The Unspoken Symptom of a Car Crash!

I want to talk about something that happens after car accidents that almost nobody discusses. It’s not back or neck pain, it’s not a broken bone, you can’t see it on an X-ray or an MRI machine, it doesn’t show up in an emergency room report or most other medical records for that matter, but it can be just as debilitating sometimes even more so than any physical injury. I’ve had clients who walked away from a crash with relatively minor physical injuries: their car was repaired, the bruises healed, on paper they were fine. But months later, they couldn’t drive anymore.

They’d have panic attacks sitting at stoplights, seeing the car pulling up behind them a little too fast. They’d wake up in the middle of the night hearing the sound of the crash over and over again, like a sound playing on loop in a room you can’t leave. It affected everything at home, at work, and all aspects of their life. I’m sure you can already tell what this is: PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder. And they had no idea the accident was the cause.

I’m Adam Smallow, I’m a personal injury lawyer here in Maryland. In this video, I want to do two things: first, help you understand what PTSD after a car accident actually looks like, because it’s often very different from what people expect; and second, explain how Maryland law treats psychological injuries in a personal injury claim, because here’s what I need you to hear right now: your emotional and psychological suffering is real, it is a real injury, and under Maryland law, you are entitled to compensation for it after a car or truck accident.

What is PTSD really? When most people hear PTSD, they think of soldiers returning from combat. They think of its original name, “shell shock,” which came from medical professionals believing the psychological and physical symptoms were caused by the concussive physical force of exploding artillery shells rattling the brain. The thing is, PTSD is not limited to military trauma. It can develop after any event your brain processes as a serious threat to your life or safety. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that somewhere between 20 and 45% of people involved in serious motor vehicle accidents develop clinically significant PTSD symptoms afterward. That’s almost half of all accident victims.

So what does it actually look like after a car accident? In the medical world, it’s called intrusive re-experiencing. This is what people associate with PTSD: flashbacks, intrusive memories, nightmares. You might find yourself suddenly reliving the moment of impact not just remembering it, but feeling it again as if it’s happening again. The screeching of the tires, the sound of breaking glass, the impact. These can be triggered by seemingly unrelated things: a certain intersection, a specific time of day, even a song that was playing when it happened.

Another symptom is avoidance. Many accident victims stop driving or avoid the road where the accident happened. Some stop riding in cars altogether. They may withdraw from friends and family; they avoid talking about the accident or about anything related to it. Sometimes their brains actively push out the memories.

If you do manage to get behind the wheel again, you may find that you’re constantly on edge, bracing for impact, watching other cars obsessively. This is called hyperarousal and hypervigilance. This is when your nervous system gets stuck in a state of high alert. You can’t take a breather, even on an empty road with bright blue skies. People who experience this often describe it as always waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

PTSD can profoundly affect how you think and feel about yourself and the world around you. Some people experience persistent guilt or self-blame, even when the accident was entirely someone else’s fault. Others feel emotionally numb, detached from people they love, or unable to experience joy. Unfortunately, mental disorders rarely show up by themselves. Depression is extremely common alongside PTSD. Anxiety disorders often develop with it, or OCD tendencies to convince yourself, “If I do this, I’ll be safe.”

If any of what I just described resonates with you, if you recognized yourself in any of these descriptions, I want you to hear this: there is nothing wrong with you. Your brain is responding to a traumatic event the exact way it was designed to respond. But that does not mean you have to live with it untreated, it does not mean you are not entitled to be made whole, and it does not mean you have to walk this dark, shaky path alone.

Why PTSD after a car accident goes unrecognized: PTSD after a car accident almost always goes unrecognized, at least initially, and there are a few specific reasons for that.

• Reason number one: The symptoms are delayed. After an accident, the immediate focus is on the immediate injuries physical, financial, you name it. Emergency rooms treat broken bones and lacerations; law offices treat the outstanding invoices for these places that you don’t have the money to pay for. Nobody is asking whether you’re having nightmares. And even when the psychological symptoms do emerge, they often develop gradually, sometimes not reaching a disruptive level until weeks or months after the accident. By then, people don’t always connect what they’re feeling to the crash.
• Reason two: People minimize their own suffering. We all do this. I cannot count how many clients have said to me, “I know this sounds silly, but I’ve just been really anxious since the accident,” or “I feel like I should be over it by now.” There’s a powerful tendency in our culture to minimize psychological suffering. People feel like they should just push through; they’re embarrassed to admit they’re struggling with something they can’t see or measure, that they’re at war with their own brain. So they say nothing; they suffer in silence.
• Reason three: The medical systems in place. When you go to Urgent Care after a car accident, they’re looking for physical injuries; they’re not conducting trauma screenings. Most accident victims are discharged with instructions for managing whiplash, given a prescription plan for pain medication, and sent home with instructions to follow up with a primary care provider. Unless a patient proactively brings up psychological symptoms which, as I said, most people minimize it rarely gets addressed in that early window where early treatment can make the most difference.
• Reason four: Insurance companies don’t volunteer this information. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask about your physical injuries. They are documenting property damage and medical bills; they’re not going to call you and say, “By the way, are you experiencing PTSD symptoms?” because if so, that significantly increases the value of your claim. The psychological dimension of your suffering is something they would rather not address. Why would they offer to pay you more than they have to? And if you don’t know to bring it up or haven’t been formally diagnosed, it gets left on the table entirely.

How Maryland law treats PTSD and psychological injuries: Now, let me tell you something most people, including many car accident victims who’ve already consulted with attorneys, don’t fully understand: under Maryland law, psychological injuries are recognized as compensable damages in a personal injury claim. Your PTSD, your anxiety, your depression, the way this accident has affected your ability to enjoy your life, to function at work, to maintain your relationships all of that can be part of what you recover. These fall under what we call non-economic damages. Maryland law specifically recognizes compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and what’s sometimes called loss of consortium—the impact your injuries have had on your relationship with your spouse or family.
Now, I want to be clear about what it takes to actually recover these damages. It requires more than telling an insurance company you’ve been anxious. Here’s what you need to do to build a strong psychological injury claim:

• Step one: A formal diagnosis from a qualified mental health professional a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, or licensed clinical social worker who can evaluate you, diagnose you, and document the severity and impact on your daily life.
• Step two: A clear connection between the accident and your symptoms. This is called causation, and your treating provider can potentially be an expert witness who can establish this causation in a court of law.
• Step three: Documentation of how the PTSD has impacted your functioning missed work, inability to drive, withdrawal from activities, impact on relationships, and any treatment you’ve received.
• Step four: Consistency between your reported symptoms and your behavior. Insurance companies and defense attorneys will look for inconsistencies. Social media posts showing you out and having fun can undercut a claim for severe psychological distress. Be mindful.

One more important note: Maryland has a three-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims. This means you generally have three years from the date of the accident to settle your case or file a lawsuit. If you’ve been struggling with PTSD symptoms after a car or truck accident but haven’t consulted an attorney, please don’t wait until it’s too late.

What you should do if you think you have PTSD after an accident: If you’re watching this and recognizing yourself in what I’ve just described, here’s what I want you to do:

• First of all, take your mental health seriously. If you’ve been struggling since your accident whether it’s anxiety, sleep problems, intrusive memories, depression, whatever it is that is a medical condition that deserves the same attention as a broken arm. Reach out to your primary care doctor or contact a mental health professional directly. Your well-being comes first, before anything that is related to your personal injury claim or lawsuit.
• Next, get a formal evaluation. Ask your doctor for a referral to a licensed psychologist or therapist experienced in treating trauma. A formal diagnosis is important for your healing, and if you pursue a legal claim, it will be critical documentation.
• Keep a journal. Begin documenting your symptoms, when they occur, and how they affect your daily life. Note the days you couldn’t drive, the nights you couldn’t sleep, the social events you missed, the work you couldn’t complete. This personal documentation combined with your clinical records paints a powerful picture.
• Next, talk to a personal injury attorney. Consulting with an attorney does not mean you’re being litigious; it means you’re educating yourself about your rights. We will listen to your situation, explain what your claim might be worth, and give you clear guidance. No cost for a consultation; we only get paid if we win your case.
• Last thing: Be careful about what you share on social media. A photo of you at a family event, even if you were there for 20 minutes and struggled the entire time, can be used to argue your symptoms aren’t as severe as you claim.

The bigger picture: There’s a bigger issue around psychological injury in this country that causes tremendous suffering. People who would never hesitate to see an orthopedic surgeon for a broken leg will avoid a therapist for a condition that is equally, if not far more, disabling. Car accidents are violent events. Your body goes through enormous physical forces in a crash, but your mind goes through something equally as traumatic. The human brain is not designed to be involved in high-speed collisions and then simply continue on as if nothing happened. Cars have come a long way in making 50 mph feel like a soothing stroll until another car collides with yours. Suddenly, you become painfully aware of how fast these cars go and, in severe crashes, how little control you have over it.

If someone’s negligence their distracted driving, their speeding, their recklessness put you in that situation and left you with psychological trauma that has changed the quality of your daily life, you deserve to be made whole, not just for your medical bills, not just for your personal injury claim, but for your happiness.

The bottom line: If you’ve been in a car accident in Maryland, whether it was last week or last year, and you’ve been dealing with anxiety, fear, depression, sleep problems, or any of the other symptoms I’ve described today, please reach out to Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No fee unless we win, no fine print, no surprises. Your psychological injuries matter just as much as your physical ones, and don’t let anyone especially an insurance company tell you otherwise.