Trauma is a troublesome beast, able to strike with little provocation and maximum damage. With trauma, there is not some easy formula of determining how it can manifest and why. Indeed, what might traumatize one person may not traumatize another. One type of incident that tends to cause a certain degree of trauma in a fare few people is a car accident. This can obviously cause physical trauma if any injuries occur in the process of it, but it can even create emotional trauma to grapple with as well.
How can you handle the physical and emotional trauma brought on by a car accident?
There are two main types of physical trauma. The first is blunt force trauma, where an object or force strikes the body. This may lead to concussions, broken bones, and/or deep cuts. The other one is penetrating trauma, where an object pierces through the skin or the body, which typically creates an open wound. These kinds of things should be taken care of as soon as possible at a hospital. After this part of the process is finished, you need to take care that you do the aftercare properly, doing whatever your doctors tell you to do in order to fully recover from the physical trauma. As far as emotional trauma goes, getting over that is not necessarily going to be as easy to get over as physical trauma is.
Emotional trauma is one type of non-physical trauma, alongside psychological trauma, which results from traumatic incidents, and honestly, a car accident is a common type of traumatic incident, and one that causes people quite a bit of emotional turmoil. Emotional trauma manifests in a number of ways, not all of which are going to be experienced by every victim of it. Trauma can produce exhaustion, confusion, depression, numbness, agitation, and other feelings. One of the biggest issues that people with emotional trauma face, however, is that society is not entirely kind to people who experience emotional trauma, with some people calling those who suffer from emotional trauma ‘weak’ for it, but it is not at all weak. It is a normal response for people who survive a traumatic incident to experience. A person’s reaction to trauma may vary depending on different circumstances that they experience. A person who has a solid income, for instance, may be that much more capable of receiving the mental health treatment that they need to cope with the emotional trauma they are suffering from. Connecting to society’s poor treatment of those dealing with mental health issues and trauma, there is a decent percentage of people in our society who are socialized to not seek help when they are suffering from such a thing.
Emotional trauma can also severely stunt people, preventing them from experience substantial progress in the future or even resulting in regression. Of course, this does not necessarily speak poorly of the person who has become a victim of emotional trauma; after all, progress is not linear, and sometimes you just need to allow yourself time to heal from your emotional trauma. One of the best ways to overcome emotional trauma is to develop a healthy coping mechanism. Of course, there is no one coping mechanism that will work for everyone. It is not a one-size-fits-all deal, and some are going to work for some and not for others. In fact, sometimes a coping mechanism will be a little inconsistent. Some coping mechanisms may take a little more time to get a solid foothold with, while others start out strong but lose out on effectiveness as time goes on, necessitating that you develop something new if you are still in need of a coping mechanism.
One major example of how emotional trauma can hurt people is through survivor’s guilt. Survivor’s guilt is pretty much what it says on the tin: the guilt of being a survivor in a situation where someone else has passed. Many thoughts may go through their head: “Why did I survive? Why did other people have to die? What could I have done to stop others from dying?” People who suffer from survivor’s guilt often put undue pressure on themselves to compensate for something that, in most cases, they had nothing to do with besides being a victim of the traumatic incident. Survivor’s guilt can manifest through a number of different positions; such examples include survivors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, war veterans, cancer survivors, first responders, natural disaster survivors, and, of course, survivors of a fatal car accident. These people often experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of these incidents, which can cause the sufferer to experience flashbacks, obsession with the event, social isolation, and thoughts of suicide, among other problematic symptoms. Mind you, PTSD can manifest even in people where survivor’s guilt was not involved.
Involucrado en un accidente? Did it involve someone else potentially being culpable? If so, you may be able to file a lawsuit to receive compensation. Consult with a lawyer today who can help you get the money that you deserve.