interest in my hobbies and feel disconnected from my family. This isn’t who I was before.”
This level of detail creates a clear medical record of your symptoms. Crucially, ask your primary care physician for a referral to a psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist. A formal diagnosis of a condition like PTSD or an anxiety disorder from a mental health professional is a cornerstone of a strong claim.
The Power of a Personal Journal
Think of this not as a private diary, but as a logbook of evidence. Document everything. Your memory will fade, but a written record is permanent. This journal creates a tangible record of your suffering that can be presented to an insurance company or a jury.
- Track your specific symptoms daily: mood swings, panic attacks, flashbacks, and specific fears. Note the time, date, and what triggered the feeling.
- Record how your psychological state impacts your daily functions: missed days from work, inability to do household chores, turning down social invitations, arguments with your spouse or children that stem from your irritability or detachment.
- Note your sleep patterns, nightmares, and any new phobias, like a fear of intersections or driving at night.
Your Friends and Family as Witnesses
The people who know you best are sometimes the most credible witnesses to the changes in your life. Statements or testimony from a spouse, close friend, or family member create a compelling “before and after” picture. They testify to the person you were before the accident and contrast it with the person you have become, illustrating the true impact on your personality, behavior, and overall quality of life.
FAQ for Common Psychological Problems After Car Accidents
Can I get compensation for emotional distress if I wasn’t physically hurt at all?
In the vast majority of California car accident cases, the answer is no. A claim for your own emotional distress must be linked to a physical injury you sustained in the same incident. There is a very narrow exception known as a “bystander” claim, where you might recover damages for witnessing a horrific injury to a close family member, but this is a complex and difficult type of case to prove that requires legal assistance.
How long do I have to file a claim for psychological injuries in California?
The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit for psychological injuries is the same as it is for physical injuries: typically two years from the date of the accident. Do not wait. As time passes, evidence becomes harder to find, memories fade, and it becomes much more challenging for your legal team to draw a strong, undeniable line connecting your current mental state to an accident that happened nearly two years prior.
Will I have to testify in court about my mental health?
It is a possibility. While most personal injury cases are settled before they reach a courtroom, you must be prepared for the process. This may involve giving a deposition (sworn testimony outside of court) or testifying at trial. The opposing counsel will question you in detail about your symptoms, treatment, and how the condition has impacted your life. We will ensure you are thoroughly prepared for every question and every step of the process.
What if I already had anxiety or depression before the accident?
You can still have a valid claim. The “eggshell plaintiff rule” is a long-standing legal principle that states an at-fault party is responsible for the damages they cause, even if the victim was more susceptible to injury than a typical person. If the car accident aggravated or worsened your pre-existing mental health condition, you can pursue compensation for that exacerbation.
How much is my emotional distress claim worth?
There is no simple formula or calculator for valuing pain and suffering. The value of an emotional distress claim depends on a combination of factors: the severity and expected duration of your symptoms, the consistency and quality of your medical records and diagnosis, the strength of the evidence linking the psychological harm to your physical injuries, and the skill of the legal team presenting your story. Our role is to assemble the evidence to present the most compelling argument for the maximum compensation available under the law.
Don’t Let Anyone Invalidate Your Injury
Your psychological trauma is a real, measurable injury with a significant, documented cost. Do not let an insurance adjuster or their attorneys dismiss your pain or tell you it’s “all in your head.”
The team of personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Mickey Fine is here to build the strongest possible case for the physical and psychological damages you have endured.
Call us now at (661) 333-3333 for a direct conversation about your case and how we can help.