The Unseen Emotional and Psychological Impact of Injury

When you have an accident that was not your fault, there is more than just physical pain involved. There are all kinds of injuries that can arise from accidents like these, and these may have knock-on effects that can affect many different areas of your life. As personal injury experts, Tyler Hoffman’s solicitors are experienced in considering all aspects of an injury to make sure clients get the compensation they are owed. In doing so, we’ve developed an understanding of the widespread impacts of these injuries on a person’s day-to-day life, emotional wellbeing, working life and future prospects. 

Here, we have outlined some of the effects of an injury beyond the physical impact that many people fail to consider, but which can have significant implications for your recovery.

Psychological and emotional distress

An injury can result in a lot of mental distress, fear and anxiety directly related to the accident or the trauma of the experience. This doesn’t just mean that recovery from an injury can be taxing – it means that it can result in conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. Whether the accident was a relatively common experience or something completely unexpected, it can result in trauma with long-lasting effects. These mental health effects, and particularly PTSD, can make it difficult for you to return to activities you used to enjoy, or to your job if the accident happened at work.

Accidents can also result in chronic insomnia or other sleep disturbances that affect overall wellbeing and daily function. The further knock-on effects of these conditions are taken into account when calculating compensation, but may not be apparent to those outside the situation. It is not only physical injuries that may affect your enjoyment of your life and your ability to take part in day-to-day activities.

Lost earnings (or earning capacity)

If you need to take time off work to recover, you may be entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP). Your company may also offer sick pay at a higher rate than SSP. However, neither of these values will be equivalent to the money you would have earned if you had been able to keep working. This can be especially frustrating if the accident was not your fault – you may be prevented from working and earning money because of negligence on the part of people you work with.

People whose injuries result in a permanent disability may be left without the ability to work in the same capacity as they did before. However, while this may be clear in cases of amputation or other significant injuries, a seemingly minor injury can have the same effect. If your job required you to lift and carry heavy objects, and you sustained a minor back injury, this could leave you with chronic pain that renders you unable to do the same job. Compensation accounts for lost earnings during your recovery and in the future, if you are left unable to go back to your job.

Disruption to daily life

An accident can affect personal relationships. Family and friends may need to look after you during your recovery, and in cases of serious injury, the person’s ability to maintain social and familial relationships may be impaired. Similarly, an accident can result in the need for ongoing assistance for daily tasks, a loss of autonomy and an increased dependency on others. 

This can also lead to financial costs. Some people who are injured in accidents need full-time care as a result, which can be expensive. There may be expenses associated with any psychological treatment needed as a result of the accident, especially if the accident results in chronic psychological conditions that require ongoing care. There may also be costs for medical treatment, especially if a particular corrective procedure is not available on the NHS and can only be sought privately. Compensation will cover the costs of these treatments, but it does not remove the emotional impact of undergoing these treatments.

Other costs that can also be covered by compensation – but which will first have to be borne by the injured party – include travel to and from medical appointments. In serious cases, people may need adaptations to their homes or vehicles to accommodate their injuries. For example, if an accident leaves you with a permanent disability, you may need a stair lift or a wheelchair ramp installed in your home. Without compensation this can be extremely expensive to achieve, and further accentuate the side effects and challenges of recovering from an injury.

This combination of ripple effects from an injury is part of the reason why compensation amounts for accidents at work or in public places are higher than the estimates you can find online. There is legal guidance for minimum and maximum compensation amounts for each type of injury, but the overall payment that successful claimants will receive also takes into account the psychological, emotional and financial effects they have experienced. It is also why it is important to work with an experienced solicitor who knows all of the elements to consider when calculating how much compensation you may be owed.

Written by Akef Akbar, Managing Partner, Tyler Hoffman Solicitors

Photo by Daniela Santos on Unsplash