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Psychological Injury Compensation – Claiming For Damage To Your Mental Health

By Ian Morris | Updated June 12th, 2024

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When most people think of a personal injury claim, they usually consider physical injuries such as a broken arm or whiplash. However, as well as physical injuries, a claimant should be aware that they can also claim psychological damage compensation.

At Direct2Compensation, we realise that making a claim for personal injury compensation is not just about the money. Indeed, we regularly see many different motivating factors that lead to people contacting us for help, and we know that there are many benefits to making a claim other than a financial settlement.

One of these benefits is being able to access psychological rehabilitation therapies to speed your recovery, at the expense of the third-party you are claiming against.

Psychological injuries shouldn’t be ignored

By ignoring the psychological effects of their accident, a claimant of personal injury compensation could well be undervaluing their compensation settlement. When working out the value of a claim and what settlement a claimant is likely to receive, a solicitor will take in to account medical evidence and special damages. If a claimant has not properly reported their accident and injury details, including psychological injuries, it is harder to claim compensation for them.

As with all injuries, getting professional diagnosis and treatment of a psychological injury is vital when it comes to pursuing a claim for personal injury compensation.

Examples of psychological injuries that can lead to a compensation claim

One example of psychological injuries could be a claimant who was injured in a serious car accident. Let’s say they drove for a living and as a result of their accident suffered physical injuries, but were also left feeling unable to get back behind the wheel due to the psychological trauma. They may lose their job or have to change career. If they reported the injuries to their doctor and had treatment or a referral for psychological therapy, this would form a large element of their claim when the various criteria that make up the settlement value are evaluated.
Psychological trauma after a motorcycle accident. These accidents are notorious for serious physical injuries, with often permanent disabilities resulting from a serious crash. Psychological trauma often links with such incidents with people no longer confident to ride their motorcycle or being left suffering flashbacks or nightmares. This can also apply to witnesses.
Post traumatic stress disorder after being involved in a serious accident at work. Workplace accidents can cause nasty injuries, often with permanent repercussions for the victim. A serious accident at work could lead to an employee losing the confidence to return to the workplace.
Some high pressure jobs may give rise to claims for stress at work.
People surviving after being involved in fatal accidents, or anyone who has witnessed something in which someone has been very badly injured or killed in an accident.
Panic attacks. Sometimes what can initially seem an innocuous accident like an elderly lady falling on a damaged section of pavement can result in more than just a fractured wrist. We’ve come across people who have lost all confidence after a tripping accident and are no longer able to go out in to their local town alone. The fear of a repeat of an accident and the subsequent injuries is a real problem and although most people realise that they are unlikely to suffer the same kind of injury twice, they sometimes suffer a psychological barrier to getting out of the house.
One very common accident type that leads to ongoing psychological injuries involves people who have suffered brain or head trauma. In many cases, those who suffer such injuries are often left with severe post accident psychological trauma, behavioural changes or memory loss. Whilst such injuries are hard to see, they do exist and claimants often don’t know where to go for help.

Why claim psychological damage compensation?

An obvious outcome of any successful personal injury claim is that the claimant will receive a compensation settlement. Whilst this is always welcome and can help the claimant move on after a nasty accident, there is no financial settlement amount that means that injuries or trauma can be forgotten and put away.

With Direct2Compensation, your psychological injuries compensation claim will be made on a No Win No Fee basis, so you will never be charged any fees at all if your claim does not succeed. A successful claim can lead to a compensation settlement being made to you, with the value of the claim including all lost income and incurred costs along with the potential access to rehabilitation therapies.

Remember, any person injured in an accident that was not their fault – whether physically injured, psychologically traumatised (or both) can make a claim for compensation, and Direct2Compensation can help.

Making a claim for psychological injuries compensation is a legal right for any person diagnosed with such a condition as a result of an accident that was not their fault
A successful claim will lead to the claimant receiving a financial settlement covering the extent of their psychological injury and how it has affected their life.
A successful claim settlement will include a special damages claim covering any loss of income caused by the psychological trauma.
The claimant could well access specialist rehabilitation therapies such as counselling, CBT treatments and other suitable therapy.

Access mental health therapies

Fortunately, most psychological injuries can be treated with therapies, where a psychologist will help an injured person to learn to re-programme the brain to reduce the symptoms of conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

One of the potential outcomes of making a claim for psychological injury compensation, other than a financial settlement, could be accessing excellent medical treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, counselling and other treatments. These can help people overcome the severe effects that psychological injuries can have on those who have been involved in nasty or distressing accidents.

How much compensation can you claim for psychological damage?

Severity of injury	Compensation amount
Severe psychiatric damage	£51k - £109k
Moderately severe psychiatric damage	£18k - £51k
Moderate psychiatric damage	£6k - £18k
Less severe psychiatric damage	£1k- £6k
Severe PTSD	£56k - £94k
Moderately severe PTSD	£22k - £56k
Moderate PTSD	£8k - £22k
Less severe PTSD	£4k - £8k

Find out if you can claim

Clearly, most victims of personal injuries sustain what can be described as fairly minor injuries from which they can expect to make a full recovery, and therefore, no psychological trauma is likely to exist. However, in accidents that involve serious trauma it is likely that the injured party will have suffered shock and psychological injuries, and these can form part of the claim.

If you want help and advice on the issue of psychological trauma after an accident and wish to discuss a possible claim for personal injury compensation, please give us a call. Your GP or health professional will also be able to assist you.

At Direct2Compensation we know how to help you pursue a psychological injury claim successfully. We’ll ensure that your rights are protected and help you begin to move on with your life with our supporting claims process and expert solicitors.

If you have suffered psychological injures as a result of an accident that was not your fault, you are entitled to claim. We can also advise you on how to report your injuries to the right people if you haven’t already done so. Contact us on 01225 430285, or if you prefer, .

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Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming...

Can you claim for both PTSD and post concussion syndrome together?

Yes, our medical experts would be able to provide detailed reports on both the PTSD and Concussion separately in order that the impact of both conditions were understood, along with a prognosis and details for suitable therapies/treatments to reduce and remove the symptoms. This would then allow our specialist Solicitors to gain an understanding of the correct valuation for your claim and settle the matter as one claim with the defendants.

My Solicitor told me that claiming for mental health problems only without any bodily injury is not possible within the personal injury sector in Scotland. Only bodily injuries can be claimed for compensation? This is true?

Claiming for psychological injury is possible, but only in the more serious of cases where a full diagnosis has been made and a referral by a GP to a suitably qualified psychological health Doctor has been made.

Hi regarding my claim for the accident, the insurance company admitted liability but wanted proof of causation. Now seen an independent medical expert, and psychology report, all saying it’s linked to the accident. Is that enough evidence for the insurance to admit causation as well?

The views and reports of specialist experts – such as medical experts – should be sufficient for the defendant insurers to proceed. Of course, they may wish to seek further reports etc, but as you now have supportive evidence from the medical expert and psychology report, any further experts are likely to simply further support the same view.

Hopefully can get it sorted now, been 2 years. I’ve seen an independent gp, a orthopaedic specialist and a psychiatrist. And all their reports agree the accident was the cause of my injuries

Good luck!

Daughter’s car went over a man who they saw jump off a bridge. The man landed on one car then was on the road and daughter couldn’t avoid going over him. They were uninjured. They are both in shock
If anyone,who would they seek compensation from?

Sadly, the routes to making a claim for compensation in such circumstance are very limited and it is unlikely that they will be able to obtain compensation for the psychological trauma caused to them in this incident.

The deceased has caused this incident but is no longer here to be claimed against and it is unlikely that they have left an estate with sufficient finances to compensate the individuals.

Can I claim psychological compensation for 8 years of harassment from a neighbour including indirect sexual harassment, stalking and fear of violence? I am still suffering in fear, day to day affected, health issues, even after moving away from him. It took 8 years for the council to take it seriously and move me. I had to fight to get restraining order breaches charged in this last year. Mistakes have been made by the council and police. Other breaches weren’t investigated.

The route to compensation in such circumstances would be via the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). However, given the time frames you mention, it is likely that you are now out of limitation.

You can contact the CICA directly via the .gov website.

What’s the criteria for psychotherapy clients who have been caused trauma and permanent damage to their lives by the actions of psychotherapists? I have some evidence in the form of admissions by the practitioner from a formal complaint, and recordings of sessions (which were not admissible to his member organisation which show his perverse treatment of me). It also seemed clear to me he had a mental health problem. His member organisation are incompetent at dealing with complaints and treat complainants with disdain and are rude, ignore the evidence and signs of other problems, so I am still left with a serious problem affecting me.

If the Psychotherapist who you believe caused you harm was medically qualified (i.d a Doctor working within the NHS), you may have grounds to pursue a claim for clinical negligence compensation. We would recommend that you make enquiries with a dedicated clinical negligence specialist at the earliest opportunity to discuss this matter.

Hi there,

I was involved in a huge car accident in Nov 2018. The car i had collided with due to this van pulling out, the driver had passed away a week later, this driver was same age as my dad and have since been struggling mentally and haven’t drove or bothered to renew my licence since it expired in 2019 as i am far too nervous as a passenger let alone a driver. I have since been awaiting for a trial date as the police have charged me with death by dangerous driving, my lawyers are confused with this as the reports from the independent road traffic expert had mentioned should the driver of the van not pull out in front of my car the accident would not of happened. I have been struggling more and more as time has passed. Recently i have had to resort to public transport instead of taxis or lifts from family members due to high level of anxiety and the fact i have been charged with something that myself and lawyers believe is not my fault. What is your view on this? My parents say i may have Post Traumatic Stress as i had only recently began to really struggling moreso than before and have had to resort to being put on anti-depressants and sleeping tablets. I also have been seeing a Councillor.

The actions of the police/criminal justice system and any personal injury claim must be seen separately. Whilst the 3rd party van that pulled out and caused you to have the huge and tragic crash was at fault, the Police are duty bound to investigate the actions of each motorist and in your case, it is likely that your speed of travel has been highlighted as a contributory factor in this matter.

You mention that you already have a legal team in place and you should therefore ensure that they are fully aware of the psychological impact that this accident is having on you and you should seek specialist medical help regarding this matter.

I was in a taxi heading back home and has we was turning into another road the taxi driver drove us into a open manhole without no cover on it, due to the impact of the stop it caused me to have whiplash and has made my anxiety go straight through the roof as I already suffer with this. I can’t sleep at night as it’s giving me panic attacks due to my anxiety what would you say I’m able to claim due to this?

Yes, you are able to make a claim and we can help you with this. Ideally, you’ll have the details of the taxi and the name of the road – it is likely that the taxi driver would also wish to claim for the damage to their vehicle.

hi i was heading to work when i witnessed a serious car accident, it happened right in front of my car, i had to slam on my brakes and caught the entire accident on dash cam which gave to police. I’m still suffering flashbacks of the accident and the police are coming back to take witness statements off me, so its making me re live it all over again. Have i got grounds for a claim?

It is possible to claim for psychological injuries if you are a direct witness or directly involved in an accident in which you are not directly injured.

I was mugged last year can i claim physiological trauma?

Psychological trauma is a common injury sustained in a criminal assault or whilst being subjected to a criminal act like a mugging. If your psychological injuries have been discussed with your GP and are on record, you can pursue a claim for criminal injuries compensation.

Please call us on 01225430285 to start your claim or find out more about your rights in this matter.

I was a witness to a domestic violence case in which I had to kick my next-door neighbours door down to rescue their children as my neighbour was stabbing his partner. This incident has seriously messed me up. My neighbour survived and is in hospital still while the perpetrator awaits trial.

I never really thought about claiming as it didn’t seem right, but this matter is now going through court procedures at the moment.

I can’t eat sleep properly and may need to see councillors. Do I have a case in which I can claim for anything?

You may be able to pursue a claim for psychological injury/PTSD via the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme. The CICA is a scheme set up to compensate the victims of criminal assault injuries and this may include psychological trauma or PTSD. To pursue a claim, you must act within 2 years of the date of the incident and you must have both reported the incident to the Police and cooperated with them during any investigations (providing statements if requested etc). You must also have sought medical attention for your injuries and discussed the emotional issues and lack of sleep etc with your GP and ideally been referred to a specialist.

An old friend of mine went missing and I found him at 2.30am and he smashed my windscreen with me in the car and then my wing mirror. I have full dashcam footage, police crime number. I am physically disabled and i have a number of mental health diagnosis anyway. This incident has made things 100% worse. Can I claim as the police can’t due to him being sectioned?

My child was attacked at school by a girl 2 years ago. The police were involved and the girl in question was found guilty at trial and sentenced to pay a £250 fine (which still hasn’t been received).

Since the attack, my daughter (who is 13) has been depressed. She started harming herself, has been referred to CAMS which is still ongoing and she has had some counselling at her school. However, nothing is working and she is no longer the girl she used to be. She spends her time locked away in her room and doesn’t like to leave the house.

As the Police were involved in this incident, your Daughter (with the help of a Parent or legal guardian) can pursue a claim for personal injury compensation via the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme for the victims of criminal assault.

This is something our Solicitors can help with on a No Win No Fee basis. You don’t have to have a Solicitor as you can simply apply to the CICA online and handle the claim yourself.

However, you may prefer to have a Solicitor acting on this matter given the nature of the injuries being ongoing psychological trauma and a specialist Solicitor would be able to ensure that appropriate medical evidence is obtained to demonstrate the impact that this incident continues to have on your daughter.

The only route to pursue a claim for personal injury compensation would be via the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme for the victims of criminal assaults. To make a claim, you need to have reported the incident to the police within 24 hours, cooperated fully with the police and have sufficiently serious injuries.

In your case, whether or not you can establish that your injuries are sufficiently serious will depend on what you have reported to your GP and whether they have referred you on to a specialist in psychiatric injury.

My Husband was involved in an accident on the motorway where a girl jumped off a bridge and he ran over her. This was 17 months ago and he struggles terribly at times trying to come to terms with this. He was exonerated of any blame but no one even told him the inquest had taken place. He suffered further anxiety as he thought he would be called. He had some counselling at the time but tries to manage since. He just works 3 days a week now because its less time at work as an HGV driver that he has to deal with.
Can a claim be made?

Given the nature of this incident, it is totally understandable that your Husband has been badly affected by the events that he witnessed. We would certainly like to help him further and seek some specialist guidance from our expert Solicitors for him. My initial view is that he is likely to be able to take some action via various schemes in place for incidents such as this.

I was doing a night shift on the 13/04/2020, an explosion happened in my place of work shortly before 9pm, we where all evacuated, no injuries, I have been prescribed medication as I am suffering from physiological effects of what happened and what I witnessed, i am not sleeping or eating and I have been vomiting as a result of this incident and fear going back to work, could I claim for physiological damages and loss of earnings?

Our Solicitors can pursue a claim for personal injury for injuries of a psychological nature. The fact that you have discussed your situation with your Doctor and been prescribed medication will provide base evidence to support such a claim.

Please call us on 01225430285 so that we can obtain some further details and present your claim for detailed consideration by our specialist No Win No Fee Solicitor panel. If successful with a claim, you would be entitled to compensation for the symptoms caused to you, able to recover out of pocket expenses caused by the symptoms and access specialist rehabilitation therapies – which in the case of post traumatic stress related symptoms, can massively speed up the recovery process.

Hello Ian,

My question is this: I was sexually and physically abused. My abuser has now gone to prison for the offences. As a direct result of the abuse I have been recently diagnosed with both PTSD and severe psychiatric damage (including recurring depression and anger issues among other things) if I claim successfully will I be eligible for compensation for 1 overarching psychological damage payment or will I be awarded separate amounts for say, PTSD and then another amount for the severe psychiatric damage?
Thank you kindly.

Given the nature of the cause of your injuries being those of a criminal act, you would have a right to make a claim for criminal injuries compensation. Within the UK, there is a tax payer funded scheme that is in place to compensate the victims of criminal injuries – both physical and psychological. The organisation is the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). To make a claim, you can claim directly to them and complete an online application or you can choose to instruct a Solicitor or claims specialist to act for you. If you would like our help with a claim, our Solicitors are able to act on a No Win No Fee basis and would charge you nothing if your claim were to fail. However, if your claim were to succeed the Solicitors would deduct 25% of any compensation as their cost as the CICA do not pay legal costs.

With regards to the specifics of your query, both your PTSD and psychiatric injuries would be eligible for compensation. The CICA scheme operates a tariff system that applies a value range for specific injury types. The scheme affords a claimant the right to recover 100% of the value of the ‘worst’ injury, 75% of the value of the 2nd worst and so on.

To qualify for the CICA scheme, a claimant must make a claim within 2 years – although mitigating circumstance in serious cases such as yours will be considered when considering whether that 2 year period can be waived. You must also have cooperated with the Police investigation and assisted (where requested by the Police and CPS) in obtaining criminal convictions against those responsible for your injuries.

Thank you kindly for your prompt and thorough reply!

You are welcome. If you need any further help making a claim or understanding the claims process, please call our team on 01225430285.

The company I worked for caused me to be off sick with extreme anxiety and stress. Needless lying and accusations made against me, caused me to be suicidal, social phobic, anxiety disorder. I was working in shops full of black mould, no health and safety, no equality act. I was then discriminated against and accused of further allegations. I have been mentally abused by the company and my work colleagues.

You may have grounds for a claim for work related stress compensation. To find out whether or not you can make a claim, please complete and return our work related stress questionnaire. You can find this on our website article regarding work related stress, or you can email us at justice@direct2compensation.co.uk to request the questionnaire.

Once we have received your questionnaire, we will present it to our specialist in such claims and they will review the information and contact you directly to advise as to whether or not a claim can proceed.

Hi me and my child unfortunately witnessed my partner, his daddy, being attacked with machetes. It’s really took it’s toll on me and my son, can I make a claim?

It is possible to make a claim for psychological trauma as a witness to an incident. We would be happy to look further in to this matter for you if you wish.

I have worked at my present employment for 10 years. Recent redundancies have increased my workload by 300%. (3 members of staff redundant/changed roles). This caused me stress and anxiety and as a result I have been on antidepressants for 14 months and off work for 7 months. I am in the process of going to appeal after my grievance was rejected.
Do I have grounds to claim against my employer?

I witnessed a horrific car crash a few weeks ago. My best friend was the driver of one of the cars and sadly passed away at the scene.
I went to the hospital a few days after what happened as I couldn’t sleep, and when I did sleep I’d have terrible nightmares. I’ve not been myself and I’ve been diagnosed with moderate – severe PTSD.
Could a claim help me? Would it get me anywhere? What do you recommend?
Many thanks.

It is possible to make a claim for psychological injuries in the scenario you describe, although as you may imagine, it is not necessarily the most straightforward of matters and it is not certain that you could succeed. Whether or not you can make a claim in your situation is something that our Solicitors would only be able to confirm once some further information is obtained.

With our service however, you can at least make a claim enquiry and find out from one of our qualified Solicitors as to whether or not you can claim without it causing you any undue distress or incurring cost.

We can help you to find out whether or not you can make a claim against your employer for work related stress & anxiety. If you would like to do that, please complete our initial questionnaire on our stress at work compensation page which will allow us to have our specialist review your situation and they will then contact you directly to advise you on your potential claim options.

My family was involved in a RTC and my husband and myself are going through with a claim I am concerned my 6 and 5 year old voice aren’t been heard by the insurance company. They were not physically hurt but mentally..

If your children have been affected by the trauma of the road traffic collision you were involved in, you should ensure that they are taken to the Doctor to formally discuss the issues you have noticed and seek referral to specialist medical care for them. This will provide the relevant medical evidence needed to support them in a claim for damages as a result of their emotional trauma. If you have a Solicitor acting for you, they should be able to add the claims for your children to the action and hold the insurers to account for them.

Hi, I have recently started a new job around 3 months ago been doing really long shifts, 5 hours in travel to some place’s doing 12 hour shifts then 5 hours home. I have recently had a crash on the motorway as I fell asleep at the wheel after doing 18 hours up to the point of the collision I had gone from the slow lane to the fast lane and onto the barrier in the middle of the motorway. I wasn’t physically injured but since the incident I have showed symptoms for ptsd and been signed off work by my doctor as I don’t have the confidence to get behind the wheel again. I was wondering if I have grounds to make a claim against my employer as it looks like i am going to have to make a career change and this seems to be affecting me really badly mentally. I feel nothing but guilt that I could of hurt someone else really badly and no longer trust myself to go out on the road. I would just like to know if I do have anyway of being able to make a claim please? Thank you

We have previously looked in to claims arising from the same circumstance as the one you describe in your comment and unfortunately, it has not been possible to pursue the claim as there is simply no way to attach liability or negligence to an employer.

Whilst you may have been working long hours with a long commute to the workplace, the employer would not be held liable for the fact that you later fell asleep when driving and collided with the central reservation.