Following road traffic accident’s many people expect to experience the common symptoms of a whiplash type injury. Neck pain, back pain and the associated symptoms are common place but many people are not familiar with the psychological effects a road traffic accident can have on them.
The most common psychological symptom experienced is that of travel anxiety. Effects can be very debilitating on a person’s lifestyle and can last for many months post accident. We shall explore the symptoms experienced and how they can be treated.
Symptoms of Travel Anxiety
- Palpitations
- Shakiness
- Tight feeling in chest – feeling that you cannot breath
- Panic – a sense of urgency to escape certain situations
Affects of Symptoms
- Sufferers are likely to experience feelings of anxiety when both driving and travelling as a passenger whether that be in a car or a by other means of transport.
- A feeling of loss of independence is felt by many as their avoidance of travelling in vehicles can leave an individual feeling trapped.
- Travel anxiety can lead to other concerns or thoughts which were never apparent prior to the accident occurring.
- Some individuals feel like they are not as happy as they were before the accident. The above points often lead to feelings of unhappiness.
The symptoms outlined above are known as a ‘fight or flight’ reaction. This reaction is a basic survival response triggered in the brain. It stems back to the caveman days when individuals were faced by life-ending threats such as sabre tooth tiger appearing in front of you. The reaction of being faced by this deadly creature released feelings, as mentioned above, which enabled them to fight the threat or muster the energy to flee.
It is often perceived that if people do not have serious physical injuries then how they can be experiencing such psychological trauma. However, research suggests that travel anxiety is unrelated to the severity of any physical injuries sustained. The general assumption that anxiety attacks are ‘in the mind‘ can often distress sufferers further as the psychological symptoms are very real to them and this view point can exacerbate the feelings further.
How is travel anxiety treated?
The most common and effective treatment is that of focused psychological treatment and can include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Many people are familiar with the term CBT and understand that it is used to help the suffering individual to develop an adaptive view of the accident they had.
However, EMDR is not so familiar, so what is it? It is a type of therapy which helps to reprocess memories which are stored in your brain in a dysfunctional and intrusive way.
In order for any therapy to work, the individual suffering has to be desensitised by exposing them to the painful memories of the accident. Many individuals are helped by as a little as 6-8 sessions and research shows a decrease in symptoms in 70-90% of cases.
If you have suffered an injury in a recent car crach accident and would like help and information about making a road accident compensation claim, then give our expert claim team a call on 0800 634 7575 today!
