How to Prove Emotional Distress

Personal injury incidents like car accidents and slips and falls can result in physical pain and financial losses. However, some of the longest-lasting effects are often on a person’s emotional state. Victims may relive the painful experience through nightmares, trauma, and other forms of emotional distress. Texas law allows you to seek compensation for your emotional distress that is tied to an underlying physical injury. An experienced San Antonio injury attorney from The Aguirre Law Firm can help explain the law and how you can prove the emotional distress you’ve endured due to someone else’s negligence.

What Is Emotional Distress?

In personal injury law, emotional distress refers to the negative emotional impact you experienced because of the accident. Emotional distress can take many forms, including:

• Post-traumatic stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Psychological suffering
• Fear around the type of accident, such as driving after a car accident
• Nightmares
• Flashbacks
• Insomnia or other sleep disorders
• Panic attacks

You have the right to recover compensation for your emotional distress, but you are responsible for proving its existence and severity.

Evidence to Prove Emotional Distress

Like all aspects of your damages claim, you will need to be able to prove your emotional distress. Evidence that can help prove emotional distress could include:

Medical Records

Even though your mental injury is not visible on X-rays or MRIs like a physical injury is, it still exists. You may have sought treatment from medical providers and have medical records that can help demonstrate the emotional distress that you have suffered, such as:

• A professional diagnosis from a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist that links the accident to your emotional symptoms
• Counseling or therapy notes
• Notes from your primary care physician regarding the accident and its impact on your life
• Receipts for prescription medicines, such as anxiety, depression, or sleep medicine

Statements from Your Medical Providers

In some cases, your healthcare providers may testify about your symptoms and how they correspond to the accident.

Medical Expert Witnesses

Your personal injury attorney can hire medical experts if the need arises. They can testify about how accidents can cause extreme emotional distress and negatively impact victims’ quality of life.

Journals

Your personal injury lawyer might recommend that you keep a daily journal in which you record your daily struggles. You could write about your physical pain, as well as the emotional effects of the accident.

Testimony from Friends and Family

Your friends and family may also be able to provide unique insight into how the accident has changed you.

Employment Records

Subpar performance reviews, a record of lost productivity, or frequent absences from work can also help show how the accident has negatively affected your life.

Let The Aguirre Law Firm Help with Your Emotional Distress Claim

If an accident that someone else’s negligence caused has resulted in your emotional distress, you deserve to have this pain and sorrow recognized. An experienced attorney from The Aguirre Law Firm can demand the compensation that you deserve. Contact us today for a free consultation.