Car accidents can happen in an instant. And although it doesn’t take long for a crash to occur, it can take a while to comprehend just how much it affects you.
This can be especially true when it comes to hidden injuries, or injuries you cannot necessarily see but are nonetheless very real.
Types of hidden injuries
Many damages after a crash are readily apparent, from a crushed vehicle to broken bones. But the following types of injuries can be just as painful, even though you cannot see them:
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- Anxiety
- Depression
- Emotional distress
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Personality and mood changes
- Whiplash
- Chronic pain
These types of injuries can be painful in ways physical injuries are not. They can leave sufferers emotionally compromised, frustrated, hopeless and confused.
Why you must take invisible injuries seriously
Fixing physical damage stemming from a crash can be reasonably straightforward. You might bring your car to a body shop, wear a cast or undergo surgery.
However, when it comes to invisible injuries, fixing them can be uniquely challenging. To begin with, not everyone will understand what a person is experiencing, which makes it difficult to seek treatment, get a medical diagnosis and identify an effective care plan.
Further, there may not be a way to measure improvement or see if and when a person’s injury is “fixed.” Because of this, people may prematurely assume someone is better.
It can also be complicated for people to appreciate the extent to which a person’s hidden injury is affecting his or her life. It is obvious that getting up a flight of stairs can be impossible for someone with a broken leg; it is less obvious that a person’s emotional distress is making it impossible to care for their family in the way they used to.
With all this in mind, car accident victims should not ignore hidden injuries. Unfortunately, people may minimize these hidden conditions or fail to connect them to a crash. These lines of thinking can result in costly – yet avoidable – mistakes, so it is critical to be mindful of them and seek treatment after an accident.