You Can Get PTSD From a Car Accident (and How to Recover)
When I was in my 20s, I was hit by a car on my way to school. The driver, who was elderly, thought the median was an extra turn lane and in the process hit three pedestrians, including me. At one point, I was a tired graduate student, worried about finishing my experiments; The next moment I looked back and saw the light brown hood of a car coming straight towards me, and then oblivion. When I woke up, I was lying on the sidewalk, covered in blood, and I was in more pain than ever, including childbirth.
In the weeks and months after the accident, I began to have frequent nightmares in which I was hit by a car again and again. I also had panic attacks every time I saw a car approaching me, whether I was sitting in the car or standing on the sidewalk. Driving became impossible.
After the accident, I developed post-traumatic stress disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder, which is characterized by nightmares or memories of the traumatic event, avoidance of situations that trigger memories of the traumatic event, and heightened alertness, which may include panic attacks or feeling constantly on edge.
Although PTSD is often thought of in the context of war veterans, it can also happen to civilians, with car accidents being one of the most common causes . Given how painful, horrific, and unpredictable a car accident can be, developing PTSD is all too common. However, “it responds well to treatment,” said Jessica Rohr , a psychologist at the Houston Methodist Hospital .
Signs that you have developed post-traumatic stress
If you have been in a car accident, you should expect some fear in the days and weeks following the accident. “It’s really normal,” Rohr said. When this fear continues for too long and begins to have a long-term negative impact, it becomes PTSD.
Some signs of PTSD include a constant state of heightened alertness, having intrusive thoughts about the accident (in the form of unwanted memories or nightmares), and avoiding situations that remind you of the injury, such as driving or getting into a car. .
If you’ve just been in a car accident, one of the most important things you can do in the days and weeks that follow is to take your recovery seriously, even if you weren’t actually hurt in the accident. This may include temporarily cutting back on some of your normal duties for a few weeks to make rest a priority. “Behave like you’re recovering because you are,” Rohr said.
It’s also a really good idea to reach out to your support network, friends or family. “The number one factor for resilience to injury is social support,” Rohr said. This may include friends and family helping you in a variety of ways, bringing you food, driving you to doctor appointments, or simply spending time together. “You don’t always have to talk about what happened for it to be useful,” Rohr said.
Avoidance only makes it worse
After a traumatic incident, there is a temptation to deal with fears simply by avoiding fearful triggers. However, as Ron Asierno , a PTSD psychologist at UTHealth Houston , warns, avoidance is the worst thing you can do after a car accident. “That’s why people don’t drive for 10 years,” Asierno said. That’s because, as Rohr said, “fear feeds on avoidance.”
Instead, the best treatment for PTSD caused by a car accident is usually what is known as stepwise exposure therapy , in which the person is exposed to their triggers in a safe, structured, and systematic way to reduce the fear response. “No therapy without this exposure will help you,” Asierno said.
For car accident victims, this might start with sitting in a parked car for 15 minutes until their fear response drops to a manageable level, after which they can turn on the car and drive slowly around the block. The point is not to completely avoid fear, but to confront it in a controlled way. “Put yourself in a situation where you’re anxious but not overwhelmed,” Asierno said.
How to help kids deal with fears
For children who have been in an accident and are dealing with the aftermath, parents should remember that “one of the symptoms of PTSD is a perceived loss of control,” Asierno said. If a child has PTSD as a result of a car accident, “you have to respect the fact that the child can’t turn the steering wheel or hit the brakes,” Asierno said. “You have to make the situation as calm and safe as possible.”
For kids, it can help if this introduction to cars is related to something they enjoy, like taking a short drive for ice cream. (This is also a strategy that can work for adults as well.)
How therapy can help
If you’ve recently been in a car accident and find that your fears are preventing you from living a fulfilling life, it’s important to seek help as soon as possible. Generally speaking, treatment for PTSD can be done over a period of four to five months by attending weekly sessions. If there are complicating factors such as past trauma or lack of support at home, therapy may take longer, but it won’t last forever.
In my case, recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder took years because I didn’t have the support or resources I needed. Recovery turned into an ever-swinging pendulum as I oscillated between an overwhelming fear of cars and a strong desire to live a normal life again. In the beginning, riding in a car as a passenger was all I could bear, and my walks around the neighborhood involved a lot of extra time and worry when it came to crossing a street or an intersection.
However, as I continued to go out, trying to find a way to do what I wanted without being overwhelmed with fear, things got better. The fear became more manageable, and I gradually found that I could do more and more, until driving became the normal, everyday activity that it had always been.