Mental and Emotional Injuries

When you suffer from a personal injury or a traumatic event, it may not be just your body that has ill effects. Your mind can be just as harmed as your body. Mental or emotional injuries can be complex and can take a long time to heal.

While some people may think of mental injuries as oversensitivity and as weaknesses, there are some things that are out of your control. People who suffer from this type of harm may not be able to control the way they feel about a traumatic event, and treatment for mental injuries can include coping methods to help you deal with them.

Probably the most well-known mental injury is posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Studies estimate that 7-8% of the population will suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives. Although we most often associated PTSD with military or combat experience, any traumatic or emotionally taxing event can contribute to this problem. Physical or sexual assault, natural disasters, serious accidents, divorce, and loss of employment can also cause PTSD.

Not only does PTSD cause emotional withdrawal, but it can also contribute to things like irritability, withdrawal, phobias, and hypersensitivities. Additionally, one of the three main symptoms of PTSD is intense flashbacks, nightmares, and memories. These can cause blackouts that may interfere with your ability to carry on a normal life.

Acute stress disorder is another mental disorder than stems from experiencing, witnessing, or confronting a traumatic event. Like PTSD, acute stress disorder can cause flashbacks and hypersensitivity to people, places, or things that remind a person of their traumatic event. Also, acute stress disorder can hinder someone from his or her regular lifestyle due to the feeling of being in a daze and the loss of awareness of surroundings.

Another example of emotional injury is verbal abuse or neglect. Verbal abuse, where one person degrades another by calling him or her stupid, ugly, incompetent, etc., can destroy a person's self-esteem and make it difficult to function normally. Suffering from verbal abuse can cause someone to "escape" by picking up self-destructive habits like binge drinking and drugs.

Neglect, such as nursing home neglect, can also degrade a person's self-respect. In a nursing home, neglect can not only cause physical damages, but it can wrongly teach a helpless elderly person that he or she is so unwanted and unloved that they do not warrant attention and care.

If you or someone you know has suffered from mental anguish stemming from nursing home malpractice, such as neglect or verbal abuse, these mental and emotional scars can be hard to heal. To help you fight for your rights, check out the Law Offices of William K. Goldfarb today.