“Personal injury” is too mild a term for what people often suffer. To call the experience a personal injury makes it sound as though the sufferer just stubbed her toe or got a paper cut. But any personal injury lawyer in Ajax knows that their clients may go through harrowing experiences. And, even if they didn’t sustain any physical injuries, the mental toll can be staggering after a traumatic event like a serious car accident.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
A personal injury lawyer in Ajax knows to look for damages not only as a result of physical injury, but of mental and emotional injury too. Though the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been around for as long as people have had traumatic experiences (read: since the dawn of humanity), the first diagnoses of PTSD as we know it today came in 1980, after a longitudinal study of Vietnam veterans. But this isn’t to say that PTSD only affects soldiers; rather, PTSD is a matter of perception. Regardless of the event itself, if a person believes he was in a highly dangerous situation, he may suffer from PTSD afterwards. So, even if you’ve suffered a personal injury in Toronto, PTSD can be a real concern for you.
Treating PTSD
Though there is no cure, per se, there are several PTSD therapy methods in practice today. Cognitive processing therapy involves a therapist working with the victim to reign in the memory’s more exaggerated aspects. Exposure therapy is when a therapist encourages a patient to imagine the negative experience over and over, eventually lessening its detrimental effect.
PTSD can lead to depression, anxiety, anger, and a host of emotional and mental issues. It’s only natural that someone suffering PTSD after a personal injury should seek a Toronto personal injury law firm to gain compensation for their woes. If you’ve been in an accident, a personal injury lawyer in Ajax can help.
Sources:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/ptsd4.htm
http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/ptsd.html