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You can claim psychological injury damages as part of your compensation

By Ian Morris | Updated October 25th, 2022

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When most people think of a personal injury compensation 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 psychological trauma is also something for which they can claim.

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.

Compensation amounts

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...

Hi, I’ve just quit my job after 10 years as a funeral director from Britains largest funeral company. I have just been diagnosed with PTSD and I am having EDMR therapy at my own expense. The correlation between the sights I have witnessed and PTSD are linked. There was no counselling in place which is unheard of in such a large firm. Do I have a case against them?

The potential claim scenario you describe is very similar to that for a work related stress claim in that you would need to be able to provide evidence (emails or letters etc) where you have requested counselling and disclosed regularly to your employer that you were struggling and that nothing was being done to assist you or explain things on the part of your employer.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that you would be automatically entitled to counselling just because of the nature of the job. Did you ever make written complaints or have you ever been seen by occupational health etc?

Myself and my two 8 year olds were rammed and crashed into. Our car has been written off. I can’t sleep, I’m nervous in the car, so are my girls who have been having nightmares. Would like some support for us, is a claim the way to go and possible?

Yes, we can make a claim for both you and your two children. We have specialist Solicitors able to assist with such matters on a No Win No Fee basis and we can explain your rights and how we can help.

You can all claim for physical and emotional injury caused by the negligence of the 3rd party driver. It is important that all symptoms and issues are raised with your Doctor and noted on your medical records.

If you would like to take this further, please use the ‘start a claim’ page of our website and we’ll then call you back and offer you the help you need.

Hi. Just over three years ago I went through a medical negligence incident. I went to a BPAS clinic in London, to have a termination of my pregnancy (due to certain reasons I wish not to discuss). The process was two days long. The first day consisted of an injection in the featus. However, they injected me thinking it was an aneasthetic but instead it was the toxic injection. I felt burning and was in excruciating pain. After telling them that deffinitely wasn’t the anaesthetic injection they then realised they had injected me with the wrong injection. I got rushed to hospital, was told I was very lucky as it would’ve given me a heart attack if the liquid from the needle had gotten into my blood stream. I never claimed simply because I was scared, ashamed and didn’t want the doctor to lose his job etc. Now after years of growing up, I now understand that what that clinic had done was wrong and I don’t want this happening to another poor girl. Since then, I have been suffering with anxiety, of going to the doctors or dentist due to having needles. The second day I had my procedure, I woke up from anaesthetic crying because I was worried it had gone wrong again. Most nights around 2/3 a week, I can see his face and it gives me nightmares or this day. I was wondering if anything could come of it, but most importantly to make sure this definitely doesn’t happen to anyone again.

There are a couple of obvious obstacles in the way of us assisting you with a claim for compensation. It would appear that you were the victim of an incident of clinical negligence and the fact that you sustained physical and emotional trauma and pain as a result is clear.

However, you mention that this incident was just over 3 years ago. If you are over the age of 21 years, you will not be able to make a claim as you will be statute barred under the strict UK personal injury law limitation period, which requires you to make a claim within 3 years of the date of the negligence, or date you became aware of the negligence. Further, we do not handle clinical negligence claims given the specific expertise needed to act on such matters.

I am suffering from health anxiety. I was in a car accident that was not my fault. My anxiety has now become more difficult to manage plus I have aheadache and neck pain. I am awaiting a GP appointment as I am not happy about my health now.

The specialist road traffic accident Solicitors we work with on car accident claims are experts in both recovering compensation for physical injuries, but also in ensuring that any psychological impacts that a car accident may cause are also considered and claimed for. In your case, if you already had some issues with anxiety, you would be able to claim for the worsening of your condition and the impact that the heightened anxiety is having on your day-to-day life. You would also be able to recover compensation for the neck pain (which is likely to be soft tissue trauma such as whiplash) and the headaches.

I was recently involved in a road traffic accident, which was not our fault. I am in the process of claiming now, should I proceed with the settlement now or wait until the end of my prognosis period? The doctor I seen has referred me to a psychologist on my medical report, due to panic attacks etc whilst on the motorway as a passenger. I have been on the motorway once since the accident and made my partner pull off at the next junction.

If you accept an award, it is a full and final settlement – no going back. Therefore, we would recommend that you wait to see how you are after the prognosis period has passed. If you are not ‘better’ at that stage, you could perhaps seek a greater compensation settlement.

Hi, There was a fire at my work place it all burnt down everyone got out. Since then its been two weeks i feel stressed and never feel like returning to a working environment also anxiety and just feeling shocked.

It sounds like symptoms that are best described as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. When anyone is involved in or witness to a shocking or distressing incident – such as a huge fire in the workplace, it is understandable that psychological injuries can be sustained.

In your case, you should definitely seek medical help from your GP and discuss your anxiety and concerns with them. Seeking medical attention is important on two fronts. Most importantly, you need to get the right help to make sure that your psychological situation is improved and that you can recover and move on. Secondly, if you do look to pursue a claim for compensation as a result of this workplace incident, you will need medical evidence to support your claim. You can find really useful information on our site on how claimants medical records are used to support their claim for compensation.

You may be able to succeed with a claim for compensation for your psychological trauma if it can be shown that the cause of the fire at your workplace was as a result of employer negligence.