Most people think about severe pain or bodily injuries after an accident. However, there is more that might be invisible such as emotional distress. Emotional distress is hard to measure when you can easily prove physical injury by diagnosing or doing an X-ray.

Though law firms like ICBC lawyers Surrey can help you, the question remains what counts as emotional distress after an accident.

Let’s find the answer in this blog.

What counts as emotional distress?

Emotional distress and psychological anguish are similar terms. These include psychological suffering and pain caused by a traumatic experience like an accident, loss or injury.

Unfortunately, emotional disturbance is considered insignificant compared to physical injuries. Most people avoid the damages they get from emotional trauma and distress.

For example, think about a victim getting PTSD after a car accident. They would suffer this for a long period. Eventually, their regular activities would get affected by this damage.

You can take action against the incident or person causing them emotional distress for such issues. It’s vital to bring justice for such issues even if you know that you can’t recover or heal easily.

If you are a family member of a witness, victim, bystander or a traumatized person, you have a legal right to file a case for emotional disturbance. You can take the help of an injury lawyer to claim the damages.

Symptoms of emotional distress

It is obvious that people get confused while acknowledging and recognizing emotional agony. Here’s a list to understand the signs that a person is suffering from psychological anguish, injury or trauma:

• Panic attacks or anxiety that trigger a loss, traumatic event or injury memories
• Anxiety attacks that’s connected with other traumatic events. For example, someone fell from the roof, and you’re getting anxious to go near the railings.
• Disturbances in sleep
• Sleeping disorders
• Depression
• Debilitating grief (in most cases, people suffer this when they lose a loved one)
• Unstable anger or mood that occurs for emotional or psychological injuries.

Can I sue for emotional distress?

Yes, you can definitely sue for emotional distress. However, you will need a lawyer to process such issues. Also, you would want your case to be strong.

Here’s how you can sue for emotional disquiet:

Proper documentation: 

Having work reports, medical reports or personal journals as documentation is crucial. Also, you can use an electronic tracker to monitor your sleeping habits and heart rate. You will recover your damages quickly when you can show proper documentation.

Talk to a lawyer:

You should hire a lawyer and discuss the situation with them. They will review the documentation and help you claim for damages.

File the lawsuit:

When you have a lawyer, you can file a lawsuit. Eventually, you can get compensation for the damages.

Pre trials:

After serving the defendant, both the parties will start exchanging information. This is when they’ll offer you a settlement to avoid trials. In such situations, lawyers can help you whether to accept or reject the settlement.

Settlement and trial:

Finally, the court will look into all the evidence and decide accordingly.

It is an arduous experience when you’re suing someone. So, you should get all the necessary documents and hire an experienced lawyer to claim the damages.

Evidence for emotional distress

One important factor in suing for emotional distress is the evidence. So, when you’re sueing for mental suffering, it’s very tough to prove it.

Here’s a list of evidence that can help you:

• Time: Your case would be more credible with the time you’re facing emotional disquiet.
• Physical damage: The court can identify that you’re suffering from emotional distress through physical damages. Some common examples are headaches, cognitive impairment, ulcers, etc.
• The severity of an incident: If the incident is very intense, the court will prioritize it more. Therefore, the severity is equally important as the emotional distress.
• Medical reports: You can gather your reports from the psychologist or doctors to prove the distress. This is a reason that victims seek medical attention after an accident.
• Testimonies: If there are testimonies that prove to impact a life, the court will accept it. Therefore, friends, co-workers, family or doctors can testify for you.

Emotional distress compensation

Compensation can help make your recovery and heal emotional agony. You can claim for harassment, accidents, or any other traumatic situation for such compensation. The average compensation for emotional agony can be up to $360,000.

The compensation benefits include:

• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment in life
• Medical expenses
• Emotional anguish.

Final verdict

By now, you know “what counts as emotional distress.” It is very tough to deal with such issues. And if you keep on thinking about your case at such times, your situation will worsen.

So, it would be best to seek help from a lawyer to plan your case. Also, if you want to sue someone for emotional distress, you need a lawyer.