Depression as an Aftermath to Car Accidents

A recent profile of Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox in Rolling Stone Magazine is drawing attention to one of the devastating psychological consequences of surviving a car accident. After he was hospitalized following a serious accident in December of 2014, Bradford Cox suffered severe depression. This is not unusual. A large percentage of people who are injured in a car accident suffer psychological problems.

The psychological fallout of accidents is underappreciated. Everyone can understand the devastating pain of broken bones and whiplashed necks, but recognizing the damage to mental health is much more difficult. American culture is too quick to dismiss the emotional repercussions of surviving a traumatic event.

Psychological consequences of being injured in a car accident are common, and the most common outcomes are:

• Depression due to life changes that occur after being injured
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in response to the trauma of the event
• Fear of being in or operating a motor vehicle, to the extent that some survivors are unable to get to and from work
• Fear of leaving the house for fear that something will go terribly wrong

Psychological damage requires counseling to fix, and even then it can take years and years to see positive changes. All the while, these debilitating effects can render you unable to work or live your normal life, and great personal and financial cost.

If you or someone you love has been in a car accident, and has suffered negative psychological consequences, it is important you contact a lawyer. Starting to seize control over your life is an important first step in healing, and holding the guilty to account is an important way to start to exercise that control.