Car accidents can cause both major physical and mental injuries that can affect you for the rest of your life. If you recognize conditions similar to what you had experienced just before a severe accident, you may suffer flashbacks or an anxious response. If you find that you have a reaction to the risk of injury that includes anxiety, depression or avoidance, it’s time to seek help. Whether your severe injuries are mental or physical, here are a few things that you might experience as you recover.
Mental Health Issues
Being involved in any kind of traumatic accident can cause you to have significant mental health problems. For example, if you’ve been in a severe car wreck while turning across lanes of traffic, you may find that you avoid making the same type of turn in the future. Unfortunately, this avoidance can be coupled with anxiety and panic. Traumatic events can also lead to learned helplessness, such as when victims of domestic abuse develop a sense of hopelessness about getting into a safe living space. There are numerous injuries that can result in PTSD symptoms.
In addition to memory problems and cognitive challenges, people who’ve suffered a head injury have a greater risk of depression and schizophrenia as well as bipolar disorder. While many of these conditions appear within a year of the injury, your risk can stay high for years after the event. If you have a history that includes a head injury and you notice problems in concentration or memory retention, you need to seek help.
Long-Term Physical Health Repercussions
Unfortunately, sometimes serious accidents cause significant, long-term physical problems that are sometimes permanent. Suffering permanent injury after a catastrophic accident can affect every aspect of your life, especially if you get a spinal or brain injury that affects your mobility. This could require you to make some changes in your life to help yourself get around and do daily tasks. You may need to move to a more accessible house or make changes to your current one to help yourself do daily physical tasks. You may also need to learn to care for yourself using only the strength of your upper body or seek help in daily activities from a private nurse. Anyone who suffers a serious spinal injury that limits their mobility will also be at greater risk for infections. Debilitating mental health challenges will lower the capacity of their immune response even further. Getting proper support is critical.
Anyone who’s suffered a major injury needs support as well as quality medical care. Even if you make a full physical recovery, you can develop PTSD or other mental health problems. If you find that you are having nightmares that focus on catastrophic events, seek help before the condition starts to limit your waking hours. Regardless of the type of injury, it’s important to take care of both the mental and physical repercussions properly so you can continue to live a fulfilling and happy life despite your injury.
Here’s another article you might like: Tips for Assessing Damages Caused By Car Collisions