Post-traumatic stress disorder

Post traumatic stress disorder is an illness which has impact on many peoples lives and can change their standard of living dramatically. The disorder often occurs to individuals after witnessing a frightening accident such as a car crash. The disorder is also common if an individual has had the risk of losing their life. People who suffer from this disorder may be able to make a compensation claim, especially if it means a person can no longer work; the compensation will be awarded for loss of earnings.
There are many symptoms to the disorder which will now be outlined.
A common symptom of this disorder is continually reliving the event which has occurred, meaning the individual constantly sees or thinks about the event. This is particularly common with car accidents.
Sleepless nights, or nights with continual nightmares which are linked to the event are also common symptoms reported by sufferers.
One of the most common symptoms is attempting to avoid being in a similar situation to what happened in the accident, for example if the accident contained a car, the individual may avoid using cars in order to avoid the situation.
Some sufferers of the disorder may also withdraw from social events and may find it increasingly difficult to socialise. This means that the sufferers are unlikely to form any kind of close relationship. This may lead to the individual becoming much more depressed and also losing any form of confidence brought through social interaction.
The event which has caused this disorder will have impacted upon the individuals life in a massive way, the person may begin to wonder why this happened to them. This is likely to mean that the person is easily made angry and can often become confrontational.
If somebody has been severely injured or potentially died in the accident which occurred the witness suffering from the disorder is likely to feel a great amount of guilt. The witness may begin to blame themselves for the accident and feel that even though they were just a witness, they could have stopped the accident occurring in some way.
One final symptom that a sufferer of the disorder may find is tenseness of the muscles within the body. This is often due to a lack of sleep and also the emotional strain which the body is put under after witnessing such an event.
Anybody who feels they are suffering from such symptoms should seek the advice of their doctor, if the doctor feels the individual is suffering from the disorder the patient is likely to be passed on to a specialist. Anybody wishing to make a compensation claim due to the loss of earnings or for any other reason should contact a solicitor or specialist claims firm. It must be considered that many of these symptoms will be felt by anybody after witnessing an accident; if these symptoms continue for a prolonged period then medical advice should be taken immediately.